Roughly 1 in 6 MBA graduates starts at one of just ten employers. The other 5 in 6 land across thousands of companies. Last year's class was close to 1 in 7, and the Class of 2025 is just over 1 in 6 – same picture.
Every year brings another “Is the MBA dead?” headline and another round of Reddit posts from graduates still searching. We went beyond the surveys and school placement reports and looked at where MBA grads from top programs have ended up: 3,177 graduates from 20 leading US MBA programs, about a year after they finished.
We ran this analysis for the Class of 2024 last year. This year, we ran it again to see what changed.
Here's the short version
Hiring is spread out – About 1 in 6 graduates starts at one of the ten most common employers. The other 5 in 6 are in a long tail, across thousands of organizations of all sizes.
Startups generally hand out manager titles earlier – More than 4 in 10 startup hires started at the Manager level or above, against about 3 in 10 at large companies.
Schools look more alike than their reputations may suggest – Finance and consulting take between a third and just over half of first jobs at the seven schools we charted.
How we did it
The data comes from Live Data Technologies, which compiles workforce data on 124 million professionals from public information on the open web.
A graduate’s first job is the first role that starts after their MBA ends. Full definitions are included in the methodology at the bottom of this post. One thing to know: 2025 figures are provisional, because public profiles keep updating.
1. The most well-known employers take about 1 in 6 hires, year after year
About 1 in 6 of the Class of 2025 started at one of the ten most common employers. If you go back to 2016, the number stays within a narrow band: this holds between 1 in 7 and a little over 1 in 5 every year, usually close to 1 in 6. Even the single biggest employer has never taken more than about 1 in 20 of a class.
Who are the ten most common employers? Mostly consulting firms. BCG took 4.2 in 100 first jobs in this cohort and McKinsey 3.4 in 100. Five of the ten are consulting firms, three are in finance, and two are in tech. No single employer reaches 5 in 100.
Take note: employers with several names in the data (Amazon and AWS, JPMorgan’s three entries, EY and EY-Parthenon) are combined here, so the ten top employers actually add up to about 19% (rather than the 17% above), which counts each name as recorded.
What this means for you: the most well-known companies hire a minority of graduating MBAs. If your job search stops at the top ten companies, you're ignoring most of the market. Even at the top, no single name is a safe bet: the most common employers take fewer than 1 in 20.
“In a strong job market or a weak one, we're seeing that roughly one in six graduates lands at a top-10 employer. That concentration hasn't changed drastically, and for anyone looking for roles, the opportunities we can see in the data sit in a long tail of thousands of employers.” – Alex Hamilton, Live Data Technologies
“While the value proposition of an MBA is evolving, we’re still seeing similar hiring patterns. Top consulting firms and banks are still coming to campus through structured recruiting programs, and MBAs are finding a place at a number of companies we call the ‘long tail.’ While we consistently see op-eds about the death of the degree, the overall trend is pretty similar.” – Laura Nelson, MBA Pathfinders
For returning readers: last year's article put the Class of 2024 at 13%. We've since recalculated every class on the same 20 programs, and that year now reads about 15%. Last year’s chart also covered a slightly different set of schools, so employer names and ranks are not directly comparable.
2. Startups generally hand out manager titles earlier
At large companies (5,000+ employees), about 3 in 10 graduates started at Manager level or above. At mid-market companies it's about 4 in 10. At startups (250 employees or fewer) it's more than 4 in 10.
What this means for you: weigh company size alongside the title. A manager title and real early responsibility aren't always the same thing.
“An individual contributor role at a larger company isn't the same in day-to-day scope as it used to be. With AI, many companies now expect individual contributors to cover more ground than before, so a smaller share of manager titles doesn't necessarily mean a worse outcome.” – Alex Hamilton, Live Data Technologies
“Titles mean different things at different companies – especially at startups. So, a manager at one company may have a different level of responsibilities than a manager at another. That said, it’s well-known that startups generally offer a more accelerated path to promotion. That’s certainly been the case in my post-MBA career across five startups.” – Laura Nelson, MBA Pathfinders
3. Schools look more alike than their reputations
Finance and consulting together recruit between about a third and just over half of first jobs at the seven schools we charted on this metric. Columbia and Wharton are highest, with a little over half. Michigan Ross is lowest, at about a third. The data reveals that no school is all one industry. Schools are shown alphabetically, not ranked, and industry groups are broad, so read the bars as a rough mix.
What this means for you: a school's reputation for one industry is only part of the picture. Look at the full mix of graduates across the spectrum over time.
“These are broad categories and people will disagree about where an employer belongs. The point is the shape: programs look more alike than their reputations suggest.” – Alex Hamilton, Live Data Technologies
“The overall takeaway is that the mix is not substantially different across programs, but certainly there are better avenues to explore for one specialty or geography over another. Some people get caught up in 'Kellogg for consulting' or 'this school is a finance school,' when, in reality, it's a pretty similar mix across the most popular post-MBA career paths.” – Laura Nelson, MBA Pathfinders
How to use this in your search
Build a second list. For every top-ten name you're targeting, add employers outside it. That's where about 5 in 6 of your classmates end up.
Ask about scope, not just title. In interviews, ask what a first-year hire actually owns. A manager title at a large company and at a startup can mean very different things.
Compare schools on the industry mix. If you're choosing between programs, look at what graduates actually do, not what the program is known for.
Run the numbers for your target schools. Live Data Technologies’ chat tool lets you ask where graduates from any program have landed, for free. Here’s what it returned when we asked, “Where have Harvard MBA graduates landed roles in the last 10 years?” Try it for the programs on your list →
Next: the ten-year view
This is a one-year snapshot of outcomes from the Class of 2025. We’re now running a ten-year study that follows MBA graduates from 2016 onward: how fast they reach Manager level, how often they switch fields, how many start a company.
“Most studies are snapshots taken a few months after graduation. With ten years of career history we can show what actually happened after an MBA, which is a more durable question than any single class.” – Alex Hamilton, Live Data Technologies
“People can be shortsighted when assessing whether an MBA makes sense. They look at the worth of a program in a short time frame when they should be looking at ten years plus, in my opinion. That’s where we see the gains in career progression and compensation really compound.” – Laura Nelson, MBA Pathfinders
What should the ten-year data answer? Please let us know – reach Laura at [email protected].
Methodology
Who is included. MBA graduates from 20 leading US programs whose degree ended in 2025 and who show a first job after graduation: 3,177 people.
First job. The first role that starts after the MBA end date.
Employer concentration. The share of first jobs at the ten most common employers in each graduating class. Class of 2025: 17.3%, counting each employer name as recorded.
Comparison with last year’s study. Last year’s article covered 4,231 graduates from the Class of 2024, including some schools outside these 20 programs, and measured share of MBA industry hiring. This year covers 3,177 graduates from 20 programs, as a share of first jobs on record. The two years show the same pattern but are not an exact like-for-like comparison, and employer rankings differ (Amazon was first last year and is third this year).
Leadership by employer size. Manager level or above versus individual contributor, by employer headcount: startup (250 or fewer), mid-market (251 to 5,000), enterprise (over 5,000). Sample: 2,837 first jobs with known employer size. Shares: 43.1% startup, 39.7% mid-market, 30.6% enterprise. Titles vary by company, so the same title can carry different scope.
Industry by school. Employers grouped into six broad industries. A program appears when at least 100 of its graduates have a first job on record. Sample: 1,562 first jobs across the seven programs. Finance plus consulting runs from 34% (Michigan Ross) to 55% (Columbia, Wharton).
Limits. The analysis was completed using observational data, so no claims about cause, salary, or location. 2025 figures are provisional.
Analysis by Alex Hamilton, Live Data Technologies, with Laura Nelson, MBA Pathfinders. Data: Live Data Technologies.
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