Darden Releases Class of 2016 MBA Employment Report

University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business has released an employment report for their MBA Class of 2016. Compared to last year’s data, alums’ average income has edged up, as have the number of grads taking jobs in consulting and technology.

A solid 93 percent of alums were offered jobs within three months of graduation, and 90 percent of alums accepted jobs within the same time frame. Most of these offers came before graduation, with 86 percent of the Class of 2016 getting offers before officially becoming MBAs.

Among grads who accepted jobs, the average salary was $122,806 and the average signing bonus $31,370. These figures are up from $119,819 and $29,634 respectively last year.

Breaking things down in terms of job function, 39 percent of the Class of 2016 went into consulting, bringing in an average base salary of $134,770. These stats highlight an increase in the number of grads taking consulting jobs, up from 32 percent for the Class of 2015.

The next most popular job function was finance, accounting for 30 percent of the Class of 2016. Finance was followed by general management (at 20 percent), marketing (9 percent) and, of course, “other” (2 percent).

Looking at the data in terms of industry rather than job function reveals another interesting trend. Besides the expected rise in consulting industry jobs (from 22 to 27 percent in the last year), it shows an increase in Darden alums heading for the technology industry (from 16 to 20 percent).

Darden’s latest group of alums also took on jobs with considerable geographic variety this year. Thirty-one percent were in the Northeast, 19 percent in the Mid-Atlantic and 14 percent in the West. Another 9 percent were international jobs.

But it was grads who took jobs in the Southwest (9 percent) who reported the highest average income, at $137,174.

Of course, the curious person might ask: how did Darden alums land these jobs? Fortunately, the school has stats on that too.

In particular, it appears Darden played a big role in connecting students with potential employers. A full 88 percent of the Class of 2016’s jobs involved school-facilitated activities like school-facilitated internships (49 percent) and interviews on school grounds (26 percent).

Overall, Darden’s employment report reveals a successful and well-rounded class. The school’s Class of 2016 appears to be solidly represented in every major industry and geographic region within the United States. For more info, see the full 2016/2017 employment report.