Purdue University’s Daniels School of Business landed in No. 32 in this year’s 2023 rankings, down just a few places from the Class of 2022’s 29th place. Both are a significant increase from the previous few years, when they ranked in the 40’s. Of the three methodological categories, Purdue ranked highest in Admissions, coming in at No. 29.
Purdue had an acceptance rate of 19% for this year’s most recent incoming class, down slightly from last year’s 17.50%. Their average SAT scores were down slightly, at 1362 for the most recent class compared to 1372 for last year’s incoming class – yet in the past few years, they saw a huge increase from 2022’s average of 1267.
A solid 89% of the Class of 2023 landed a business-focused internship before graduating, nearly the same as last year’s 89.50% for the Class of 2022. The Class of 2023 reported that 91.02% of Purdue MBAs secured full-time employment within three months of graduation – just under 94.33% for last year’s class.
One alumni said, “(Purdue) helped prepare me for internships by teaching me how to think critically. (Purdue) classes have a lot of case studies built into them, which helps you learn how to think, analyze, and find solutions.”
Another alum said, “In addition to technical accounting skills, (Purdue) prepared me to be successful in my internships by helping me develop my problem-solving, teamwork, and communication skills.”
Much of the success of Purdue can be attributed to the B-school’s integrated degree offerings and strong emphasis on learning through real-world, hands-on experience.
PURDUE’S DEGREE OFFERINGS
Purdue students can choose from a variety of majors including General Management, Industrial Management, Accounting, Economics, Marketing, Finance, and Supply Chain, Information, and Analytics.
“I chose (Purdue) because of the emphasis on analytics within their degrees, which I knew would give me a competitive edge in the workforce,” said an alum.
Purdue’s Integrated Business and Engineering (IBE) program gives students a truly integrated hybrid degree that incorporates basic engineering, basic management and project courses that emphasize real-world application and teamwork collaboration. Students are selected for the program on the basis of their interest in interdisciplinary work. Additionally, IBE students have access to select seminars that feature the latest in engineering and management practices.
IBE is a program that is unique to Daniels’ offering as a B-school. By leveraging the prestige of Purdue’s College of Engineering, Purdue offers students interested in both business and engineering a truly integrated degree that is likely to impress future employers.
REAL-WORLD, HANDS-ON LEARNING
A majority of the degree offerings at Purdue incorporate opportunities for students to get real-world, hands-on project experience. For instance, the “Mergers & Acquisitions” course gives students an in-depth view of the major aspects of merger and acquisition transactions from deal strategy and deal analysis to deal design. The course is designed around readings and case study analysis with a core final project component that includes a detailed analysis of a merger.
“I believe this project has prepared me for the success in my interviews with brokerages and Investment banks,” one alumni said in regard to the Mergers & Acquisitions valuation project.
Many B-schools require students to work on projects that emphasize real-world, hands-on learning. But, at Purdue, these experiences go beyond just required course projects. One alumni recalled the strong support of Purdue faculty in helping the alumni to start a business.
These types of experiences and the variety of opportunities to gain hands-on, real-world experience are what make the Purdue education unique. Many alumni reported unique opportunities to apply their business knowledge and gain real world experience.
Overall, the Daniels School of Business is best characterized by its truly integrated business degree offerings and variety of opportunities for students to engage in hands-on, real-world learning. The program is best suited for students not too keen on studying just “one” field, but rather exploring all facets that the world of business has to offer.
Alumni say:
“My capstone projects in class prepared me for realistic work projects that I would see. Aside from that, they encouraged students to think critically while applying STEM concepts. Most other business schools (from what I have gathered) do not come close to the amount of hard data analytics that Daniels requires. Truly a phenomenal experience!”
“All projects done in classes were extremely helpful as they taught us the real world applications of textbook concepts. However, a ‘signature experience’ that was a key part of my business education was participating in business case competitions. Various companies would present us with cases, and we had to come up with real business solutions addressing how the companies could tackle the challenges associated with the cases, and enhance their market positions. Participating in these competitions not only taught me how to apply my conceptual knowledge in the real world, but I also landed an internship with one of the companies!”
“Through the entrepreneurship certificate program in the Daniels School of Business, students were assigned to work in groups as consultants for a start-up company in the Lafayette area. Working on my team that was assigned to a shoe company, we gained valuable experience in finance and project management.”
“I was able to study in Florence, Italy and Madrid, Spain for a summer which taught me an immeasurable amount about other cultures and myself. The friendships and connections I made in the study abroad program are still very strong to this day. The diverse experience it provided me with was instrumental and helped me land my first internship with Arrow Electronics and my first job with John Deere. Because of my positions with John Deere in low cost of living locations I was able to pay off my student loans in roughly 2.5 years.”
“I had been on several trips and also got a Finance internship with Cummins Inc, where I got to work on major projects for the Memphis ReCon Plant. I was also the VP of Member Development for the ASCEND chapter of (Purdue) and once we attended a conference in Chicago where we met career professionals who prepared us for the job market through activities such as mock interviews and resume revision sessions. I thought the conference was a pleasant way to get career-ready.”
