MBA graduate statistics show strong employment outcomes across the four schools covered here, but the results vary by program, industry mix, geography, and reporting window. Three-month employment rates ranged from 89% to 97%, while reported median base salaries ranged from $140,000 to $180,000. The figures below come from the Tuck Employment Statistics 2024, MIT Sloan MBA Employment Report 2024-2025, Johns Hopkins Carey 2024 FT MBA Employment Report, and UC Irvine Merage 2024 FT MBA Employment Report.
Contents
- Employment outcomes
- Salary and bonus statistics
- Industries hiring MBA graduates
- Geography of accepted jobs
- Employer scale and opportunity type
- How to read these MBA statistics
Employment outcomes
Employment timing is one of the clearest ways to compare MBA graduate outcomes, although the reports do not all use the same measurement window. Tuck and MIT Sloan report the share of graduates seeking employment who had accepted a job three months after graduation. Johns Hopkins Carey reports full-time employment by three months after graduation. UC Irvine Merage reports jobs accepted within six months of graduation.
Tuck reported that 97% of MBA graduates seeking employment had accepted a job offer three months after graduation. Its report also recorded 93% with an accepted offer by graduation and 88% with an accepted offer by April 2024. Tuck’s 2024 MBA employment class included 103 new graduates. These are separate timing points, so the percentages should not be treated as interchangeable measures.
MIT Sloan reported that 92% of MBA graduates seeking employment had accepted a job offer three months after graduation. Johns Hopkins Carey reported that 89% of its MBA graduates accepted full-time employment by three months after graduation. UC Irvine Merage reported that 92% of its MBA graduates accepted jobs within six months of graduation.
The comparison is useful as a snapshot of reported outcomes, but the denominators and timing differ. Tuck and MIT Sloan specify graduates seeking employment, Johns Hopkins Carey describes full-time employment, and UC Irvine Merage uses a six-month window. A reader comparing programs should therefore examine the report definition alongside the headline percentage.
| School and report | Employment measure | Reported result |
|---|---|---|
| Tuck, 2024 | Seeking employment; accepted offer three months after graduation | 97% |
| MIT Sloan, 2024-2025 | Seeking employment; accepted offer three months after graduation | 92% |
| Johns Hopkins Carey, 2024 | Full-time employment by three months after graduation | 89% |
| UC Irvine Merage, 2024 | Accepted jobs within six months of graduation | 92% |
Salary and bonus statistics
Reported compensation differs across the programs. MIT Sloan recorded the highest median base salary in this group at $180,000. Tuck reported a $175,000 median base salary for MBA graduates accepting jobs in the United States. UC Irvine Merage reported $155,000, while Johns Hopkins Carey reported $140,000.
The gap between the highest and lowest reported median base salary is $40,000. That difference describes the endpoints in these four reports; it does not establish that one graduate will earn exactly that amount or that the programs use identical salary populations. Tuck specifically identifies its salary figure as applying to jobs accepted in the United States.
| School and report | Median base salary | Median signing bonus | Other reported guaranteed bonus |
|---|---|---|---|
| MIT Sloan, 2024-2025 | $180,000 | $40,000 | $35,000 |
| Tuck, 2024 | $175,000 | $30,000 | $40,000 sign-on/other guaranteed bonus |
| UC Irvine Merage, 2024 | $155,000 | $25,000 | Not reported here |
| Johns Hopkins Carey, 2024 | $140,000 | $20,000 | Not reported here |
MIT Sloan reported a $40,000 median signing bonus and a $35,000 median guaranteed bonus. Tuck reported a $30,000 median signing bonus and a $40,000 median sign-on/other guaranteed bonus. Johns Hopkins Carey reported a $20,000 median signing bonus, and UC Irvine Merage reported a $25,000 median signing bonus.
Tuck also reported that 95% of MBA graduates reported employment-related compensation in a U.S. dollar range after graduation. This measure is different from the median salary figures: it describes the share reporting compensation in the stated currency range, not the typical amount of base pay.
Industries hiring MBA graduates
Consulting was the largest reported destination at Tuck and MIT Sloan. Tuck reported that 38% of MBA graduates accepted consulting roles, while MIT Sloan reported 41%. Tuck’s next-largest listed destination was financial services at 28%, followed by technology at 10%. MIT Sloan reported technology at 24%, financial services at 12%, health care at 7%, consumer products at 5%, and energy and cleantech at 4%.
The industry mix at Johns Hopkins Carey was led by finance, with 34% of MBA graduates entering that field. Consulting accounted for 26%, health care for 18%, technology for 12%, and consumer goods and services for 7%. UC Irvine Merage reported technology as its largest listed destination at 29%, followed by consulting at 27%, financial services at 19%, health care/pharma at 11%, and consumer goods/retail at 7%.
| School | Largest reported industry | Second-largest reported industry | Other selected reported industries |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tuck, 2024 | Consulting, 38% | Financial services, 28% | Technology, 10%; health care/pharma/biotech, 6% |
| MIT Sloan, 2024-2025 | Consulting, 41% | Technology, 24% | Financial services, 12%; health care, 7% |
| Johns Hopkins Carey, 2024 | Finance, 34% | Consulting, 26% | Health care, 18%; technology, 12% |
| UC Irvine Merage, 2024 | Technology, 29% | Consulting, 27% | Financial services, 19%; health care/pharma, 11% |
Tuck also reported 6% in health care/pharma/biotech, 4% in consumer products and retail, and 3% in energy/utilities/industrials. MIT Sloan reported 5% in consumer products and 4% in energy and cleantech. These labels are not identical, so the categories should be read as each school presented them rather than merged into a single standardized industry classification.
Across the reports, the largest destination varies: consulting at Tuck and MIT Sloan, finance at Johns Hopkins Carey, and technology at UC Irvine Merage. That variation matters for career planning because an overall MBA employment percentage does not describe the opportunities available in every sector.
Geography of accepted jobs
Tuck and MIT Sloan both reported that most accepted jobs were in the Northeast or nearby regional groupings. Tuck reported 75% in the Northeast or Mid-Atlantic, 13% in the West, 8% in the South, and 4% in the Midwest. MIT Sloan reported 76% in the Northeast, 12% in the West, 6% in the South, and 4% in the Midwest.
These figures show similar concentration in the eastern United States for the two reports, but the geographic labels are not exactly the same: Tuck combines the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, while MIT Sloan reports the Northeast alone. The two distributions should therefore be compared directionally, not as identical regional definitions.
Tuck additionally reported that 44% of MBA graduates accepted jobs in consulting in New York City, Boston, Chicago, or other major metro markets. This is a metro-market measure connected to consulting placements, not a complete geography distribution for every accepted job.
Employer scale and opportunity type
Tuck reported several figures describing the kinds of employers that hired its MBA graduates. Thirty-one percent accepted jobs with companies in the Fortune 500 universe, and 21% accepted jobs with companies in the Fortune 100 universe. Fourteen percent accepted jobs with startups or private equity/venture-backed firms.
The Fortune 100 figure is a narrower employer group than the Fortune 500 figure, while the startup and private equity/venture-backed figure describes a different type of employer context. These percentages are best treated as separate reported indicators. They are not a complete partition of the class, and they should not be added together to estimate a total share of graduates.
The Tuck report also recorded 44% accepting consulting jobs in New York City, Boston, Chicago, or other major metro markets. Together, the industry, location, and employer-scale figures suggest that reported outcomes include both large established companies and smaller or investor-backed organizations, but the available figures do not identify every employer category for every school.
How to read these MBA statistics
The four reports provide several useful lenses for evaluating MBA outcomes: the timing of accepted offers, the share employed, median base salary, bonuses, industry destinations, and geography. No single percentage captures all of those dimensions.
First, check the time period. Tuck’s figures are from its 2024 employment statistics, MIT Sloan’s report is labeled 2024-2025, and the Johns Hopkins Carey and UC Irvine Merage reports are labeled 2024 employment reports. The Tuck data includes an April 2024 checkpoint, while the other headline employment figures use different stated windows.
Second, check the population. Tuck and MIT Sloan specify graduates seeking employment. Johns Hopkins Carey reports full-time employment, and UC Irvine Merage reports accepted jobs within six months. The distinction affects what the percentage describes.
Third, separate base pay from bonuses. A median base salary is not the same measure as a signing bonus, guaranteed bonus, or total compensation. In the reported figures, MIT Sloan’s median base salary was $180,000 and its median signing bonus was $40,000; Tuck’s corresponding figures were $175,000 and $30,000. Those measures should remain separate when comparing offers.
Finally, treat industry and geography as program-specific distributions. Consulting led the listed destinations at Tuck and MIT Sloan, finance led at Johns Hopkins Carey, and technology led at UC Irvine Merage. The regional figures likewise show different reporting definitions. For a career advice decision, the most relevant statistic is the one that matches the graduate population, industry, location, and measurement period being considered.