Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business jumped 19 spots to land in the top 10 of Poets&Quants’ 2025 ranking of the Best Undergraduate Business Programs in the U.S.
In our three methodological categories, it finished seventh in Admission Standards, eighth in Career Outcomes, and 67th in Academic Experience (based solely on our alumni survey.)
It was one of the hardest schools to get into with a 10% acceptance rate for the 2024 incoming class. It also has the 5th highest 6-year graduation rate at 97%.
In career stats, Tepper 2024 graduates posted the fifth highest first year compensation earning an average first-year compensation of $103,119. That includes an average salary of $94,200 and an average signing bonus of $10,402 (which 78% of grads reported getting.)
Some 96% of 2024 grads completed a business-specific internship before leaving the program (the same as last year), and 89.77% of job-seeking candidates found jobs within three months of graduation.
Top employers include PwC, Bank of America, Barclays, Wells Fargo, Capital One, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, MUFG, and UBS.
STEM + EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING
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.
“The Tepper School prepares students for where business is going: a future fueled by data, powered by technology, and unleashed by human intelligence,” the school tells P&Q.
“Students take classes across Carnegie Mellon to build quantitative and analytical skills and gain the social, economic, and political context to make data-informed business decisions in a dynamic global environment.”
Tepper’s curriculum maximizes student choice and flexibility to create academic pathways that match students’ unique academic interests in business. With fewer than 750 business majors, the program is big enough to offer a lot of choice and specialization while providing critical opportunities to connect with faculty, peers, and advisors.
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. In Fall 2024, it introduced a new concentration area – Artificial Intelligence and Business – alongside new interdisciplinary AI courses.
The first year 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. The school’s interdisciplinary focus allows students to take courses and double major in areas like computer science, engineering, and design.
Tepper also emphasizes experiential learning, with opportunities such as the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, connecting students to venture funding and startup resources. It is working to expand experiential learning for undergrads including new study abroad exchanges, academic courses, and industry site visits. Nearly all Tepper undergraduate students engage in experiential learning through student organizations, clubs, and internships before they graduate, and between 10 to 15% of each graduating class participates in an external consulting project as part of their coursework.
Carnegie Mellon also offers a flexible study abroad policy, allowing students to earn credit for programs anywhere in the world, provided their department or college approves the courses as part of a sponsored, exchange, or external program. Tepper fully supports this initiative, guiding students through the process and ensuring they have access to global learning opportunities that complement their academic goals.
TEPPER 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.
In addition to the teamwork aspect of the course, Management Game is also unique in that students are evaluated primarily by external professionals. Examples of exercises include negotiating labor agreements to real union representatives and presenting marketing plans to practicing marketing executives.
ALUMNI SAY
“I worked with a large consultancy to solve a real business problem for a Fortune 500 company. The exposure to consultants and industry executives was invaluable and helped me build my problem-solving, team work, and executive communication skills. I parlayed that experience directly into a career in strategy consulting.”
“Coding Project Based Class where we analyzed the different features of ETFs and tried to replicate a program that would select the best performing ones to beat the market. This was meaningful because it allowed me to practice the data analysis, extraction and coding skills that I have learned and connect it to a real-world problem.”
“Management Game was our senior year required class that allowed us to be in teams and run a simulation of running our own Watch business. It incorporated a real life board of directors where we had to present to alumni on our strategy, finances, and more while competing against other companies.”
“I would not trade my experience at Tepper for the world. It has small-school charm with the heart and rigor of an Ivy. I would, and often do, recommend it to anyone and everyone considering a top-flight business education.”
“Tepper is one of those rare business school programs that truly encompasses a collaborative, supportive spirit throughout. I’ve heard the horror stories with other business schools being toxic and competitive but Tepper students all around wanted to help each other succeed. We would help interview each other, read over resumes, and send over opportunities we believed would be a good fit for our colleagues.”
