
Penned by Karen Gonsalves — Dongrila Inc. Editorial Board
Graduation day has the potential to be a financial windfall for the most fortunate of MBA graduates — those who leave business school with both high-paying jobs and large signing bonuses.
MBA employers award signing bonuses to job applicants to entice them to sign employment contracts. When an MBA program’s graduates receive hefty signing bonuses, that is a sign that its alumni have marketable skills, experts say.
At the 10 business schools where 2016 full-time MBA graduates received the highest signing bonuses, the average was $30,703. The overall average bonus among the 112 ranked business schools that reported signing bonus data to in an annual survey was $15,887.
Graduates of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania reaped the highest signing bonuses: an average $33,433. Wharton tied for №1 in the 2018 Best Business Schools rankings. All 10 programs where grads had the highest average signing bonuses ranked within the top 20.
Below is a list of the 10 MBA programs with the highest average signing bonuses for full-time MBA graduates in 2016.

The signing bonus data above are correct as of June 6, 2017.
