For the third straight year, Poets&Quants will publish its annual ranking of the Best Undergraduate Business Schools. This year, a total 0f 88 schools will be ranked — more than any previous year. The rankings will be published in entirety next Wednesday morning (December 12) at midnight Eastern Time.
In addition to the rankings, in-depth profiles on all 88 schools to be ranked as well as five schools that submitted school survey data but did not meet the minimum alumni response rate to be included. A wealth of proprietary data based on the school and alumni surveys — including average SAT scores, employment data, acceptance rates, and average high school GPAs — will also be published.
As always, P&Q will make available all the data used in its ranking as well as additional information such as the schools schools enrolling the most U.S. minorities, international students, and first-generation college students. After the rankings go live, a series of stories will explore which schools leave students in the most debt and which ones offer the most generous scholarship grants.
FOUR NEW SCHOOLS WILL BE IN THIS YEAR’S TOP TEN
Last year, the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School topped the list. Wharton was followed by Washington University in St. Louis Olin Business School, the University of Virginia McIntire School of Commerce, the University of Notre Dame Mendoza School of Business, and Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, respectively. This year’s list features four new schools in the top ten. One school — Boston College’s Carroll School of Management — is being ranked for the first time and debuted in the top ten. (see the 2017 rankings here).
Poets&Quants Best Undergraduate Business Schools ranking is based on three key categories — admissions standards, the college experience, and career outcomes. Each category is weighted equally in the methodology (see How We Crunched The Numbers). This year, just as we did in the previous two years, admissions standards are broken down by business school acceptance rates (30%), average SATs (35%), and percentage of students graduating in the top 10% of their high school class (35%).
The college and business school experience is based entirely on responses to our extensive alumni survey. This year, however, we included results from last year’s survey to increase the sample size and boost the statistical validity of the results. Alumni results from this year were weighted 75%, while last year’s were given the remaining 25% weight. That was the only significant change in our methodology this year.
BUSINESS REMAINS THE MOST POPULAR UNDERGRADUATE MAJOR IN THE U.S.
The final third of the ranking is determined by career outcomes. The percentage of students with full-time employment within three months of graduation is given a 50% weight, while annual salary and signing bonus average is given a 30% weight and the percentage of students completing a business-related internship before graduation is weighted 20%.
Business still remains the most popular major in the U.S. According to the most recent data (updated last March) from the National Center for Education Statistics, 372,000 business degrees were awarded during the 2015-2016 academic year. The next highest category was “health professions and related categories,” which awarded 229,000 during the same academic year.
Of course, no ranking is perfect and a college decision should not be made on a ranking alone. P&Q publishes a wealth of data-based insights on the schools and in-depth school profiles so readers may use this information as a launching place to explore and target their best choices for a quality business education. When the rankings are published next week, take the time to go through the stories and data to begin or aid the college search.
THESE SCHOOLS WILL BE ON THE TOP TEN NEXT WEEK
In no order, here are this year’s top ten schools
- Boston College Carroll School of Management
- University of California-Berkeley Haas School of Business
- Cornell University Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management
- University of Michigan Ross School of Business
- University of Pennsylvania Wharton School
- University of Texas-Austin McCombs School of Business
- Washington University in St. Louis Olin Business School
- University of Virginia McIntire School of Commerce
- New York University Stern School of Business
- Villanova University School of Business
DON’T MISS: BUSINESS SCHOOLS WITH THE BEST UNDERGRADUATE FINANCE PROGRAMS or 10 UNDERGRADUATE BUSINESS SCHOOLS TO WATCH IN 2018
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