Best Job Placement For Biz Undergrads

career ladderThe reason many students major in business is simple: They pretty much think that by the time they graduate a fairly decent job will be waiting. That’s generally true, especially compared to many other majors. But some business schools are obviously better at landing jobs for their students than others.

Last year, for example, at least three business schools reported 100% rates of job offers three months after graduation: the University of Texas at Austin, Syracuse University, and Tulane University. The majority of the top-ranked schools, not surprisingly, score well in this category, with Washington University and Emory University reporting job offer rates of 97% three months after commencement.

But there also are some surprises in the other direction. At Providence College, seven out of every ten graduates last year failed to have a single job offer three months after getting their business diplomas. At Boston University’s business school, nearly half the class failed to have an offer, while at Baylor University, more than four in ten grads lacked an offer three months after graduation.

What do these weak stats tell you about these highly ranked business programs? The schools are either under investing in critical support functions, such as career management, or have lackluster alumni networks for graduates to leverage into employment opportunities. Either way, it’s a cause for concern because the 2013 job market was one of the best in recent memory for business undergrads.

Our analysis of placement data at these schools also shows that the big time recruiters of undergraduate talent tend to be the big accounting firms–PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte, Ernst & Young and KPMG–the big banks–JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Citigroup–and an assortment of big companies that need incoming talent–Amazon.com, General Electric, IBM, General Motors, and Microsoft. These firms often show up on the lists of the top employers at the best undergraduate business programs.
 

TOP SCHOOLS WITH THE BEST PLACEMENT STATS FOR THE CLASS OF 2013

 

School 2013 Job Offers Top Employers Top Industries
University of Texas-Austin (McCombs) 100% Deloitte, PWC, E&Y, Accenture Finance, Consulting, Energy
Syracuse University (Whitman) 100% Macy’s, JP Morgan, E&Y, Ross Stores Finance, Manufacturing, Media/Entertainment
Tulane University (Freeman) 100% PWC, Grant Thornton, E&Y, Postlewaite & Netterville Finance, Media/Entertainment, Consulting, Non-Profit
Washington University (Olin) 97% Deloitte, Epic Systems, Bloomingdales, Anheuser-Busch Finance, Consulting, Media/Entertainment
Emory University (Goizueta) 97% Deloitte, PWC, JP Morgan, E&Y Finance, Consulting, Media/Entertainment
University of Notre Dame (Mendoza) 97% Deloitte, E&Y, PwC, Target Finance, Accounting, Consulting, Consumer Products/Retail
New York University (Stern) 96% PWC, Goldman Sachs, IBM, JP Morgan Finance, Consulting, Media/Entertainment
University of Pennsylvania (Wharton) 94% Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, BCG, JP Morgan Finance, Consulting, Real Estate
Indiana University (Kelley) 94% E&Y, PWC, Macy’s, Deloitte Finance, Consulting, Manufacturing
Michigan State (Broad) 94% Deloitte, Kohl’s, Amazon.com, Chrysler Finance, Manufacturing, Consulting
University of Denver 94% JP Morgan, Enterprise, First Bank, Four Seasons Finance, Real Estate, Consulting
University of Michigan (Ross) 92% JP Morgan, E&Y, Microsoft, Goldman Sachs Consulting, Finance, Manufacturing
Georgia Institute of Technology 92% Deloitte, IBM, Accenture, SunTrust Consulting, Finance, Manufacturing
Wake Forest University 91% E&Y, PWC, Deloitte, KPMG Finance, Consulting, Media/Entertainment
Northeastern University (D’Amore-McKim) 91% PWC, General Electric, Deloitte, Goldman Sachs Finance, Consulting, Manufacturing, Media/Entertainment
Miami University-Ohio 91% E&Y, PWC, Deloitte, JP Morgan Finance, Consulting, Manufacturing
Texas Christian (Neeley) 91% Textron, Lockheed Martin, Deloitte, General Motors Finance, Media/Entertainment, Consulting
Babson College 90% PWC, BankofAmerica, EMC, Staples Finance, Media/Entertainment, Manufacturing
University of San Diego 90% E&Y, PWC, KPMG Finance, Real Estate
University of Miami 90% Citigroup, JP Morgan, University of Miami, Nielsen Finance, Real Estate, Manufacturing

Source: Business schools reporting to Bloomberg BusinessWeek

(See the following page for the ranked schools with the worst placement stats)