MBA Class Of 2021 Jobs: Dartmouth Tuck MBAs Remain In High Demand

Dartmouth Tuck Admissions

Dartmouth Tuck School of Business reported 98% of graduating MBAs receiving job offers in its 2021 jobs report. File photo

When its 2020 job report came out in the middle of Coronavirus Year 1, few expected the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College to be able to top 2019’s impressive report. Then, before COVID had entered anyone’s vocabulary, Tuck threw up some truly great numbers – 98% of graduates receiving job offers, $170,000 total median compensation, $30,000 average sign-on bonuses.

Nobody knew exactly how the pandemic would affect employment and salaries for MBA graduates, but few predicted a rise in pay. But that’s what happened for Tuck graduates, according to 2020’s report, which set new records in median salaries and total compensation.

Tuck’s 2021 report, released today (December 7), continues to show that Tuck MBAs are in high demand across a variety of industries.

“I think the first highlight is that the numbers are so strong. When we look back at the beginning of the pandemic, there was a massive worry about what it would do to MBA employment. And, actually, it’s turned out that the 2021s are probably the class that got hit the worst by it. But, they’ve graduated with frankly incredible employment numbers, even for a normal year,” Stephen Pidgeon, executive director of career services at Tuck, tells Poets&Quants.

98% OF TUCK GRADUATING MBAS GOT JOB OFFERS

In 2020, the percentage of grads getting a job offer within three months of graduation slipped to 94% while the percentage who’d accepted positions dropped to 92%. Those numbers rebounded in the 2021 report. In fact,  98% of grads were offered jobs – just shy of its 99% record from 2019 – and 97% of students accepted, the highest acceptance percentage in school history.

“The number that I always look at most closely is the acceptance percentage three months after graduation. That shows me that students got what they wanted out of (their degree). For us to be at 97% was just amazing, so I’m very pleased with that,” Pidgeon says. 

Tuck grads also matched  2020’S high-marks set in total median pay ($180,000), base salary ($150,000), and sign-on bonuses ($30,000).  Click through the chart below to see how these metrics have fared over time. 

MATCHING 2020’S HIGH-WATER MARKS

In this report, Tuck’s first-year total median compensation (a combination of base pay and signing bonuses) met the high-water mark of 2020’s $180,000 after a three-year upswing that began in 2018. The school’s reported $146,250 median compensation in 2017 grew by $8,750 in 2018, by $15,000 in 2019 and by $10,000 in 2020 – the first year of the pandemic.  

A similar trend is observed in its base salary. After three years at $125,000 from 2015-2017, it rose to $130,000 in 2018, to $140,000 in 2019, and to $150,000 in 2020. This year’s $150,000 base salary matches last year’s record. Average sign-on bonuses have remained flat for three years at $30,000 while the percentage of students getting sign-on bonuses fell slightly to 86% in 2021 after three years of hovering between 87 and 88%. 

Next page: Where Dartmouth Tuck MBAs go to work