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27 February 2015

Top Undergraduate Business Programs

Posted in Your College List

best-bschools-2014best-colleges-business-2015Planning to major in business in college?  Here's an article covering some well-regarded undergraduate business schools for you to consider.  

 

 

 

 

 

The Rankings

Of the various rankings we've looked at, we think two stand out: U.S. News & World Report, and Bloomberg BusinessWeek.  First, here are the rankings, side by side.

 

U.S. News & World Report

Rankings are based based on a survey of deans and senior faculty at business programs about peer institutions.

RankInstitution
1 University of Pennsylvania
2 MIT
2 University of California, Berkeley
4 University of Michigan
5 New York University
6 University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
6 University of Virginia
8 Carnegie Mellon University
8 Indiana University
8 University of Texas, Austin
11 Cornell University
11 University of Notre Dame
11 University of Southern California
14 Washington University in St. Louis
15 Emory University
15 Georgetown University
15 University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign
15 University of Minnesota
15 University of Wisconsin
20 Ohio State University
21 Boston College
21 Michigan State University
21 Pennsylvania State University
21 Purdue University
21 University of Arizona
21 University of Georgia
21 University of Maryland
21 University of Washington
29 Arizona State University
29 Babson College
29 Georgia Institute of Technology
29 Texas A&M University
29 University of Florida

Bloomberg BusinessWeek

Rankings are based on surveys of student satisfaction (45 percent of the ranking), hiring employers (45 percent), and the expertise of each school’s faculty, measured by faculty research in esteemed journals (10 percent).

RankInstitution
1 University of Notre Dame
2 University of Virginia
3 Cornell University
4 Boston College
5 Washington University in St. Louis
6 University of Texas
7 University of Pennsylvania
8 Indiana University
9 Emory University
10 University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
11 Wake Forest University
12 University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
13 Brigham Young University
14 New York University
15 University of California, Berkeley
16 University of Richmond
17 Carnegie Mellon University
18 Georgetown University
19 Northeastern University
20 Bentley University
21 Southern Methodist University
22 The College of William & Mary
23 Miami University
24 Villanova University
25 Boston University
26 Babson College
27 Texas Christian University
28 University of Southern California
29 Texas A&M University
30 The Pennsylvania State University

 

Some Considerations

  • Don't confuse rankings between undergraduate business programs and MBA programs
  • As always, take these rankings with a grain of salt.  Be mindful of the methodologies employed, and don't sweat the difference between #1 and #2.  What's far more important is the difference between #10 and #30.
  • If you already have a strong inclination towards a specialty, the U.S. News & World Report also publishes rankings for Accounting, Entrepreneurship, Finance, Insurance, Management Information Systems, Marketing and Real Estate.
  • Unlike U.S. News & World Report, Bloomberg provides profiles that include data specific to their business departments.
  • Be sure to apply to a balanced mix of schools on the list.  Work with your counselor/consultant, or take advantage of tools like College Kickstart to quickly figure out which top-ranked business programs can be considered safety, target or reach schools based on your academic profile and school selectivity. Many of these schools offer early admission programs, which under the right circumstances help improve your odds of getting in.  College Kickstart can help you here as well.

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