The C.T. Bauer College of Business at University of Houston finished No. 40 on Poets&Quants’ 2025 ranking of the Best Undergraduate Business Programs in the U.S. In our three methodological categories, it finished No. 29 in Admission Standards, No. 75 in Career Outcomes, and No. 42 in Academic Experience (based solely on our alumni survey).
The B-school’s acceptance rate for the fall 2024 incoming class was 38.9%, and the class also reported an average SAT score of 1295. Its six-year graduation rate is 78.6%.
In career data, 70.2% of Class of 2024 graduates and 60.1% of Class of 2023 grads completed at least one business-specific internship before graduation. Some 84.1% of 2024 grads found jobs within three months, compared to 86.6% of 2023 grads.
Average salary for the most recent graduates was $70,037, with 19.9% of them reporting an average signing bonus of $6,707. The top employers included PwC, EY, Deloitte, KPMG, Amazon, Oracle, BDO USA LLP, BP, ConocoPhillips, and LyondellBasell (LYB).
REAL EXPERIENCE IN SPECIALTY PROGRAMS
Bauer offers seven majors to undergraduates including: Accounting, Entrepreneurship, Finance, Management, Management Information Systems, Marketing, and Supply Chain Management. But perhaps what makes the Bauer education most attractive is the abundance of specialties that students can choose from. Bauer’s specialty programs allow students to dig deeper into their field of interest and feature opportunities to gain real work experience.
For instance, the B-school’s Program for Excellence in Selling allows students to engage in live selling. Students are required to achieve a sales quota in each of their classes, much like the real world of business sales.
“In the Program for Excellence in Selling, you gain real-life sales experience by maintaining your quota to pass your class. You gain 275 hours of live training experience by the time you complete the program,” one alumni told us.
Bauer College prides itself on delivering business education for the real world, leveraging Houston’s status as the fourth-largest city in the U.S. to provide students with rich internship opportunities, industry-connected faculty, and research-based experiential learning.
Bauer has specialized tracks in key industries, including a Global Energy Management track in Finance, an Oil & Gas Certificate in Accounting, and an Energy Supply Chain track in Supply Chain Management, aligning with Houston’s prominence as a global energy hub. The school is also home to a nationally ranked Entrepreneurship Program and a top-tier sales program through its Program for Excellence in Selling. Additionally, Bauer is one of only six internal audit programs worldwide and three in the U.S. recognized as a Center of Excellence by the Institute of Internal Auditors.
Bauer’s Wolff Center For Entrepreneurship enables students to learn how to start and operate their own businesses. Much like other specialty offerings at Bauer, the Wolff Center for Entrepreneurship allows students to gain real-world experience in the field.
Bauer’s diverse student body reflects its commitment to access and opportunity. The college ranks No. 1 in Texas across multiple disciplines for total minority degrees awarded, including Business Administration, Finance, and Marketing, and is also ranked No. 1 nationwide for Management Information Systems degrees awarded to minority students.
RECENT INNOVATIONS
In Fall 2021, Bauer launched its fully online BBA programs, allowing students to earn any business major 100% online while maintaining access to advising, academic support, leadership programs, and career services.
The school also introduced the Bauer Undergraduate Mentor Program (BUMP) to strengthen student support. In the 2022-23 academic year, the program matched over 600 pre-business students with upperclassmen mentors through BUMP for College Success and paired 70 declared business majors with alumni mentors through BUMP for Career Success. The program is continuing into AY 2024-25.
To further enhance global and experiential learning, Bauer recently established two key initiatives:
The Office of Global Initiatives, which leverages Houston’s global business environment to provide students with international perspectives and global networking opportunities.
The Office of Experiential Learning, which brings the real world into the classroom through industry engagement, hands-on learning, and immersive business experiences.
OPPORTUNITIES TO CONNECT
Connections are key to business. And at Bauer, students can gain strong experience through connecting with faculty and business professionals in all different experiences such as case competitions.
“I participated in 8 different case competitions and won awards, which helped me to apply the academic knowledge to real life case scenarios and gave me the opportunity to be in front of professionals and got coaching sessions from them,” said an alum.
Another alumni told us that the connections made within the classroom led to career opportunities beyond the classroom.
“I participated in a sourcing case competition that was a part of the class curriculum. It helped me gain the skills necessary to get my foot in the door in the industry I was seeking, and helped me connect to employers, and in the end, helped me get a job.”
With strong specialty programs and connections that lead to future internship and employment opportunities, Bauer students are well-prepared for any career they choose to pursue.
ALUMNI SAY
“I was involved in a project in collaboration with 3M at the beginning of the pandemic to help small business and non-profit organizations find alternative ways to keep business running smoothly in the midst of the unknown at the time. It helped me realize that working with non-profit marketing was the path I wanted to take for my career.”
“I was part of the capstone project and have found that was the best introduction to supply chain you can get. Being put into a random group and analyzing spread sheet data is exactly what I do in my day to day as well as create strategies and solutions on how to improve based on the data we analyzed.”
“Excellent college experience and excellent job placement.”
“There were lots of professional professors at Bauer College. They were not only concerned about students’ studies but also any life problems when I communicated with them.”
“I think that the teachers really care about the students learning as well as what they specialize in which was different compared to core classes or other students experiences with different majors/schools.”
