By Rebecca Cook, executive director of Kelley Career Services
National rankings are important. Location, too. However, few measurements of an MBA program carry as much weight as its employment stats—and 93% of the most recent graduates of Kelley’s top 20 Full-Time +Flex MBA Program had job offers within 90 days.
93% is one of the best showings among the top 25 MBA programs. Our graduates received offers from a variety of companies and industries across the country, including the top consulting, consumer goods, healthcare, financial services, and tech companies. The mean starting compensation (salary and signing bonus) for our grads increased to more than $167,000. Base salaries range from $70,000 to $205,000.
Where they work
If you’re surprised that 29.5% of graduates received offers from companies in the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic regions and 15.6% received offers from companies in the West and Southwest, then you’re not yet familiar with Kelley’s massive alumni network and corporate partners who want to meet our students every year.
Many of our graduates want to live and work in the Midwest, the source of 55.8% of offers last year. For those with eyes toward New York, San Francisco, Austin, Atlanta, and other areas, likely will find Kelley alumni (133,000+) working at companies in these regions—and our alums are generous with their time, career insights, and support of Kelley MBAs.
Look deeper at the best MBA job placement stats
Choosing an MBA program is a big decision and employment stats, which most MBA programs share on their websites, provide useful information. I encourage you to look at the entire program for a better idea of the culture behind the statistics.
When I consider our 93% job offer rate, I see the resilience in our students and the undeniable benefits of a smaller MBA program combined with a highly personalized approach. Faculty and staff really get to know students. Our students create a tight-knit community to support each other in Bloomington and wherever their careers take them.
I also see an indescribable amount of hard work and innovation involving students, faculty and program staff, executive career coaches and employer relations staff, alumni, and corporate partners. Today’s economy is particularly challenging for MBA grads, but we see this collaborative energy from our Kelley community year after year. Often the best way to learn what’s behind the stats is to talk with students, alumni, faculty, and staff involved with the program.
Getting personal
What are career services like for our MBA students? Our career services office partners closely with the MBA program office to ensure that students can receive all the support that they need from different angles. It’s simple—we know we can help students more effectively when we know them on a personal level. We work on this throughout the two-year program:
- We connect with our incoming MBAs for resume reviews and career planning well before they arrive on campus.
- Once here, but before classes begin, our MBAs are immersed for two weeks in our groundbreaking Me, Inc. orientation to prepare for networking, interviewing, and more career planning.
- Students take a required professional development course in their first semester as part of their MBA Core classes.
- They also continue meeting with their career coaches on a regular basis to ensure they are getting what they need—practice interviewing, networking, etc.
- After that intense first semester, the career services team and students stay connected, whether students are in person or virtual for their second year.
One more thing about 93%
Some of our graduates launched careers they may not have imagined just two years earlier—another benefit of our personalized approach. Our students can change their minds about their career paths, and we can help and support them as they pivot or explore better paths before they graduate. We also work with them on alternate plans so they know how to handle difficult markets or surprises.