ACADEMIC EXPERIENCE
Data for our Academic Experience category is taken straight from alumni. This year, we surveyed graduates from the Class of 2021 between June and December of 2023. We used an average of three years worth of alumni data (Classes of 2019, 2020, and 2021) to create a larger data set and to help smooth wide swings in results from class to class.
To get full credit for the data collected in the alumni survey, we require a 10% or higher response rate from the graduating class. We award schools their alumni data based on a sliding scale reflecting their alumni response rates. However, for the Class of 2019 alumni survey administered two years ago for our 2022 ranking, we had a different methodology that carried through the past two years. For that year, and all previous years, schools that didn’t meet the threshold were not given any credit for the alumni scores and were, as a result, very harshly punished in the overall ranking. We changed that rule last year to the sliding scale, but about 12 schools were dragged down by the average from the alumni survey before the change was adopted. You can read a more thorough explanation of this change in our methodology story here.
Academic Experience is measured by three metrics:
- Satisfaction average on 17 core experience questions, each rated on a one-to-ten scale (80%). For the full list of questions and how the Class of 2021 rated their schools on each one, see How Alumni Rate Their Undergraduate Business Degrees.
- “Significant experience” average as defined as a major consulting project, thesis, or other program feature instrumental to their professional development, or a meaningful global immersion (10%).
- Average of students whose first jobs after graduation were in their desired industries and companies (10%).
Experience Rank |
School |
10-Point Average |
Desired Job Average |
Signature Experience Average |
| 1 | University of Virginia (McIntire) | 9.33829657 | 80.09% | 64.10% |
| 2 | Indiana University (Kelley) | 9.17100490 | 79.10% | 71.78% |
| 3 | Georgetown University (McDonough) | 9.16727941 | 86.56% | 53.61% |
| 4 | University of Michigan (Ross) | 8.99834559 | 75.20% | 73.40% |
| 5 | Georgia Institute of Technology (Scheller) | 9.27901961 | 84.04% | 44.36% |
| 6 | University of Southern California (Marshall) | 8.85267157 | 80.98% | 72.84% |
| 7 | University of North Carolina (Kenan-Flagler) | 9.01946078 | 80.73% | 62.22% |
| 8 | Texas Christian University (Neeley) | 9.13109069 | 78.72% | 54.11% |
| 9 | University of Illinois (Gies) | 9.04709559 | 78.28% | 57.69% |
| 10 | University of Notre Dame (Mendoza) | 9.14062500 | 82.20% | 45.37% |
| 11 | Fordham University (Gabelli) | 8.95698529 | 78.34% | 58.17% |
| 12 | Cornell University (Dyson SC John) | 9.29545343 | 78.35% | 35.73% |
| 13 | Miami University (Farmer) | 8.73795343 | 76.11% | 66.15% |
| 14 | Washington University in St. Louis (Olin) | 8.85328431 | 74.80% | 56.03% |
| 15 | Villanova University | 8.83058824 | 75.58% | 56.33% |
| 16 | Southern Methodist University (Cox) | 8.95276961 | 76.99% | 42.66% |
| 17 | Elon University (Love) | 8.65373775 | 72.78% | 65.41% |
| 18 | New York University (Stern) | 8.61058824 | 73.83% | 65.05% |
| 19 | Bucknell University | 8.79224265 | 77.49% | 47.44% |
| 20 | Hult International Business School | 8.65430147 | 60.35% | 70.84% |
| 21 | Binghamton University | 8.79490196 | 72.81% | 47.03% |
| 22 | University of Richmond (Robins) | 8.73647059 | 73.27% | 46.44% |
| 23 | University of Pittsburgh | 8.71981618 | 75.02% | 45.45% |
| 24 | Christopher Newport University (Luter) | 8.46278186 | 77.04% | 59.54% |
| 25 | Emory University (Goizueta) | 8.67495098 | 76.20% | 43.58% |
| 26 | University of Tennessee (Haslam) | 8.55197304 | 71.66% | 55.02% |
| 27 | Boston University (Questrom) | 8.42493873 | 68.18% | 60.25% |
| 28 | Providence College | 8.61132353 | 67.51% | 48.13% |
| 29 | Texas A&M University (Mays) | 8.68699755 | 69.88% | 40.81% |
| 30 | University of Pennsylvania (Wharton) | 8.38946680 | 74.35% | 55.01% |
| 31 | Lipscomb University | 8.43692402 | 61.36% | 62.14% |
| 32 | University of Arizona (Eller) | 8.59170343 | 70.08% | 43.58% |
| 33 | Northeastern University (D’Amore-McKim) | 8.22142157 | 71.40% | 65.45% |
| 34 | University of Dayton | 8.33473039 | 72.39% | 55.94% |
| 35 | Seton Hall (Stillman) | 8.44852941 | 66.33% | 50.75% |
| 36 | Bowling Green State University (Schmidthorst) | 8.55063725 | 68.02% | 41.56% |
| 37 | University of Minnesota (Carlson) | 8.12986520 | 68.79% | 67.43% |
| 38 | University of Wisconsin-Madison | 8.53219363 | 74.42% | 36.46% |
| 39 | Marian University (Indianapolis) | 8.30950980 | 61.04% | 59.69% |
| 40 | Ohio University | 8.40151961 | 63.55% | 51.45% |
| 41 | Drexel University (LeBow) | 8.43061275 | 68.96% | 44.79% |
| 42 | University of Miami (Herbert) | 8.59745098 | 67.43% | 34.67% |
| 43 | University of New Hampshire (Paul) | 8.48629902 | 63.35% | 44.53% |
| 44 | University of Washington (Foster) | 8.21295343 | 67.39% | 57.98% |
| 45 | University of San Diego | 8.33530637 | 67.99% | 48.88% |
| 46 | Duquesne University (Palumbo Donahue) | 8.41490196 | 64.78% | 46.15% |
| 47 | University of Houston (Bauer) | 8.61127451 | 66.44% | 31.27% |
| 48 | Purdue University (Krannert) | 8.42742647 | 66.18% | 42.51% |
| 49 | Roger Williams University (Gabelli) | 8.49941177 | 43.57% | 55.72% |
| 50 | Saint Louis University (Chaifetz) | 8.19177696 | 73.82% | 46.44% |
| 51 | Florida Southern College | 8.38459559 | 62.22% | 41.75% |
| 52 | University of North Carolina-Wilmington | 8.37988971 | 56.45% | 45.46% |
| 53 | Syracuse University (Whitman) | 8.02359069 | 63.54% | 60.80% |
| 54 | Lehigh University | 8.05442402 | 73.37% | 49.96% |
| 55 | University of Denver (Daniels) | 8.10296569 | 64.58% | 50.73% |
| 56 | Loyola Marymount University | 8.48823529 | 50.00% | 36.67% |
| 57 | Worcester Polytechnic Institute | 7.77121324 | 64.30% | 70.08% |
| 58 | University of Oklahoma (Price) | 8.06009804 | 63.21% | 52.45% |
| 59 | University of South Carolina (Darla Moore) | 7.97186275 | 70.39% | 49.72% |
| 60 | Tulane University (Freeman) | 7.93129902 | 68.21% | 52.78% |
| 61 | Hofstra University (Zarb) | 8.09093137 | 65.07% | 39.75% |
| 62 | College of New Jersey | 8.03696078 | 64.82% | 43.17% |
| 63 | University of Texas at Dallas (Jindal) | 8.08147059 | 67.82% | 34.58% |
| 64 | University of Delaware (Lerner) | 7.87306373 | 66.77% | 48.83% |
| 65 | Ithaca College | 7.92431373 | 61.42% | 50.02% |
| 66 | Seattle University (Albers) | 8.15020833 | 56.94% | 38.73% |
| 67 | St. John’s University (Tobin) | 7.89996324 | 68.41% | 39.26% |
| 68 | University of the Pacific (Eberhardt) | 8.17121324 | 49.86% | 35.31% |
| 69 | Rutgers Business School – New Brunswick | 8.09898284 | 68.13% | 23.23% |
| 70 | Rutgers Business School – Newark | 8.15110294 | 59.21% | 22.39% |
| 71 | University of Kentucky (Gatton) | 7.69810049 | 63.37% | 28.72% |
| 72 | Rochester Institute of Technology (Saunders) | 7.46476716 | 57.96% | 47.19% |
| 73 | University of Michigan-Dearborn | 7.71479167 | 53.56% | 33.85% |
| 74 | Sacred Heart University | 7.53600490 | 58.45% | 37.29% |
| 75 | University of Evansville | 7.48686275 | 61.61% | 33.63% |
| 76 | Towson University | 7.49996324 | 55.66% | 30.51% |
| 77 | Michigan State University (Broad) | 7.30485618 | 57.93% | 33.78% |
| 78 | Wake Forest University | 7.01451461 | 60.93% | 43.05% |
| 79 | Northern Illinois University | 6.88131127 | 52.96% | 26.55% |
| 80 | Oregon State University | 6.10169020 | 49.11% | 26.43% |
| 81 | University of Georgia (Terry) | 5.71725490 | 43.96% | 30.23% |
| 82 | William & Mary (Mason) | 5.66058824 | 44.56% | 17.59% |
| 83 | Carnegie Mellon University (Tepper) | 5.18607843 | 48.36% | 31.06% |
| 84 | University of Utah (Eccles) | 5.02117647 | 38.83% | 27.31% |
| 85 | American University (Kogod) | 4.80653186 | 42.82% | 34.29% |
| 86 | Texas Tech University (Rawls) | 3.19174794 | 25.47% | 13.56% |
| 87 | Florida International University | 2.03211484 | 14.40% | 5.98% |
| 88 | University of Texas at Arlington | 1.61767925 | 9.21% | 1.02% |
| 89 | San Diego State University | 1.24762941 | 7.87% | 4.88% |
| 90 | University of Akron | 0.71935294 | 5.36% | 6.43% |
| 91 | University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (Lubar) | 0.31572157 | 2.17% | 1.55% |
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