Dartmouth Tuck Is The Latest U.S. B-School To Set An MBA Salary Record In 2022

Dartmouth Tuck’s MBAs set school records for employment and compensation in 2022. Tuck photo

The coronavirus pandemic made the start of their MBA journey hellacious. The end result made the trial worthwhile.

Dartmouth Tuck on Tuesday (November 22) became the latest business school to report soaring, school-record salaries and overall compensation for their Class of 2022 MBAs, joining peer schools in the U.S. top 10 and beyond. Median base salary for 255 Tuck graduates seeking employment out of class of 280 grew 16.7% to $175,000 from $150,000 in 2021, and median total compensation — including a median $30,000 signing bonus received by 93% of grads — grew to $202,900, up more than 15% from last year.

“During times of uncertainty, such as we have had in recent years, you need leaders in your organization that can balance their hard skills with a healthy level of empathy and an ability to thrive in teams,” says Stephen Pidgeon, Tuck’s executive director of career services. “Tuck MBAs can, by and large, be plugged into any group environment and find success because they are adept at creating spaces where people can bring their best selves to the table.

“This makes them essential to not only the top consulting firms in the world but top companies in any industry.”

98% OF TUCK MBAs RECEIVED A JOB OFFER WITHIN 3 MONTHS OF GRADUATION

Tuck's employment report is in line with most of its peer schools':

  • Wharton MBAs' median salary grew significantly this year, jumping 12.9% to a school-record $175,000 — after salaries been flat at $150,000 in 2019 and 2020 and risen only to $155,000 in 2021;
  • Harvard Business School grads saw a 16.3% year-to-year increase in median salary to $175,000 and median performance bonuses increase to $40,000 powered a leap in total median compensation to $223,100, a one-year jump of 17.5%.
  • Median and average salaries grew significantly this year for UC-Berkeley Haas School of Business MBAs, who made a median $155,000 and total compensation of nearly $180,000;
  • Virginia Darden School of Business MBAs made a median $175,000, up 21% from the Class of 2021;
  • At Michigan Ross School of Business, MBAs landed a $165,000 median salary, up from $144,000, and a $192,270 median salary package, up from $171,450;
  • At MIT Sloan School of Management, average base salary increased 7.6% from the previous year, to $159,391, and median base salary grew 10% to $165,000; total median compensation was $204,700, up 4.7% from $195,600 last year;
  • At Northwestern Kellogg School of Management, median salary for the class jumped $15,000, to $165,000, and is up 18% since the last pre-pandemic graduating class in 2019; bonuses stayed at a median $30,000, and with 87% receiving them, median total pay came out to $191,100, up 8.7% from $175,800 last year.

Moreover, Tuck 2022 MBAs did not want for job offers: 98% received a job offer within three months of graduation — just shy of the school record 99% set in 2019 — and 96% accepted within the same timeframe. Among international Tuck graduates seeking employment, 98% received offers within three months and 98% accepted offers. Compare that to the last two turmoil-ridden years: In 2020, the percentage of Tuck grads getting a job offer within three months of graduation slipped to 94% while the percentage who’d accepted positions dropped to 92%; the next year, 2021, the numbers rebounded as 98% of grads were offered jobs and 97% accepted, the highest acceptance percentage in school history.

ONE LUCKY TECH-BOUND TUCKIE REPORTED A BONUS OF $128K

Consulting has long been the top industry for Tuck MBAs but in 2022 it nearly took over half the class: 47% secured roles in the sector, up from 36% last year; financial services was a distant second place at 20%, down from 23%; and technology, suffering as a sector just about everywhere, also saw a drop at Dartmouth, with 11% of 2022 MBAs finding work there, down from 15%. Nine percent of the class went into health care/biotech/pharma, down from 13% in 2021. See table above for details.

Median base salaries rose year-to-year for Tuck grads across the top four industries, with consulting and finance even at $175,000, tech at $140,000, and healthcare at $130,000. In the range of salaries, the biggest was found among the 2% of the class who went into private equity/venture capital: $200,000. The smallest was $95K in government/nonprofit/education. And in bonuses, someone in tech reported a mammoth signing bonus of $128,500 — not bad for an industry on its heels.

“Thanks to Tuck’s rigorous curriculum, Tuck students graduate prepared to make an impact at the firms they join," Stephen Pidgeon says in a news release accompanying the new jobs report. "Top companies around the world recognize that. The robust offers received by graduates in the class of 2022 are a testament to the work they put in during their two years at Tuck, setting themselves up for great success.”

DON'T MISS LAST YEAR'S REPORT ON TUCK MBA EMPLOYMENT and BIG NUMBERS IN MIT'S JOBS REPORT: TOTAL COMP NOW OVER $200K

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