INSEAD Reports MBA Pay Bumps, Slight Declines in Job Offers

• More than 60% of December 2022 and July 2023 INSEAD master of business administration (MBA) graduates went into management consulting.
• The median annual salary for the INSEAD MBA class of 2023 was EUR 109,600, or around $118,995.
• Eighty-eight percent of respondents received a job offer within three months of graduating.
• Job offers were down slightly year over year.

Master of business administration (MBA) graduates of the international business school INSEAD overwhelmingly went into consulting and landed jobs across the globe, according to new employment data.

INSEAD's employment report for its December 2022 and July 2023 graduating MBA cohorts shows a median annual salary of EUR 109,600, or around $118,995. That represents a 7% increase year over year, according to the report.

Job offers within three months of graduation were slightly down compared to December 2021 and July 2022 graduates: 88% of the most recent two MBA cohorts reported receiving at least one job offer, compared to 94% for December 2021 and July 2022 graduates.

The vast majority, 61% of graduates, went into consulting. Other top industries for December 2022 and July 2023 MBA graduates were corporate sectors at 16%, financial services at 14%, and 9% in technology, media, and telecommunications.

Despite the complexities of the global economy, the adaptability of INSEAD talent has been strikingly evident, Rhoda Yap, global director of INSEAD's Career Development Center, said in the report.

Eighty-eight percent of our MBA graduates reported receiving job offers within three months of graduation. Amid a cautious hiring outlook in the technology sector, our graduates have skillfully navigated toward sectors with robust demand, gravitating toward corporate and consulting roles.

Yap noted that INSEAD graduates faced dynamic macroeconomic challenges, marked by persistent inflation and geopolitical shifts, but said the school's graduates have stood resilient.

INSEAD graduates landed jobs across the globe, including 9% in North America, 36% in northern or western Europe, 18% in Africa or the Middle East, and 22% in the Asia-Pacific region.

A number of U.S. business schools have reported a similar trend to INSEAD, although the international business school stands on its own with the number of its graduates heading into consulting and the distribution of students across the globe.

Columbia University's 2023 MBA graduates received fewer job offers within three months of graduating than in previous years and earned a median base salary of $175,000, holding steady between 2022 and 2023. Columbia also saw a slight bump in the number of students heading into consulting, with 36% in 2023 compared to a little more than 33% in 2022.

As of three months after graduation, 84% of 2023 Columbia graduates had job offers on the table, and 81% had accepted an offer. That number was down from 2022, when 95% of graduates had offers in the same time frame, and in 2021, when 94% had job offers.

Those numbers ticked up by the end of the year: Columbia added a year-end metric in its 2023 employment report, showing that 92% of 2023 MBA graduates had received job offers, and 91% had accepted an offer by the end of the year.

Stanford University reported a decline in job offers, but it also reported a bump in starting salaries: 89% of Stanford 2023 MBA graduates had job offers within three months of graduating, compared to 93% in 2022.

This is partly due to the market, but it is also a reflection of our students waiting for the right opportunity since students continue to receive and accept offers after the reporting deadline, Gina Jorasch, interim assistant dean and director of the Career Management Center of the Stanford Graduate Business School, said in a press release at the time.