Poets&Quants Top Business Schools

Carnegie Mellon University Tepper School of Business

#29

Contact our general manager with any questions. Profile updated: January 24, 2024.

Contact Information

Location:
5000 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213
Admissions Office:
412-268-2268

Tuition & Fees In-State: $307,159*

Tuition & Fees Out-of-State: $307,159*

Average Salary: $94,341

Graduates With Jobs 90 Days After Graduation: 95%

International: 18%

Minority: 20%

First generation college students: 20%

When do students declare their majors: Freshman Year

Acceptance Rate: 9%

Average SAT: 1,516

Average ACT: 34

Average GPA: 3.91

HS Class Top Ten: 82%**

*The total cost of the degree over four years for the most recent graduating class inclusive of school fees, room, board, or living expenses.

** HS Class Top Ten is the percent of the student population that graduated high school in the top ten percent of their class.

*** Please note that these statistics are provided for the business school major only whenever possible. If a school does not track these statistics separately, then the university-wide statistics are provided.

With a strong emphasis on STEM, the Tepper undergraduate business education brings together business, technology, and analytics through a variety of core courses and experiential learning opportunities. 

Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business jumped to an impressive 29th place in this year’s 2023 rankings – up 17 places from last year’s 46th place. This is one of the most significant and impressive jumps in all of the undergraduate rankings this year. Of the three methodological categories, Tepper placed best in Career Outcomes, coming in at No. 4. 

The Tepper School reported a slightly less selective acceptance rate for this year’s most recent incoming class as compared to last year’s – with 9.40% of applicants accepted as compared to 8.62% last year. Their average SAT score bumped up to an impressive 1516 for this year’s class from 1506 – the fifth highest score in the rankings this year. 

The internship rate for the Class of 2023 was 96% – just a bit under last year’s 98.50% for the Class of 2022 securing a business-focused internship before graduation. As for employment, 94.57% of the Class of 2023 were employed within three months of graduation as compared to 96.16% for the Class of 2022.

CURRICULUM STRUCTURE 

The Tepper curriculum is designed around a central core of courses in business, economics, mathematics, and computing courses. Students can choose from 11 concentrations including accounting, business analytics and technology, entrepreneurship, finance, global economics and business, marketing management, operations management, and strategic management. 

Truly a STEM-focused institution, Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper School of Business is designed for students who want a business education that covers the in-demand fields of technology and analytics. Among the top-10 programs in this year’s ranking, there is no other option that matches analytics, technology, and engineering like Tepper. For students looking to combine STEM with business, the Tepper School is the place to be.

The first year at the Tepper School is dedicated to giving students a foundation of skills in analysis, communication, and context through courses in economics, quantitative skills development, and the liberal arts. Tepper students are also required to take Business Science, which sets the foundation for their Tepper business education. 

When asked to rate the opportunities to nurture and improve soft skills in business such as verbal and written communication skills, adaptability, and time management, surveyed alumni gave the Tepper School an 8.5 average score. 

MANAGEMENT GAME 

One of the cornerstone courses at the Tepper School is called the “Management Game,” a 12-credit capstone course that features an applied strategic management and general management exercise. Through the course, students work in teams to operate computer-simulated companies for three years acting as the executive committee of a multinational manufacturing company. Student teams compete against one another to try to add value to their companies. 

“The experience was unique due to the depth of the simulation and broad spectrum of skills used, particularly through coordination amongst team members,” one alumni told us. 

In addition to the teamwork aspect of the course, Management Game is also unique in that students are evaluated primarily by external professionals. 

“Each team reports to an external board of directors and must defend their plans and their outcomes to these people who then provide feedback and evaluate the teams’ performance,” according to Tepper’s website. “Each team is asked to engage in externally focused exercises that are relevant to their career choices.”

Examples of exercises in the course include negotiating labor agreements to real union representatives and presenting marketing plans to practicing marketing executives. 

“The external feedback and evaluation structure of the course makes the exercise sharply realistic,” according to Tepper’s website. “The highly unstructured nature of the class makes it invaluable for students preparing to enter the job market as skilled leaders.”

Alumni say:

“Incredible diversity of students and staff. Lots of unique backgrounds and experiences that enable a great learning experience.”

Our senior capstone was great because we got to interact with alumni in the simulated board room. Since the “business” was a simulation it’s easy to think of it differently but since we had an in person element it was very engaging and we all learned so much from that experience.”

Capstone project was a management simulation game where we split into groups of 5/6 and operated a company in an environment complete with economic shocks and supply chain forecasting demands. We competed directly with other Tepper teams. The project was incredibly comprehensive, but a great way to get a sense for how our learnings would extend to the “real world.”

“I participated in a consulting class my senior year with masters students working with a top 20 pharma company. I wanted to go into consulting specifically in the pharmaceutical industry. This experience helped me market myself to the consulting firms that I was recruiting for.”