Georgetown MBAs See Salary Boost

The McDonough School of Business

The McDonough School of Business

Job placement reports are beginning to trickle in for the class of 2015 and many signs point to a similar message: Out of the gate, it’s a frothy and lucrative job market for top MBAs. Last month, Chicago Booth announced significant increases in median salaries. Indiana Kelley also reported significant median salary increases. And now Georgetown’s McDonough School of Business is the newest top B-school to report a salary uptick.

Yesterday (Oct. 14), McDonough revealed a 7% increase in average salaries to $108,789. More impressively, average signing bonuses leapt by 15% to $27,219. “Over the past five years, the MBA Career Center has implemented new technologies, certified its staff as career counselors, expanded networking opportunities with alumni, and increased employer interactions,” Doreen Amorosa, associate dean and director of the MBA Career Center, said in a prepared release from the school.

In an email to Poets&Quants, Amorosa explained the salary boost is largely due to increased MBAs entering lucrative fields. This year, 33% took jobs in financial services, 28% entered consulting, and 10% went into tech. In all, 71% went into these three sectors—compared to 64% last year.

NEW TECHNOLOGY HELPFUL IN JOB NEGOTIATIONS

“Overall, the large number of students entering finance, consulting, and tech account for the higher compensation,” Amorosa said in the email. “These are the most desired sectors for MBA students, and our students are successfully landing their dream jobs in these industries.”

Amorosa added McDonough’s MBA Career Center has added a new technology that “allows students to look at historical trends of Georgetown placements and compensation.” Amorosa continued, “With this added insight, our students are able to better negotiate their incoming salaries and sign-on bonuses.”

Job offers and acceptances also surged for 2015 McDonough grads. The offers at graduation jumped from 73% to 78% and acceptances rose from 70% to 73%. Amorosa believes the implementation of a summer program is likely the culprit for the influx.

THREE-MONTH JOB OFFERS SLIPPED TO 89% FROM 91% A YEAR EARLIER

“Two years ago, the Class of 2015 participated in a summer program that has become a differentiator for us,” she explained. This year’s graduating class were the guinea pigs, but Amorosa says it’s now a mainstay for incoming students. “We begin working with the incoming class in June via webinars to support the early internship recruitment cycle, which ultimately sets students up for success in these high-demand industries where students often convert their summer internships into offers of employment,” she said.

The only rain on McDonough’s employment rate parade is three-month offers declined from 91% to 89% from 2014 to 2015 and acceptances dropped from 88% to 86% during the same time. A decrease in MBA job placement rate doesn’t happen often but it indeed does. From 2013 to 2014, only nine of the top 29 schools for job placement saw a decrease of at least 2% in job offers three months after graduation. Before this year, McDonough had been at 91% each year since 2012.

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