The Wharton School's latest MBA Careers 2020 report found that the percentage of students from the recent graduating class who received full-time job offers dipped below 95% for the first time in a decade.
Of the 681 MBA students seeking employment in the Class of 2020, 93.5% reported receiving a job offer — the lowest percentage since 2010. Over 98% of students seeking employment successfully received a job offer the previous two years. The Oct. 28 report also found that 2020 MBA graduates receive a median base salary of $150,000 — the same figure earned by the Class of 2019 the previous year.
99.9% of Wharton MBA students from the Class of 2021 received an internship offer, but experienced a 11.5% decrease in median salary. The Class of 2020 earned $10,400 monthly from internships as reported in 2019, while the Class of 2021 reported a monthly salary of $9,200 in 2020.
Full-time jobs in analytics and data science saw a 10.7% decrease in compensation from $140,000 in 2019 to $125,000 in 2020, while social impact similarly experienced a 22.4% decrease. Salaries in industries like investment management and consumer products increased slightly, with retail's median base salary increasing 16.7% from last year. Investment management and consumer products also saw a slight incline in salaries for 2020 Wharton MBA graduates.
Financial services, consulting, and legal and professional services experienced no change in median salary at $150,000, $165,000, and $190,000, respectively.
The highest median salaries reported for the Class of 2020 are in legal and professional services, venture capital, and private equity/buyouts/other at $190,000, $171,000, and $170,000 respectively. The previous year also saw legal and professional services with the highest median salary.
According to the report, 86.6% of 2020 MBA graduates are employed in the United States, while 5.4% work in Asia, and 3.5% in Europe.
2020 MBA graduates currently work for a wide variety of employers including J.P. Morgan, Bank of America, Microsoft, TikTok, Deloitte Consulting LLP, Apple, and DoorDash.
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