Debuting in our Best Undergraduate Rankings at No. 84 is the Poole College of Management at North Carolina State University. Poole finished 43rd in Admissions Standards and 75th in Employment Outcomes but failed to meet the minimum response rate in the alumni survey and was penalized to 89th place in the Academic Experience category.
Still, North Carolina State is a top university in an exciting area of the country. Poole offers degrees in accounting and economics along with the traditional business administration degree. Within the BBA degree, students can pick from six concentrations including entrepreneurship, finance, human resource management, information technology, marketing, and operations/supply chain management. The four-year program allows freshmen to start business courses during their first year.
BUSINESS ANALYTICS COURSE REQUIRED AMONG ALL BUSINESS STUDENTS
Regardless of degree or concentration, all students are now required to take a business analytics course. A SAS course is also required among all business majors. The school has also recently made diversity and inclusion integral pieces of the business education experience and have baked those ideas and ideals into its curriculum and the co-curriculum.
“We are focusing on developing an inclusive mindset for our students and are integrating aspects of that into the curriculum and the co-curriculum,” the school reported, “we completely revised our first-year course to include identity development and inclusive awareness.”
SENIOR PRACTICUM COURSES POPULAR AMONG RECENT GRADUATES
According to the alumni survey, which surveyed the graduating Class of 2018, the senior practicum courses were most popular among recent graduates.
“I was enrolled in a practicum course that involved working on a project with an external company that was partnered with the college,” one alum said. “It provided real-world experience to students, as the project work was equivalent to items that you would have done as an intern for that specific company.”
The senior capstone project was also popular among surveyed alumni.
“I did a capstone thesis on public choice principles in the redistributing process,” one 2018 alum said in the alumni survey. “Stephen Margolis was my advisor. The critical thinking skills were exceptional.”
Said another: “The final capstone project involved consulting for a local restaurant and helping to improve their staffing strategy. This data was compiled into a presentation. The business we worked with, and the complex nature of their issues made it unique.”
NC State’s Poole College also features many different global programs and opportunities.
EMPLOYMENT OUTCOMES
Some 79.4% of the graduating Class of 2020 had at least one business-focused internship by graduation. However, just 65.26% of the Class of 2020 had accepted a full-time job offer within three months of graduation. Many schools have seen a decrease in the rate of students accepting jobs immediately after graduation, but that rate is also low compared to other schools participating in this year’s ranking, with just nine schools reporting lower rates. Those accepting full-time positions reported a starting average salary of $57,271.
Alumni Say:
“I was enrolled in a practicum course that involved working on a project with an external company that was partnered with the college. It provided real-world experience to students, as the project work was equivalent to items that you would have done as an intern for that specific company.”
“I did a capstone thesis on public choice principles in the redistributing process. Stephen Margolis was my advisor. The critical thinking skills were exceptional.”
“The final capstone project involved consulting for a local restaurant and helping to improve their staffing strategy. This data was compiled into a presentation. The business we worked with, and the complex nature of their issues made it unique.”
WHERE THE CLASS OF 2020 WENT TO WORK:
Bank of America
Cisco Systems
Credit Suisse
Deloitte
EY
IHS Markit
Lenovo
PNC Financial
Red Hat
Vanguard
