HBS Class Of 2025 Jobs Report: Offers Rebound, Pay Soars

A Harvard Business School graduation. HBS is the second MBA jobs report we’ve seen this season. While an improvement over last year’s numbers for HBS grads, it’s too early to spot broad hiring trends across schools. Harvard Crimson photo

Total pay for Harvard Business School MBAs graduating in 2025 rose 5.4% on average after two years of stagnation, a noticeable bright spot in the school’s latest employment report. Median total compensation was $232,800, up $11,000 from the previous class, when factoring in signing and performance bonuses.

A not so bright spot? Employment of job-seeking candidates, while up, still lags previous highs by five percentage points.

Harvard is just the second major MBA jobs report we’ve reported on for 2025, so it’s still too early to identify broad MBA hiring trends across schools. University of Virginia Darden School of Business reported sluggish job offers and acceptances within three months of graduation, though both schools noted that offers at six months were up.

“Amid a shifting job market, employment rates for the HBS Class of 2025 show positive momentum,” MBA Admissions and Financial Aid Director Rupal Gadhia wrote in a blog post. “Ninety percent of students seeking employment had received an offer three months after graduation, a number that is closer to 94 percent now.”

90% OF HBS GRADS GOT JOB OFFER

For 2025, HBS reports that 65% of its 925 graduates sought employment, the lowest percentage in five years. Of those, 90% received a job offer within three months and 84% accepted.

That’s a marked improvement from the previous two classes where about 85% of job seeking candidates were given offers, and just over a quarter had accepted in 2024. But, it’s still six points lower than HBS’ seven-year high of 96% for the pandemic class of 2021.

Harvard’s job rate is also on par with Darden’s which reported that 90.2% of Darden MBAs received a job offer and 89.3% accepted one within three months of graduation. Six months after graduation, Darden’s MBA offers and acceptances have risen to 95%.

“(Darden’s) Career Services team points to this metric as an indication of the continued change in the market for MBAs. It’s taking a bit longer than in prior years for employers to make hires, and a bit longer for students to accept jobs. This reflects both the market and the preferences of students,” a Darden spokesperson wrote to P&Q.

“More of them are taking time and seeking careers post-MBA in areas that are outside of the traditional areas of consulting and banking. We’re seeing, for example, growing interest in Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition paths among students.”

Both employment reports from Harvard and Darden tracked data for 100% of its graduates, an important distinction given that some schools exclude “no recent information” cases, which can artificially boost employment percentages.

17% OF 2025 GRADS START BUSINESSES

Interest in entrepreneurship also shot up for 2025 MBAs at Harvard, already an MBA startup powerhouse. The school consistently reports among the highest number of MBA founders on our annual list of the 100 highest funded startups. Some 17% of 2025 graduates started their own businesses and 17% joined a startup within three months of graduation.

HBS’s 17% join rate reinforces its reputation as one of the top feeders into early-stage companies. The school defines startups as private companies 10 years old or younger.
Most startup-bound graduates continued to cluster in technology. Seventy percent of startup hires went into tech, followed by smaller shares in health care and manufacturing, each at 11%.

HBS also remains one of the strongest schools in the world for aspiring founders. The Class of 2025 produced 155 new founders with a majority (61%) launching ventures with a cofounder, and more than a third met that person at HBS. Sixty-two of these new companies self-identified as having a social impact mission.

Students also continued to use their two years at HBS as a launchpad for new ideas. While 31% arrived on campus already planning to start a business, many more made the decision during the program.

WHERE HARVARD MBAs GO TO WORK

Of the 35% of HBS graduates not looking for fulltime jobs, 17% started their own businesses, 14% were company sponsored or already employed, 1% were continuing their education, and 2% weren’t looking for unspecified reasons.

For those that did seek and land jobs, finance, tech, and consulting remained the three most preferred industries. Tech even overtook consulting for the second highest career choice, rising to 22% – that’s six percentage points higher than 2024.

Consulting, meanwhile, gained back some ground after falling seven percentage points from 2023 to 2024.

Other industries drew smaller shares of the class. Health care accounted for 6% of hires, manufacturing for 5%, and nonprofit or government roles for 4%.

Ninety-two percent of job-seeking grads accepted roles in the United States and nearly half (48%) stayed in the Northeast. The West grew as a destination, drawing 24% of employed MBAs. Only 8% went abroad with Asia (3%) and Europe (2%) the most common destinations. In comparison, 12% of the Class of 2024 graduates worked outside the U.S.

A BREAKDOWN OF HARVARD MBA PAY

As noted, pay for Harvard MBAs continued its steady climb in 2025, setting records for total median compensation. The Class of 2025 posted a $184,500 median base salary, a jump of nearly $10,000 from last year. When adding in bonuses, total median compensation rose to $232,800, up from $221,800 for the Class of 2024.

Signing bonuses held steady at $30,000, a level that has not changed since 2017. But slightly more students received them this year: 58% compared to 53% for the previous class. Meanwhile, 67% of graduates reported a median performance bonus of $46,100.

The longer view shows how sharply HBS pay has risen since before the pandemic. Base salaries have climbed nearly $50,000 since 2017, when the median was $135,000. Total median compensation grew even faster, up from $174,300 in 2017 to this year’s $232,800, an increase of more than $58,000 in eight graduating classes.

By industry, consulting remained one of the most lucrative paths for many MBAs with a median base salary of $190,000. It also had some of the highest bonus rates in the class: 91% of consultants received both a signing bonus and a performance bonus. Tech salaries were also strong with most offers falling between $160,000 and $200,000.

Private equity attracted 14% of graduates and delivered the most dramatic bonus payouts, with a median performance bonus of $150,000 with 87% of PE hires receiving it. That’s on top of a median starting salary of $188,000.

DON’T MISS: DARDEN MBA JOBS REPORT 2025: OFFERS SLIP TO 10-YEAR LOW AND POETS&QUANTS’ 2026 WORLD’S BEST MBA PROGRAMS FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP

The post HBS Class Of 2025 Jobs Report: Offers Rebound, Pay Soars appeared first on Poets&Quants.