5 rising stars from Stanford Graduate School of Business' class of 2020

Valerie Shen; Pulkit Agarwal; Jim Yu; Emily Núñez Cavness; Madisen Obiedo; Ruobing Su/Business Insider

From left to right: Stanford GSB's Valerie Shen, Jim Yu, Emily Núñez Cavness, Madisen Obiedo, and Pulkit Agarwal.

• A study by two Stanford professors found that alumni from across Stanford University have created almost $3 trillion annually, launching 5.4 million jobs.
• Many industry titans graduated from Stanford GSB, including Charles Schwab, Nike founder Phil Knight, and Penny Pritzker, who served as the US secretary of commerce under President Obama.
• To find this year's rising stars, we tapped Stanford GSB's director of strategic communications Kristin Harlan to nominate the students worth watching from the class of 2020. Meet them below.
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The students graduating from the nation's top MBA programs already stand out - first for getting into these prestigious institutions, and then for completing them. But some individuals distinguish themselves still further as the cream of the crop in their graduating class, while working alongside some of the brightest students in the world.

With this in mind, Business Insider wanted to find out which current MBA students should be on top companies' and professionals' radars as up-and-coming talent at Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB).

A study by two Stanford professors found that alumni from across Stanford University in aggregate have created almost $3 trillion annually, launching 5.4 million jobs. Many industry titans graduated from Stanford GSB, including Charles Schwab, who founded one of the largest brokerage firms in the US by the same name, Nike founder Phil Knight, and Penny Pritzker, who served as the US secretary of commerce under President Obama.

According to June 2019 updates on the business school's website, 88% of students receive a job offer within 90 days of graduating, commanding base starting salaries of up to $285,000. Finance, technology, and consulting are the top industries for GSB hires, attracting 32%, 25%, and 20% of students respectively.

The GSB's class of 2020 contains 419 MBA students from 306 organizations and 63 countries. Fourteen percent joined the program with previous advanced degrees, and the class boasted an average GMAT score of 732.

Stanford GSB's director of strategic communications Kristin Harlan offered up the following five stars from the class of 2020.

"At Stanford GSB, we seek out the most promising students in terms of intellectual vitality, demonstrated leadership potential, and personal qualities and contributions," Harlan said. "Each of [the following] students [is] fueled by the desire to drive change and create an impact, and represent different aspects of our school's values."