2016 Rankings Report Card: How Alums Grade Their Schools

Students at Cornell University

Students at Cornell University

Would you recommend the business program to a close friend?

520241473 Of all the questions we asked alumni about their schools, the most valuable might well be this one: Would you recommend the business program to a close friend? After all, if an alum feels completely satisfied about their undergraduate experience, the ultimate expression of their approval would be to recommend the program to someone they care about and love. What were the schools that got the most unqualified endorsements and therefore the best grades on this metric?

The top five, in order, are Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business, the University of Texas’ McCombs School of Business, University of Notre Dame Mendoza College of Business, James Madison University’s College of Business, and the University of Massachusetts-Amherst (Isenberg School of Management). On our ten-point scale, all the undergraduate programs scored exceptionally high on this question, between 9.81 and 8.88, with an average score of 9.46. In other words, all of the schools come highly recommended by their alums.

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School Grade
1. Indiana University (Kelley School of Business) A+
2. University of Texas-Austin (McCombs School of Business) A+
3. University of Notre Dame (Mendoza School of Business) A+
4. James Madison University (College of Business) A+
5. University of Massachusetts-Amherst (Isenberg School of Management) A+
6. Brigham Young University (Marriott School of Management) A
7. Washington University (Olin School of Business) A
8. Texas Christian University (Neeley School of Business) A
9. Michigan State University (Broad College of Business) A
10. Wake Forest University (School of Business) A
11. The College of New Jersey (College of Business) A-
12. Georgetown University (McDonough School of Business) A-
13. Southern Methodist University (Cox School of Business) A-
14. Elon University (Martha & Spencer Love School of Business) A-
15. University of Richmond (Robins School of Business) A-
16. Emory University (Goizueta School of Business) A-
17. Texas A&M University (Mays School of Business) B+
18. University of Minnesota (Carlson School of Management) B+
19. University of Wisconsin (School of Business) B+
20. Boston University (Questrom School of Business) B+
21. Purdue University (Krannert School of Management) B+
22. Fordham University (Gabelli School of Business) B
23. Northeastern University (D’Amore-McKim School of Business) B
24. Lehigh University (College of Business & Economics) B
25. University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign (College of Business) B
26. Arizona State University (W. P. Carey School of Business) B
27. University of Pittsburgh (College of Business Administration) B
28. Carnegie Mellon University (Tepper School of Business) B

Source: Poets&Quants 2016 undergraduate alumni survey

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