The Luter School of Business at Christopher Newport University ranked 74th in this year’s Poets&Quants 2023 rankings, four places behind its 70th place in our 2022 rankings.
Luter had a more lenient acceptance rate by about ten percent – with an 87% acceptance rate for their most recent incoming class compared to 77.15% for last year’s incoming class. The B-school’s average SAT score hasn’t been reported for the past few years, but this year, Luter reported a solid score of 1255 for their incoming class.
An extremely impressive 75% of the Class of 2023 secured a full-time position in a business-related field within three months of graduation, way up from last year’s 59% for the Class of 2022. In terms of internships, the school fell significantly, with just 39% of the Class of 2023 securing an internship in contrast to 76% of Luter graduates last year.
While Luter fell a bit behind overall in our rankings this year, the B-school still offers a quality business education that is characterized by its comprehensive core curriculum, strong professional development opportunities, and a capstone project where students simulate a real-world business.
LIBERAL LEARNING CORE CURRICULUM
As a two-year business program, Luter requires all undergraduates to complete the Christopher Newport Liberal Learning Core Curriculum. The core curriculum consists of the Liberal Learning Foundations and the Areas of Inquiry. Courses in the Liberal Learning Foundations include writing literacy, a second language, mathematical literacy, logical reasoning, and economic modeling and analysis.
There are five Areas of Inquiry that are designed to give students a range of scholarly approaches to learning. Areas of Inquiry include: Creative Expressions, Civic and Democratic Engagement, Global and Multicultural Perspectives, Investigating the Natural World, and Western Traditions.
Luter’s core curriculum offers a comprehensive education that ensures a strong foundation in general studies, but also a range of diverse perspectives as well. Through its Areas of Inquiry, Luter teaches students how they should learn rather than what they should learn — an important distinction that prepares students well for the real world.
Upon completion of the core curriculum, students can choose from four business majors including Accounting, Finance, Management, and Marketing.
THE LUTER SIGNATURE PROGRAM
As a small, public university, Christopher Newport University can devote a large portion of its resources to student development. One prime example is the Luter Signature Program, where students explore career opportunities and build personal and professional soft skills. All Luter students participate in at least one extracurricular elective. Elective topics range from “interviewing skills” to “personal marketing.”
In addition to an extracurricular elective, students also fulfill at least one academic elective in the program, with experiences ranging from student research to Bloomberg certification.
Mentorship is a key component of the Luter education. The Executive Mentorship Program allows students to engage in a 12-month one-on-one mentoring experience with a local business executive. Throughout the year-long mentorship, students explore possible career options while gaining invaluable insights from an industry leader.
Nearly every B-school offers some sort of development resource, but what makes the Luter Signature Program unique is the expansiveness of resources students have access to. Whether through a mentorship program or research opportunity, each and every Luter student graduates with valuable experience.
CAPSTONE PROJECT
A large number of Luter alumni that we surveyed spoke highly of their capstone experience, where student teams simulate running a real-world business. Each student is designated a role from CEO to CFO and is tasked with managing their business from ordering inventory to tracking finances. Student teams compete against each other in building and growing their businesses.
“This was extremely difficult but provided me with the realistic experience of the daily operations of running a successful business,” one alumni told us. “At the end of the semester, we had to present our results to a panel of professors and business executives. During this presentation, we had to display our results, go through each decision we made and the outcomes of those decisions, and what we would have done differently to achieve better results. This was an incredible experience for me and helped me grow exponentially in my professional career as I have used what I learned from that specific experience in my profession.”
Many alumni also spoke highly of the collaboration aspect of the capstone simulation.
“I can’t say that the simulation itself was meaningful or practical (ie: a fancier version of Lemonade Tycoon), but the impact came from the group project environment,” another alumni said. “I couldn’t do everyone’s part for them. We all had to trust one another to do our job and really make sure every decision we made was clearly communicated. I’ve thought about that simulation a lot while collaborating on projects at work.”
Alumni say:
“I participated in an internship program where I participated in various accounting functions within a business office at the University. This experience helped me develop good communication skills, writing skills, and other soft skills as well as proper documentation skills necessary in the field of accounting. I learned to demonstrate good communication skills, negotiation skills, time management, planning skills, and team-building skills necessary in the field of accounting. This capstone project helped develop business habits that I have come to use in my current job.”
“Our capstone project had us team up with peers from other majors in the business school to form a successful company. Management, Marketing, Accounting, and Finance majors working together helped me realize what operating a business was really like.”
“There were several projects that are now clear to be key parts of my business school experience and crucial for my post-graduate success. The first being Dr. Spiller’s Marketing 470 course. Students were able to work with local small businesses, identify gaps in their marketing strategy and propose a meaningful marketing strategy with feasible tactics within the next year. Our project focuses ranged from digital marketing to product focused marketing. This course coupled with Marketing 412 and the senior capstone were vital to understanding how marketing strategy supports a business’s vision and how to track and achieve KPI’s to support a business’s success. These lessons have aided me tremendously in my role at Sage Communications.”
“I participated in a marketing and management study abroad that traveled through Europe. The experience gave me a broader perspective on global businesses and how different cultures operate within the corporate world.”
“I was able to gain hands-on real-world projects that allowed me to be confident and capable in my abilities in the workplace because I had already experienced similar scenarios at business school.”
