Bucknell University’s Kenneth W. Freeman College of Management placed No. 19 in the 2023 ranking after ranking No. 17 the previous year and No. 35 in 2021. This is a huge surge from 2020’s ranking of No. 35.
Overall, in the ranking’s three main categories, Bucknell was 22nd in Career Outcomes and Admissions, as well as 24th for Academic Experience.
Admissions-wise, the B-school had a very selective acceptance rate compared to other undergraduate schools at 21.46%, slightly more selective than the 22.78% rate from the previous year. The average SAT score was 1380.
As far as employment goes, Freeman scored high, with 97.7% of the Class of 2022 securing full-time employment within three months of graduation. That’s down a smidge from the 98.29% employment rate for the Class of 2021. Graduating seniors reported an average starting salary of $78,079, up nearly $10,000 from the Class of 2021’s average starting salary of $68,283. Further, 59% of grads received a signing bonus of an average of $6,942.
Meanwhile, 89% of this year’s class landed a business-focused internship before graduating compared to 81% of the previous class.
CURRICULUM
Bucknell University is a private liberal arts institution and the Freeman College certainly takes influence from that in its curriculum. Students can choose from majors including: Accounting; Finance; Business Analytics; Management & Organizations; Markets, Innovation & Design. The Management & Organizations major offers concentrations in entrepreneurship, human resource management, global management and managing for sustainability.
Freeman students are required to participate in the liberal arts-core and many of the management majors have elective requirements that require students to take classes outside of the College of Management. Additionally, all Freeman students graduate well-versed in writing as Bucknell requires students to take at least three writing-intensive classes.
COMMUNITY SERVICE AT THE HEART OF LEARNING
Many of the experiential learning opportunities at Freeman have an element of community service.
Management 101 is the hallmark of the Freeman education. In the required course, Freeman students learn about basic organizational forms, behaviors and decision making by forming a company in their first year, raising funds through a self designed product that is sold on campus and using the proceeds for a service project in the local community. Since its inception in 1978, 310 MGMT 101 companies have provided services and donations valued in excess of $500,000 and have worked more than 100,000 person-hours for their service client partners. At the other end, seniors in the Management Consulting class work with local organizations and communities, such as towns from the coal region in Central Pennsylvania, to rebuild the community.
Oftentimes, business students are taught to prioritize profit and return above all else. But at Freeman, students are taught the value of giving back as well – a powerful lesson that creates compassionate, socially responsible business leaders.
STRONG ALUMNI SUPPORT
Freeman has an expansive and strong alumni network. The B-school recently enhanced its alumni connections through an alumni-mentoring program, which partners first-year students with alumni employed at Goldman Sachs, PwC, JPMorgan, Vanguard, Deloitte, or Johnson & Johnson.
The Freeman education is one that goes beyond business. Its curriculum incorporates the liberal arts. The experiential learning opportunities emphasize the value in giving back. And its alumni network is one that is supportive through thick and thin. For those interested in learning more than just the profit of business, the Freeman College of Management is a good place to start.
2021 Alumni say:
“I was a part of the Institute of Leadership in Technology and Management. This was crucial to my education because it taught me a lot about what the working world would be like. It was a 6-week program learning about leadership while completing a consulting deliverable all while working with an inter-disciplinary team. This taught me soft-skills that would become crucial in the working world, including communication, presenting and professional etiquette. It was extremely crucial for me in learning about the business world and learning how to be a confident leader.”
“My senior year I participated in a small consulting project for Keurig. There were 6 students all from different disciplines working on exciting and real issues for the company. We reported our findings directly to the CEO And other senior employees at the company.”
“Our global immersion trip was to Poland. It was crucial for my education because it allowed to further my cultural awareness and more specifically learn about the different ways the business world manifests itself in different cultures. It was truly a great way to learn about business travel and an immersive way to learn about the interconnectedness of culture and business.”
“The Bucknell Management 101 experience is unlike any other class I’ve ever heard of- essentially, your class becomes a company, and is responsible for bringing a product to market from start-finish while using all proceeds to fund a service project in the community. It’s an unbelievable way to get some great, on-the-job experience.”
