Consulting Slips, Salaries Grow For Emory MBAs

Emory Goizueta

It’s the story of the pandemic — at least where MBA jobs are concerned. Offers and acceptances are down, but salaries are holding firm, even rising. Among top-25 schools, we’ve seen it again and again — and now we see it at Emory University, where Goizueta Business School has just released its 2020 MBA employment report showing that, indeed, job offers decreased in the coronavirus-plagued year of 2020 while average starting salaries and bonuses increased.

Ninety-two percent of Emory’s 2020 MBAs received offers within three months, down from last year’s stellar 97%, which led all major U.S. programs. Additionally, 90% accepted offers within three months, versus 95% last year. But while offers and acceptances were down for the 181 members of the Class of 2020, average starting salary increased to $130,112, up 2.3% from last year’s $127,238, and average starting salary-plus-bonus jumped to $158,153 from $149,575 — an increase of 5.7%.

“The past year has been a difficult one, both for the aspiring business leaders in our program and for our corporate partners seeking top talent,” Emory Goizueta interim Dean Karen Sedatole tells Poets&Quants. “But I’m thrilled with the resilience our students have shown — which will serve them well throughout their careers — and the close connections with employers Goizueta’s Career Management Center has leveraged to deliver extraordinary employment outcomes for the class of 2020.”

CONSULTING BASE SALARIES PACED ALL OTHERS AT $160K MEDIAN

Consulting continues to be where Goizueta places most of its graduates, but it fell considerably this year, down from nearly half the Class of 2019 — 45% — to 34% in 2020. Financial services benefited the most, growing to 31% of the class from 16%, while technology grew to 16% from 12%. No other sector was above 10%, though “other,” which includes communications and government jobs, accounted for 14% of the class.

Consulting may have slipped but Emory MBAs in the industry still make the most money. The median base salary for graduates accepting roles in consulting services is $160,000 in 2020, up from $145,000 last year, a 10.3% increase. Goizueta’s finance MBAs make a base salary of $130K, up from $125K last year, while tech MBAs make $120K, same as last year.

Most (58%) MBAs graduating from the Atlanta, Georgia B-school stay in the U.S. South, an increase from 50% in 2019, while 15% head for the Northeast corridor of New York-Boston (down from 18%), and 12% go west to California or Seattle, exactly the same amount as in 2019.

TECH INTERNSHIPS GROW BIG

Most of the jobs accepted by Goizueta MBAs in 2020 came from internships: 52%. That’s an increase from 45% last year. The high number makes this year’s internship data instructive for those reading the tea leaves for next year’s employment picture. By industry, most of Goizueta’s rising second-years again worked in consulting (30%), but it was a much closer race for second place, with finance internships accounting for 20% of the class and tech summer jobs 19%. In 2019, consulting was at 31%, while finance was 19% and tech just 10%.

Forty-three percent of summer jobs were arranged through the school this year, up slightly from last year’s 41%. Twenty percent were student-initiated, up from 14% in 2019. Emory’s employment report did not contain internship pay data this year.

See the full Emory Goizueta 2020 MBA employment report here.

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