SCHOOLS FOR SKY HIGH SIGNING BONUSES
Signing bonuses for new graduates not only boost total first-year compensation; they can also help new graduates settle into new cities or living arrangements where up-front costs are a consideration.
Of course, not every graduate gets a bonus as part of their first-year compensation package. To compare signing bonuses across ranked programs, we multiplied the average signing bonus for 2025 graduates by the percentage of grads who reported receiving a bonus.
2025 Wharton grads reported an average signing bonus of $14,641 with 85.6% of them receiving a bonus of some amount. That makes their 2025 Bonus Total $12,528, the highest of the cycle.
The next highest total is Cornell Dyson at $10,275 and Carnegie Mellon Tepper at $10,220.
Overall, the average 2025 signing bonus at all 110 business schools we ranked this cycle was $7,328, up just slightly from 2024’s average bonus of $7,303. The average percentage of 2025 grads reporting getting a bonus was 31.4% and 32.8% for 2024 grads.
Three of 110 ranked programs reported bonus total over $10,000 this cycle. Nine schools did not report signing bonus data, either because the percentage of students receiving them were too low, or because the data wasn’t available.
HIGHEST & LOWEST SIGNING BONUSES AT P&Q RANKED B- SCHOOLS
HIGHEST |
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2026 Rank |
School |
2025 Signing Bonus |
2025 % Receiving Bonus |
2025 Bonus Total |
| 1 | University of Pennsylvania (Wharton) | $14,641 | 85.6% | $12,528 |
| 3 | Cornell University (Dyson SC Johnson) | $12,974 | 79.2% | $10,275 |
| 12 | Carnegie Mellon University (Tepper) | $14,000 | 73.0% | $10,220 |
| 6 | New York University (Stern) | $11,186 | 70.3% | $7,864 |
| 2 | University of Virginia (McIntire) | $9,746 | 78.7% | $7,670 |
| 4 | University of Michigan (Ross) | $9,871 | 74.9% | $7,393 |
| 7 | Georgetown University (McDonough) | $9,996 | 73.6% | $7,353 |
| 8 | University of North Carolina (Kenan-Flagler) | $8,728 | 78.0% | $6,808 |
| 11 | Washington University in St. Louis (Olin) | $9,583 | 68.3% | $6,544 |
LOWEST |
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2026 Rank |
School |
2025 Signing Bonus |
2025 % Receiving Bonus |
2025 Bonus Total |
| 56 | Susquehanna University (Weis) | $4,308 | 10.8% | $465 |
| 99 | Sacred Heart University (Jack Welch) | $3,944 | 11.0% | $434 |
| 51 | Butler University (Lacy) | $4,007 | 10.6% | $425 |
| 79 | Saint Louis University (Chaifetz) | $5,875 | 7.0% | $411 |
| 95 | Ithaca College | $6,500 | 4.1% | $267 |
| 59 | Bryant University | $5,062 | 4.9% | $248 |
| 106 | Oregon State University | $4,870 | 5.0% | $244 |
| 67 | The College of New Jersey | $4,583 | 5.0% | $229 |
| 75 | Seattle University (Albers) | $5,280 | 4.0% | $211 |
| 92 | University of Mary Washington | $7,500 | 2.0% | $150 |
| 54 | Lipscomb University | $6,000 | 2.0% | $122 |
| 98 | University of Michigan-Dearborn | $4,666 | 2.4% | $112 |
| 70 | St. John’s University (Tobin) | $10,000 | 1.0% | $100 |
| 81 | Duquesne University (Palumbo Donahue) | $1,590 | 5.0% | $80 |
| 85 | Adelphi University (Willumstad) | $2,182 | 1.6% | $35 |
| 61 | Florida Southern College (Barnett) | $1,500 | 1.0% | $15 |
AND THE SCHOOL WITH THE HIGHEST OVERALL COMPENSATION IS …
With average starting salaries, starting bonuses and percent of students receiving a bonus, we estimate overall adjusted compensation. To calculate this metric, we multiplied the average signing bonus with the percentage of graduates receiving a signing bonus, then we added back the average starting salary.
This metric accounts for 30% of the Career Outcomes category in our ranking methodology. The category, in turn, accounts for 33.3% of the overall ranking score. (When calculating this metric, we use two years worth of career data.)
With its high average salaries and signing bonuses, Wharton again comes out on top for the highest first-year compensation. Its 2025 graduates had an adjusted total compensation of $124,558 up 3.6% over last year’s graduates.
Seven other schools join Wharton in the $100K club as you can see in the table below.
ADJUSTED FIRST-YEAR COMPENSATION
2026 Rank |
School |
2025 Average Salary |
2025 Average Signing Bonus |
2025 % received signing bonus |
2025 Adjusted Compensation |
| 1 | University of Pennsylvania (Wharton) | $112,030 | $14,641 | 85.6% | $124,558.3 |
| 7 | Georgetown University (McDonough) | $102,780 | $9,996 | 73.6% | $110,133.4 |
| 3 | Cornell University (Dyson SC Johnson) | $98,943 | $12,974 | 79.2% | $109,218.4 |
| 6 | New York University (Stern) | $99,555 | $11,186 | 70.3% | $107,418.8 |
| 2 | University of Virginia (McIntire) | $94,747 | $9,746 | 78.7% | $102,417.1 |
| 12 | Carnegie Mellon University (Tepper) | $92,170 | $14,000 | 73.0% | $102,390.0 |
| 4 | University of Michigan (Ross) | $94,909 | $9,871 | 74.9% | $102,302.4 |
| 11 | Washington University in St. Louis (Olin) | $93,536 | $9,583 | 68.3% | $100,080.2 |
| 5 | University of Southern California (Marshall) | $91,340 | $9,597 | 60.0% | $97,098.2 |
| 9 | University of Notre Dame (Mendoza) | $89,972 | $9,173 | 55.0% | $95,017.2 |
| 8 | University of North Carolina (Kenan-Flagler) | $87,212 | $8,728 | 78.0% | $94,019.8 |
| 10 | Emory University (Goizueta) | $87,749 | $9,921 | 51.3% | $92,833.5 |
| 25 | Southern Methodist University (Cox) | $85,463 | $9,621 | 59.6% | $91,197.1 |
| 13 | Wake Forest University | $85,806 | $8,245 | 62.0% | $90,917.9 |
Scroll through pages 3-5 to see all the salary, signing bonus, and first year compensation data for all 110 schools ranked in 2026.
NEXT PAGE: Average first-year salaries for Class of 2025
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