Darden MBA Salary Average Declines For The First Time Since Covid-19

UVA Darden

For the first time since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, University of Virginia Darden School of Business MBAs graduated this year at a lower average base salary than their immediate predecessors.

In 2020, the mean starting salary for Virginia Darden’s newly minted MBAs was $139,945, up about $4,800 (or 3.5%) from the Class of 2019’s $135,168 average. In 2021, Darden’s average salary grew $4,988 to $144,933, a 3.6% increase. In 2022, the salary average grew to $157,090, up 8.4%; and last year the average was $167,899, up another 6.9%.

Between 2019 and 2023, Darden MBA salaries had grown by $32,731, an incredible 24.2% leap. But in 2024, amid the headwinds of an uncertain economy that has acutely impacted both the consulting and tech sectors, Darden MBAs reported an average base salary of $163,710, down 2.5% from the average reported by their colleagues in the Class of 2023.

Source: Virginia Darden

OUTCOMES ‘TESTAMENT TO THE HARD WORK & PASSION’ OF JOB-SEEKERS

In addition to the decline in salary average, the school’s average signing bonus also fell this year, by nearly 8%, to $34,562.

The declines in both salary and bonus average reflect “an increased diversity of industry and functional representation in students’ post-MBA career choices,” according to a blog post on the school website. “Graduates entered general management and marketing roles at a higher level than in past years, and are also expanding their influence in the energy, retail and healthcare industries.”

On the bright side, Darden’s full-time MBA Class of 2024 maintained a high median compensation of $175,000 base salary and $30,000 signing bonus for the fourth year in a row.

“These outcomes are a testament to the hard work and passion our Darden students put forward each day in pursuit of ambitious career goals they set for themselves at the beginning of the two-year MBA program. They reflect the well-earned success of our graduates and the enduring value of the Darden MBA in an unpredictable employment market,” Senior Assistant Dean of the Career Center Jeff McNish says. “Our tremendous career center staff, dedicated alumni network and supportive faculty and staff all come together to ensure that Darden graduates access desirable employment opportunities and achieve positive outcomes year over year.”

OFFERS & ACCEPTANCES LOWEST SINCE 2016 AND 2017

A big issue for Darden Class of 2024 MBAs was job offers at graduation. They plummeted by nearly 6 percentage points, to 86.5% of the class, the lowest level since 2016. Acceptances at graduation actually dropped more than 6 points, to 83.4%, lowest since 2017. Offers by three months post-grad were down from 95.4% to 92.9%, and acceptances at 90 days were down from 94.2% to 90.1%.

Darden’s 2024 graduates have continued to move away from the slumping tech industry, with only 8.8% going into that field, down from 10.5% last year and 13.8% the year before; in three years Darden’s tech-bound cohort has been cut in half. Once again, consulting was the top industry in 2024, with 42.5% of the class going into the sector, down from 46.3% last year; finance was second at 26.5%, up slightly from 26.2%.

This year’s class mostly went to work in the U.S. Northeast (28.6%, down from 32.6%), followed by the Mid-Atlantic (26.9%, up from 22.7%), South (13.3%, up from 12.8%), Southwest (12.9%, up from 10.9%), West (8.2%, down from 10.5%), and Midwest (6.5%, down from 8%). Top employers once again include Amazon, Bank of America, Bain, Boston Consulting Group, Dell, McKinsey, and JP Morgan Chase.

DON’T MISS DARDEN MBAs REPORT ANOTHER RECORD CLASS SALARY IN 2023 and MEET VIRGINIA DARDEN’S MBA CLASS OF 2025