My MBA Career: Salaries, Bonuses & Job Success Rates at Top U.S. B-Schools

Last Updated on February 23, 2024 by Robert C. Hoopes

The 2020s have been a challenging decade for MBAs on the job hunt, with the pandemic and industry troubles affecting employment opportunities. In 2023, MBA job offers and acceptances three months after graduation were at their lowest in many years. Despite the decline in job offers, salaries and bonuses for MBAs remained strong and continued to increase.

Statistics from top U.S. B-schools show that median starting base salaries and signing bonuses have been on the rise since 2020. Some schools, such as Stanford and Chicago Booth, reported record-breaking total compensation for their MBA graduates in 2023. However, MBA job placement rates at top schools declined in 2023, with schools like Columbia, Harvard, and MIT seeing lower rates of job offers and acceptances after graduation.

On the other hand, schools like Wharton, Vanderbilt Owen, and Georgia Tech’s Scheller College bucked the trend and reported high rates of job offers and acceptances in 2023 compared to other top schools. Despite the challenges in 2023, a comparison with the pandemic year of 2020 shows that some schools have seen increases in job offers and acceptances over the past four years.

Complete tables of salaries, bonuses, and placement rates from 2020 to 2023 at 30 leading U.S. MBA programs are available for reference. This data highlights the trends and challenges faced by MBAs in the job market over the past few years, as well as the resilience and success of certain programs in the face of adversity.