The Questrom School of Business at Boston University ranked No. 17 in 2023’s ranking, down two spots from 2022, but up 10 from 2021. Overall, in our rankings three main categories, Questrom ranked 23rd in both Career Outcomes and Academic Experience, and 15th in Admissions.
Questrom had an acceptance rate of 13.54%, up slightly less than 2 points from the 15.23% rate of last year. Its average SAT score was 1411, down from last year’s average score of 1417.
Questrom students have relatively strong employment outcomes, in large part due to the hands-on experience they gain through Core. About 95.58% of the Class of 2022 landed a business-focused internship before graduation, on par with last year’s 95.50%. This year, a strong 98.3% of graduating seniors secured full-time employment within three months of graduation, up from 96.20% for last year’s seniors, and skyrocketing from the 68.53% for the Class of 2020 — which had taken a serious hit relative to the Class of 2019’s rate of 91.77%. The 2020 rate is likely due to the COVID-19 economic downturn.
Average starting salaries for 2022 grads also increased over the previous class, climbing more than $7,000 to $70,991. 48.1% of graduates reported getting a signing bonus of an average of $7,553.
Today, almost 2,500 undergraduates make up the Questrom School of Business. The Questrom education emphasizes both the hard and soft skills of business to give its students a comprehensive education that starts the day they step foot onto campus.
QUESTROM MEANS BUSINESS ON DAY ONE
Questrom offers a single degree, a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. All Questrom students major in Business Administration and Management. However, the B-school requires students to complete at least one functional concentration including: Accounting, Business Analytics, Finance, Independent Concentration, Information Systems, Innovation & Entrepreneurship, Law, Management & Organizations, Marketing, Operations & Technology Management, Organizational Behavior, and Strategy.
Students start their business education freshman year, taking a mix of courses such as Business Ethics, Finance, Economics, and Calculus. Starting in Fall 2019, all Questrom freshmen are required to take the year-long foundational program of Business Ethics and Finance with the same cohort of classmates. As Questrom students progress throughout their four years, they are introduced to more focused business courses from Financial Accounting to Marketing Management.
Unlike other B-schools where students don’t take business courses until their junior year, Questrom allows its students to begin taking business courses their very first day. In turn, this allows students to get a head start on their business education and a leg up in interviews for both internships and jobs.
CROSS-FUNCTIONAL CORE PROJECT
The signature experience at Questrom is the Cross-Functional Core Project, also known as “Core.” Students take part in Core during their junior year, where they work in student teams across disciplines of finance, marketing, operations management, and business analytics to develop a product or service and create a full-fledged business plan. The year-long project is a valuable experience that enables students to understand nearly every aspect of business – from research to presentation.
On top of giving a comprehensive view of the hard skills required to start a business, Core also emphasizes the importance of soft skills such as the ability to work cross-functionally with team members.
For those looking to get a quick start on their business education with an opportunity to learn both the hard and soft skills of business, Questrom is the right place to be.
The Core experience is viewed highly amongst Questrom alumni with many citing the project as one that taught them both the hard and soft skills to succeed post-grad.
2021 Alumni say:
“Each student majoring in business is required to go through “CORE,” which is an exceptional experience that provides students (most without any work experience) a taste of working in the real world and bring a product/service to life from scratch. Students are able to work in large teams and get exposure to different areas (finance, analytics, operations, and marketing) to better understand how different areas of business connect together and to explore which area students are interested in so they can concentrate in such particular area.”
“The team experiences and working with a range of students on so many different types of team projects prepared me to be a team player in the real world.”
“Questrom has a semester where all students are required to do CORE. Each person has their own role on the team depending on their strength, but each person is able to learn about the other arms of the business through discussions, meetings and presentation preparations. At the end of the semester, we have real-world professionals who come in to understand the idea and the potential long-term feasibility. Students have the option to continue this idea into real-life if they see sufficient scope.”
“The London Management Internship Program was an opportunity that allowed me to become more cultured and intern at a foreign company where I built connections and expanded my network globally.”
“Group projects and peer feedback was integrated into every class throughout Questrom. This is extremely helpful in my career now as I manage stakeholder relationships, collaboration, and written peer evaluations.”
