The C.T. Bauer College of Business at the University of Houston placed 35th in the 2023 rankings, climbing 8 places from last year’s No. 43. The Bauer College had a more lenient acceptance rate for the Class of 2023 at 34.17% compared to last year’s 23.75%. Their average SAT scores went back up, nearing the Class of 2021’s score, with an average of 1295 for the Class of 2023. Last year’s score averaged 1234, and the Class of 2021’s averaged 1306.
Some 88.52% of the Class of 2023 secured full-time employment within three months of graduation, up from the Class of 2021’s 83.75%. Additionally, internship rates went up slightly, with 56.15% of the Class of 2023 landing a business-focused internship before graduating as compared to 53.30% for the Class of 2021.
Houston did best in the Admissions Standards category, where they placed 30th. The B-School and 45th in the Academic Experience category – up from last year’s 48th place. The B-school’s strong, specialized programs and opportunities to connect with real business professionals are what make the Bauer education unique.
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 specialities 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 2019 alumni told us.
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.
“During my coursework at Bauer, many of my classes had projects where Houston companies in our major’s field would come and give us a project or scenario that they worked on in the past, and we would have to come up with a solution and presentation on how to solve the issue. This gave students real life experience on how to problem solve and create and present a thoughtful presentation. It was important for me to learn how to do that early on because now I am more comfortable speaking and sharing my ideas when a problem comes up at work” one 2019 alumni said.
These types of specialty programs are the cornerstone of the Bauer education. At many other B-schools, your major will give you access to courses with experienced professors. But at Bauer, your learning isn’t tied to a textbook. Rather, students can dig deeper into their major and truly explore fields and specializations that interest them. By the time Bauer students graduate, they have a strong sense of what an industry or role is like.
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 a 2019 alum.
Another 2019 alumni told us about the connections made within the classroom that 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 in the Program for Excellence in Selling. What made it unique was the real life sales we were making as students to managers, recruiters, and C-level executives. While being taught sales strategies and practices, we were also tasked with real quotas to meet and a number of role plays and cold calls to make. Every week, we would have 2 companies partnered with the program to come out and talk to us about their company and OpenDoc interviews for internships and full time opportunities. It was truly a once in a lifetime opportunity to experience as a college student.”
“As part of a few classes we had projects with actual real world companies. It was unique in that we got actual feedback from people who would actually be implementing any solutions we came up with. It was like practice for jobs we actually wanted to hold and taught us a lot about the various industries we were interested in.”
“The program gives you live training and exposes you to real-world projects, from starting an internet business to working with intellectual property to launching new ideas.”
WHERE THE CLASS OF 2020 WENT TO WORK
- CapGemini (19)
- KPMG (17)
- Amazon (10)
- PwC (10)
- EY (9)
- LyondellBasell (9)
- Accenture (7)
- Deloitte (7)
- Shell (7)
- Alliantgroup (6)
- Dell EMC (6)
- RSB US, LLP (6)
