Bucknell University’s Kenneth W. Freeman College of Management held their place from last year’s 2023 rankings in this year’s rankings. Overall, in the ranking’s three main categories, Bucknell was strongest in the Academic Experience category, where they placed No. 19.
Admissions-wise, the B-school had a less selective acceptance rate than last year’s 21.46%, at a solid 26% for the most recent incoming class this year. Their average SAT stats went down ever so slightly to 1376 for this year’s most recent incoming class from last year’s 1380.
As far as employment goes, Bucknell scores went down but still remained high, with 92.68% recent graduates securing full-time employment within three months of graduation, down just a bit from 97.70% for the previous year’s class. Graduated seniors reported an average starting salary of $80,886.
Meanwhile, Bucknell has been trending upward year after year when it comes to internship rates, with 94% landing a business-focused internship before graduation. Of last year’s class, 89% of students had landed an internship, and the year before, 81%.
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.
Bucknell 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 Freeman College of Management. Additionally, all Bucknell 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 Bucknell have an element of community service.
Management 101 is the hallmark of the Bucknell education. In the required course, 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 Bucknell, students are taught the value of giving back as well – a powerful lesson that creates compassionate, socially responsible business leaders.
STRONG ALUMNI SUPPORT
Bucknell 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 Bucknell 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 solid place to start.
Alumni say:
“I was a part of many signature experiences among them being the College’s student advisory board where I advised the school administration, multi day trips to NYC and DC for experiential learning, running design sprints for non-profits and multi-million dollar companies, and a class that acted as our own company. The most consequential experience I had was winning the school’s shark tank style competition after which I continued to receive support from and worked alongside the small business development center to develop an entrepreneurial ecosystem on campus.”
“Bucknell’s future forward and innovative business program allowed me to pursue my passions by developing skills which catered to these areas as opposed to being confined to a rigid curriculum. My learnings focused on consumer behavior, allowing me to combine knowledge in business, psychology and sociology. My project allowed me to draw in these skills while developing new skills in computer science as well as getting involved in the Lewisburg local community by creating a website for a client local to Bucknell.”
“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 me 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.”
