Cornell MBA internship data
Pursue internships and earnings all while completing a Cornell MBA. The data below details the salaries, locations, companies, industry sectors, and job functions of current MBA students.
Internship acceptances
Of the 278 students, 260 were seeking internships between their first and second year in the program. The figures below represent internship offers and acceptances based on information reported by students.
260
Seeking internships
for the summer of 2025
99%
Accepted offers
to complete an internship
Monthly salary data
The average monthly salary for Cornell MBA class of 2026 interns was $11,132. Students who were US work authorized reported an average monthly salary of $11,122, while students who were not US work authorized reported an average base salary of $11,156.
$11,132
Monthly salary
average reported by all who interned
$11,122
Monthly salary
US work authorized
$11,156
Monthly salary
Non-US work authorized
Average monthly salary by industry
Johnson’s strengths in financial services and consulting is illustrated in the table below, as the two industries employed almost two-thirds of the entire class of 2026 interns.| Industry | Average base salary | Median base salary | Percentage employed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Financial services | $12,934 | $14,583 | 39% |
| Consulting | $13,602 | $15,000 | 23% |
| Technology | $8,037 | $9,187 | 16% |
| Manufacturing | $7,746 | $7,909 | 5% |
| Healthcare/Medical services/Pharmaceuticals | $5,695 | $4,339 | 3% |
| Consumer products | $8,277 | $8,025 | 3% |
| Energy/Utilities | $5,993 | $4,420 | 3% |
| Non-Profit | $2,109 | $1,750 | 2% |
| Law or legal services | $13,942 | $18,746 | 1% |
| Other* | N/A | N/A | 8% |
*Other includes: Education, entertainment/media, government, hospitality/tourism, real estate and telecommunications
N/A: less than three data points required to keep student anonymity
Average monthly salary by job function
Johnson’s strengths in finance and consulting continues to pay off with the two highest average monthly salaries paid to class of 2026 interns. The two job functions are broken out into further detail in the second table.| Job Function | Average base salary | Median base salary | Percentage employed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Finance and Investment Banking | $12,565 | $14,583 | 42% |
| Consulting | $12,735 | $15,000 | 26% |
| Management | $7,333 | $8,509 | 13% |
| Marketing | $7,459 | $8,025 | 13% |
| Human Resources | $4,263 | $4,339 | 1% |
| Other* | N/A | N/A | 6% |
*Other includes: Entrepreneurship, information/technology and operations/logistics
Detailed job function
A detailed breakdown for the Finance and Investment Banking and Consulting job functions is below.| Job function | Detailed job function | Average base salary | Median base salary | Percent employed* |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Finance and Investment Banking | Investment Banking | $14,474 | $14,583 | 60% |
| Finance and Investment Banking | Corporate Finance | $9,490 | $10,115 | 16% |
| Finance and Investment Banking | Private Equity | $8,861 | $8,667 | 4% |
| Finance and Investment Banking | Private Wealth Management | $10,571 | $12,292 | 4% |
| Finance and Investment Banking | Finance – Other | $7,160 | $6,000 | 5% |
| Consulting | Strategic/Management | $13,162 | $15,167 | 87% |
| Consulting | Digital/ Digital Transformation | $8,497 | $8,667 | 9% |
| Consulting | Healthcare | N/A | N/A | 3% |
| Consulting | Brand Consulting | N/A | N/A | 2% |
*Does not total to 100 due to rounding
Average monthly salary by region
The majority of students—over half of the class—interned in the Northeast region of the US. This region also paid the highest average monthly salary. The next highest employment region was the West region. The second highest salary was earned in the Southwest region.| US Region | Average base salary | Median base salary | Percentage employed* |
|---|---|---|---|
| Northeast | $12,019 | $14,583 | 57% |
| West | $10,491 | $10,171 | 17% |
| Midwest | $11,653 | $10,833 | 9% |
| Mid-Atlantic | $9,782 | $10,833 | 7% |
| Southwest | $12,123 | $14,583 | 6% |
| South | $11,874 | $14,583 | 4% |
*Does not total to 100 due to rounding
Top internship companies
The list below represents the top companies that hired interns from the MBA class of 2026.
- Accenture
- Amazon
- Bain & Company
- Boston Consulting Group (BCG)
- Citi
- Deloitte Consulting LLP
- Guggenheim Partners, LLC
- Jefferies Group
- JPMorgan Chase & Co.
- Kearney
- L.E.K. Consulting LLC
- McKinsey & Company
- Moelis & Company
- Morgan Stanley
- PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
- Royal Bank of Canada (RBC)
- S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc.
- Wells Fargo & Company