Gies College of Business | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
WHAT IS GIES COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND HOW IS IT RANKED?
Gies College of Business at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) is ranked No. 15 in our 2026 ranking of the Best Undergraduate Business Programs in the U.S.
Among three measured categories, Gies Business ranked:
- No. 5 in Academic Experience
- No. 17 in Admission Standards
- No. 22 in Career Outcomes
Gies College of Business at the University of Illinois is redefining what modern business education can look like. Known nationally for innovation, accessibility, and technology-driven learning, Gies Business combines the resources of a world-class research university with a practical, career-focused approach to business education.
What truly distinguishes Gies Business is its powerful intersection of business and technology. Located within one of the nation’s leading public universities for engineering, computer science, and data science, Gies Business prepares students to lead in an economy increasingly shaped by AI and business analytics. Whether students are interested in finance, entrepreneurship, consulting, marketing, or technology, they gain both the business fundamentals and analytical skills needed to thrive in modern organizations.
HOW SELECTIVE IS GIES COLLEGE OF BUSINESS?
Gies Business has grown increasingly selective in recent years – a trend mainly driven by a large increase in demand. Applications to Gies Business have more than tripled in the last decade. While the college is admitting more students, its acceptance rate shows increased selectivity.
| Incoming class | Acceptance rate | Average SAT score of admitted students |
| 2025 | 20.9% | 1441 |
| 2024 | 23.1% | 1441 |
| 2023 | 24.2% | 1423 |
WHAT ARE THE CAREER OUTCOMES FOR GIES BUSINESS GRADUATES?
Gies Business undergraduate programs have strong employment outcomes:
- 96% of the Class of 2025 secured a job within six months of graduation
- Each of Gies Business’ 11 majors boasts successful outcomes of at least 95%
- Average starting salary: $81,621
- 66% of 2025 graduates received a signing bonus, averaging $7,242
- 100% of students completed at least one real-client project before graduating
- 91% of students completed a business-focused internship before graduating
WHERE CAN I GET A JOB IF I GO TO GIES BUSINESS?
Gies Business has strong employer connections in Chicago and nationwide. The college’s innovative programming, combined with its global alumni network, offers students the opportunity to build powerful relationships, leading to successful careers, but the skills and mindset to shape the future of business itself.
Top employers of Gies Business graduates include: PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte, KPMG, EY, JP Morgan Chase & Co., W.W. Grainger, PepsiCo, Capital One, Plante Moran, and Crowe.
HOW DOES GIES BUSINESS HELP STUDENTS LAND JOBS?
At Gies College of Business, career preparation starts long before senior year. From their first semester on campus, students receive integrated support in career discovery, personal branding, networking, interviewing, and professional skills development. The college’s curriculum weaves career readiness directly into coursework, helping students apply classroom learning toward internships, leadership experiences, study abroad, consulting projects, and long-term career goals. Career advisors work closely with students to help them translate their strengths into the communication, teamwork, and critical-thinking skills employers want most.
What makes Gies Business especially distinctive is the scale of its experiential and employer-connected opportunities. Students engage with more than 200 companies annually through client-based projects, consulting experiences, job-shadowing programs, workshops, and large-scale career fairs and direct recruiting opportunities with hundreds of employers. The result is a business school environment designed not just to help students get jobs, but to help them graduate career-ready with confidence, experience, and industry connections.
WHAT MAJORS ARE AVAILABLE AT GIES COLLEGE OF BUSINESS?
Students are directly admitted to Gies College of Business as freshmen so they can begin taking their business core courses and taking advantage of all the career services resources Gies Business has to offer. Gies Business students typically declare a major in their sophomore year. The undergraduate program offers 11 majors:
- Accountancy
- Accountancy + Data Science
- Business + Data Science
- Finance
- Finance + Data Science
- Information Systems
- Management
- Marketing
- Operations Management
- Strategy, Innovation & Entrepreneurship
- Supply Chain Management
WHAT CLASSES DO I TAKE AS A GIES BUSINESS STUDENT?
Regardless of major, all Gies Business undergraduates complete the same business core curriculum, which provides foundational knowledge in finance, accounting, marketing, and more. Additionally, every Gies Business student takes two semesters of business analytics courses.
Unique to Gies, every student completes the Gies Business Cohort Sequence, a series of four courses that enable students to gain valuable skills, real-world experience, and the mindset to lead with purpose, integrity, and impact. This sequence consists of transformational courses in each of a student’s four years: Business Foundations, Business Dynamics, Business in Action, and Crafting Your Purpose in Business.
In these courses, students learn to collaborate with others from diverse backgrounds, tackle complex challenges, foster empathy, and have opportunities to make an impact for good.
The curriculum emphasizes applied, real-world learning. Students work on actual client projects, develop cross-functional skills, and are prepared to function as business leaders from their first year.
WHAT MAKES GIES BUSINESS DISTINCTIVE?
Several features set Gies apart from other top business programs:
Cross-functional collaboration with other top programs on campus: Gies Business students can forge partnerships with students from other world-class programs on the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus – such as engineering, computer science, information sciences, and more. Gies Business partners with nationally ranked Grainger College of Engineering through a number of programs and opportunities, including the Hoeft Technology & Management Program – a selective joint minor combining business and engineering coursework.
Student-led programming that provides hands-on, real-world experience:
- Illinois Business Consulting – the largest student-run university consulting organization in the U.S.
- iVenture Accelerator – supports student startups with mentorship, funding, and connections with industry leaders
- EntreCorps – student-based, pro bono consulting firm that provides startup companies with research-backed business advice
- Orange & Blue Ventures – student-led venture capital investing program for students to invest real money in promising startups
- Disruption Lab – through hands-on projects, students explore emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, virtual reality, augmented reality, and blockchain
Experiential learning opportunities for every student: At Gies Business, every student graduates with at least one real client project under their belt. Every third-year student takes BUS 301: Business in Action, which is the nation’s largest experiential learning course. In that course, students team up to complete more than 130 individual client projects for Fortune 100 companies, mid-sized businesses, and startups. The course prepares students to effectively give and respond to feedback, manage and participate within teams, and effectively present their findings to clients.
WHAT KIND OF COMMUNITY AND SUPPORT CAN STUDENTS EXPECT AT GIES?
The Gies Business community is notably close-knit. Students describe a culture of mentorship, peer support, and collaboration that extends well beyond graduation.
Gies Business fosters an environment centered on inclusiveness, intellectual curiosity, and collaborative problem-solving – values embedded in coursework, extracurriculars, and alumni relationships alike. The support network, from faculty mentors to a deeply engaged alumni base, is frequently cited as one of the program’s defining strengths.
One of the things students value most about Gies Business is its culture of mentorship, peer-to-peer support, and collaborative problem-solving that extends well beyond graduation. Dedicated offices at Gies Business incentivize and support community engagement through academic success programming, student celebrations, work-study opportunities, and more.
