Students from the University of Virginia’s McIntire School of Commerce gather outside on campus in Charlottesville. In Poets&Quants’ 2026 ranking of the Best Undergraduate Business Programs in the U.S., McIntire alumni rated their academic experience higher than any other program.
When researching undergraduate business schools, some data points should be on every prospective student’s checklist: total cost, acceptance rate, and employment prospects.
But those numbers don’t tell the full story. Prospective students also want to know what alumni think of their experience — whether professors are supportive leaders in their fields, whether schools offer strong industry connections that lead to career-launching internships, and whether the curriculum includes hands-on projects or global experiences that bring classroom lessons into the real world.
To get a true feel for the learning experience at any of the 110 schools in our 2026 ranking of the Best Undergraduate Business Programs in the U.S., it’s best to go straight to the source: The alumni.
Each year, Poets&Quants For Undergrads surveys thousands of recent graduates on their experience inside the programs. We ask more than a dozen questions on everything from cost to career impact, from faculty responsiveness to extracurricular opportunities. Nowhere else can school seekers find so much insider information on so many top business programs all in one place.
For this ranking, we sent alumni surveys to the Class of 2023 graduates. (See the full ranking here.) We think two years after graduation is an ideal time to ask alumni to evaluate their programs because they’ve had ample time to gauge their degrees’ usefulness, but it’s not so long ago that they’ve forgotten the details of their experience. So, we always survey alumni who graduated two years prior.
We sent surveys to 53,372 eligible alumni and 6,6061 responded. We used those responses to calculate the Academic Experience portion of our overall ranking, accounting for a third of a school’s final score. We believe student experience matters in any reputable ranking effort. (Read our full ranking methodology here.)
2023 ALUMNI RATE VIRGINIA MCINTIRE THE HIGHEST
For this year, Class of 2023 alumni rated University of Virginia’s McIntire School of Commerce (ranked No. 2 overall) higher than any of the other 110 schools in our ranking. Class of 2022 alumni rated it the third highest out of 104 ranked programs for 2025 while Class of 2021 alumni rated it the highest out of 91 programs in 2024.
Across 15 top-of-mind questions, McIntire alumni rated their school an average of 9.3 out of 10. They gave McIntire a perfect score for the likelihood they would recommend their business school to a friend or family member and were the most satisfied with their current salary on our ranking.
“Attending UVA as an out-of-state student was the best decision I’ve made to date and I am grateful for the experience and all the doors it opened for me every single day,” an alumni told us.
Georgia Institute of Technology’s Scheller School of Business (No. 15 overall) was rated the second highest by alumni, followed by ranking newcomer Susquehanna University’s Sigmund Weis School of Business (No. 56 overall).
“Attending the Scheller College of Business was one of the most defining experiences of my life. Scheller offered the perfect blend of academic rigor, personal support, and real-world relevance,” a 2023 alum told us. “Professors connected every lesson to the evolving business landscape and genuinely invested in students’ success. With Tech Square right across the street, opportunities for networking, hands-on projects, and corporate exposure were constant. Scheller didn’t just teach me business—it launched me into my future.”
Susquehanna Weis had among the highest response rates for this year’s survey at 25% of the surveyed class. That’s an impressive showing for a school new to the process.
“I had a phenomenal experience at Sigmund Weis School of Business, and I do not believe that I would have been able to do all that I have at 25 years old without this small university and the resources I had access to,” says a 2023 alum.
See how 2023 alumni rated the 1110 ranked undergraduate business schools on each of the questions from our alumni survey in the following pages.
OVERALL EXPERIENCE SATISFACTION
Perhaps the most important question we ask on the alumni survey is the likelihood they would recommend their undergrad business program to others. At the end of the day – after spending tens of thousands of dollars and several years – it is the ultimate testament to program quality.
Two questions on our survey get to the heart of an alumni’s overall satisfaction with their business program: Would they recommend the program, and how well the program prepared for the world of work.
Each answer is based on a 10-point scale with 10 being the highest or most likely.
More Alumni Responses:
- OVERALL EXPERIENCE SATISFACTION? (Page 1)
- WAS THE DEGREE WORTH THE TIME AND COST? (Page 2)
- FACULTY QUALITY & ACCESSIBILITY (Page 3)
- ACADEMIC ADVISING AND CAREER COACHING (Page 4)
- BUILDING A PROFESSIONAL NETWORK (Page 5)
- CAREER OUTCOMES (Page 6)
- SKILL DEVELOPMENT (Page 7)
- SIGNATURE EXPERIENCE (Page 8)
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