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The M7 By The Numbers, 2025 Edition: Who Gets In — And What That Says About The MBA Market
Hensley Carrasco photo via Harvard Business School
A COLDER JOB MARKET GREETED THE CLASS OF 2024
Three months after graduation, nearly a quarter of Harvard Business School’s Class of 2024 was still looking for a job.
That’s not a typo. In a year when applications to elite MBA programs surged, job placement stumbled. Harvard reported that 23% of its MBA graduates were without offers three months after commencement — more than double the historical norm. Stanford, Booth, Kellogg, and MIT all saw similar slowdowns; only Columbia saw its placement rates grow last year. The cratering revealed that even graduates from the M7 no longer move seamlessly into six-figure roles.
The Class of 2024 learned what many had suspected: even the most prestigious business degrees don’t guarantee immediate employment in a shaky economy.
PAY & PLACEMENT AT THE M7: 2024
| Stats | Harvard | Wharton | Columbia | Booth | Kellogg | Stanford | MIT |
| 2024 Median Base Salary (2023) | $175,000 ($175,000) | $175,000 ($175,000) | $175,000 ($175,000) | $175,000 ($180,000) | $170,000 ($175,000) | $185,000 ($182,500) | $169,550 ($170,000) |
| 2024 Median Signing Bonus (2023) | $30,000 ($30,000) | $30,000 (N/A) | $30,000 ($30,000) | $31,000 ($33,000) | $30,000 ($30,000) | $30,000 ($30,000) | $30,000 ($30,000) |
| 2024 Median Total Compensation (2023) | $221,800 ($220,100) | N/A (N/A) | $198,996 ($201,780) | $197,010 ($203,430) | $197,000 ($200,500) | $231,700 ($231,200) | $214,450 ($217,780) |
| 2024 Job Offers at 3 Months (2023) | 85% (86%) | 93.1% (97.2%) | 89% (84%) | 86.8% (95.6%) | 90% (94.5%) | 88% (89%) | 85.1% (90.2%) |
| 2024 Job Accepts 3 Months (2023) | 77% (80%) | 88.2% (92.3%) | 86.4% (81%) | 84.1% (94.3%) | 87% (91.9%) | 80% (82%) | 77.2% (86.9%) |
Source: M7 employment reports
STRONG PAY AMID FEWER OFFERS
For those who did land jobs, pay remained strong. Most median base salaries for M7 graduates held steady at $175,000, with Stanford the positive exception at $182,500 and Kellogg and MIT trailing the pack at $170K and $169,550, respectively. Signing bonuses all stayed flat at $30,000, except for Booth’s $31K (down from $33K).
Three of four schools reported total compensation packages exceeding $200,000; the rest are knocking on the door. However, that’s a regression from 2023, when every M7 school had total comp — which P&Q calculates by weighting signing and other bonuses by the percentage of those receiving them — over $200K. Four schools’ classes lost ground in a tough employment landscape, including three that dropped below that threshold. Stanford and Harvard, however, kept chugging away, with the former achieving an a median starting package of more than $231,000 and the latter eclipsing $221K.
INDUSTRY CHOICES OF M7 GRADS: 2024
| Class of 2024 (2023) | Harvard | Wharton | Columbia | Booth | Kellogg | Stanford | MIT |
| Consulting | 18% (25%) | 25.1% (28.8%) | 30.6% (36.3%) | 33.8% (38.6%) | 34.8% (42%) | 14% (15%) | 32.1% (33.7%) |
| Finance | 39% (35%) | 36.3% (37.3%) | 35.9% (35.7%) | 32.9% (32.6%) | 18.5% (22%) | 37% (38%) | 25.3% (19.9%) |
| Tech | 16% (16%) | 14.2% (13.5%) | 10.0% (10.8%) | 14.8% (15.5%) | 20.4% (17%) | 22% (24%) | 19.0% (24.1%) |
| Consumer Products/Retail | 3% (4%) | 1.4% (0.9%) | 5.2% (4.0%) | 2.3% (3.6%) | 9.7% (7%) | 2% (3%) | 3.2% (2.7%) |
| Health | 6% (5%) | 5.0% (5.4%) | 3.8% (2.6%) | 4.1% (2.8%) | 9.1% (3%) | 6% (4%) | 6.8% (5.8%) |
| Manufacturing | 5% (6%) | 1.6% (1.3%) | 2.4% (0.9%) | 2.7% (0.6%) | 2.5% (2%) | 2% (N/A) | 6.8% (4.5%) |
| Energy | N/A (N/A) | 1.8% (1.3%) | N/A (N/A) | 1.8% (1.4%) | 1.1% (1%) | 5% (3%) | 3.2% (2.7%) |
| Media/Entertainment | 3% (1%) | 3.0% (1.3%) | N/A (2.0%) | 1.1% (0.4%) | 2.2% (1%) | 5% (2%) | N/A (1.4%) |
| Nonprofit | 5% (5%) | N/A (N/A) | 1.3% (1.6%) | 0.7% (0.4%) | 0.6% (1%) | N/A (1%) | 0.5% (0.7%) |
| Entrepreneurship | 12% (13%) | 6.0% (3.3%) | 2.6% (2.8%) | 3.9% (4.1%) | 2.4% (2.6%) | 23% (25%) | 10% (8.3%) |
Source: M7 employment reports
THE OLD PLAYBOOK NO LONGER WORKS
The job market itself has shifted. Tech hiring remains depressed (see below), with major players like Google and Amazon cutting back on MBA hires (see here and here). Consulting firms, once the reliable fallback for M7 grads, spent much of 2024 delaying start dates, rescinding offers, and trimming summer internship cohorts.
Finance remains stable but is far more selective. Startups and climate-tech firms have absorbed some of the slack, but not nearly enough to make up the gap.
There’s also growing disparity within schools. Students entering business school with prior work experience in private equity, venture capital, or top consulting firms still command premium offers. But for career switchers — and especially international students navigating visa timelines — the wait has been longer, and the uncertainty more pronounced.
TECH PLACEMENT AT THE M7, PRE-PANDEMIC TO 2024
| School | MBA Class of 2024 Tech Placement | MBA Class of 2023 | MBA Class of 2022 | MBA Class of 2021 | MBA Class of 2020 | MBA Class of 2019 |
| Harvard | 16.0% | 16.0% | 19.0% | 19.0% | 19.0% | 20.0% |
| Wharton | 14.2% | 13.5% | 19.4% | 17.4% | 16.9% | 16.2% |
| Columbia | 10.0% | 10.8% | 16.0% | 17.0% | 19.8% | 13.8% |
| Chicago Booth | 14.8% | 15.5% | 14.9% | 14.9% | 16.3% | 20.7% |
| Kellogg | 20.4% | 17.0% | 21.0% | 26.0% | 25.0% | 23.0% |
| Stanford | 22.0% | 24.0% | 30.0% | 29.0% | 28.0% | 24.0% |
| MIT Sloan | 19.0% | 24.1% | 22.6% | 25.0% | 27.6% | 30.7% |
Source: M7 employment reports
INDUSTRY TRENDS TELL THE STORY
In the Class of 2024, consulting claimed a leading share of M7 graduates at three of seven schools, Booth, Kellogg, and MIT, with finance topping all industries at the other four schools. But even where it was the top field, consulting was down from the previous year as firms hired fewer grads, made offers later, and delayed start dates. The MBB firms were a case study: McKinsey, once the single largest recruiter at several M7 schools, pulled back sharply in its MBA hiring; Bain cut summer internship slots; and Boston Consulting Group deferred start dates into 2025 and beyond.
Finance remained relatively stable — particularly in investment banking and corporate finance — but hiring was selective. At Columbia, one of the most finance-focused M7 schools, banking continued to offer reliable placement, but hedge funds and private equity firms narrowed their recruiting targets. Venture capital interest remained high among students, but opportunities were few and fiercely competitive.
Tech saw the most dramatic pullback. Just two years ago, big tech companies made up nearly a fifth of job acceptances at schools like Booth and Sloan. By 2024, those numbers had dropped sharply as Amazon paused MBA hiring, Google dramatically cut its headcount, Meta and Microsoft offered limited roles, and startups suspended hiring or went under altogether. Many companies preferred experienced tech operators over career switchers. For many MBAs targeting tech product management or strategy roles, it meant pivoting — to startups, climate tech, or adjacent industries like mobility and logistics.
So, MBAs are branching out. M7 grads are no longer flocking to the same handful of firms. More are landing in healthcare, retail, real estate, and climate-focused roles. Entrepreneurship is clearly on the rise — led, as always, by Stanford, where nearly one in five grads now go straight into startups or self-run ventures. MIT Sloan and Wharton are also seeing an upward shift toward starting one’s own business, as students dive into AI and climate-tech projects right out of school.
SEE P&Q’S COVERAGE OF THE M7 2024 EMPLOYMENT REPORTS:
CHICAGO BOOTH SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
NORTHWESTERN KELLOGG SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
STANFORD GRADUATE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
MIT SLOAN SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
Next page: Pre-MBA industries and undergraduate majors of the M7 MBA Class of 2026