B-Schools With The Most Women, Minority & First-Generation Students

The University of Washington Foster School of Business. Courtesy photo

FIRST GENERATION COLLEGE STUDENTS

According to the Center for First-Generation Student Success, nearly 1 in 3 undergrads define themselves as first-generation students, or the first in their families to attend college. That usually means they have fewer financial resources and support. While the number of first-generation students rises year after year, the rate of those that earn a four-year degree trails behind traditional students by about 20%.

As part of our data collection, we asked schools in our ranking to report the percentage of first-generation college students entering last fall. Three schools enrolled more first-generation students than non: Northern Illinois University (ranked 86th overall) enrolled first-gen students at a rate of 55.5%, up from the 51.2% it enrolled the prior year.

University of Washington Foster School of Business (ranked 19th) enrolled 55% compared to 50.4% the year before, and University of Texas at Arlington  enrolled 52.44%, down slightly from 53.82%.

At the lower end of the table below, first-gen students made up less than 10% of the incoming classes at 11 schools on our ranking.

HIGHEST & LOWEST % OF FIRST-GEN STUDENTS AT P&Q RANKED B-SCHOOLS

This summer, Cornell University’s SC Johnson College of Business (ranked No. 6 overall) announced a new partnership to offer a scholarship program to attract first-generation college students and equip them with life skills, coaching and mentorship to help them succeed. Private investment firm KKR is sponsoring 50 students in the Accelerators Scholar Program which pairs entering students with upperclassmen to create “mentorship pods” for their early college years. KKR employees will also mentor the students.

In fall 2023, Cornell attracted an entering class that was 23.4% first-generation, up from 20.9% the previous cycle. That’s the second highest percentage of first-gen business students across the Top 10 schools in our 2024 ranking. The No. 2 school, University of Southern California Marshall School of Business, had the highest at 31%, up from 26%.

FIRST-GEN STUDENTS AT TOP 10 B-SCHOOLS

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