100 Best & Brightest Undergraduate Business Majors Of 2025

Think you’re busy? Meet Skyler Mott.

Scholar, Athlete, Entrepreneur.

A senior business major majoring in business management and cognitive science at Lehigh University, Mott describes himself as a “prolific ideator.” However, he is equally a roll-up-your-sleeves doer. Among his latest ventures, you’ll find Markit-Athletics, patented pins to replace tape in track and field competitions, and Mountain Movers Storage, which has helped over 200 students re-locate their belongings. the business major also founded Broadway Realty, which offers over a dozen affordable student housing options that carry a combined $5 million dollar valuation.

A ten-time winner of Lehigh’s Eureka Pitch Night – not to mention the Grand Prize recipient for both the Holy Cross Cross-tank and Worcester Woo-tank competitions – Mott became a founder in earnest when he purchased his first house.

WHAT MAKES A BEST & BRIGHTEST?

Mott is one member of the 2025 Best & Brightest Business Majors from Poets&Quants. Now in its 10th year, the Best & Brightest honors 100 senior business majors who made the biggest impact on their programs and personified the best of their cohorts. To compile the list, P&Q invited schools from its Top 50 undergraduate ranking to participate, from the Wharton School to Indiana University’s Kelley School to U.C. Berkeley’s Haas School. In addition, P&Q added seniors from such top international programs as Alliance Manchester in the United Kingdom and IE Business School in Spain.

Like past years, business schools selected nominees using their own criteria (though P&Q encouraged them to factor in such qualities as academic excellence and extracurricular leadership).

As a whole, these exemplary business majors were nearly split equally between men and women (51-to-49, respectively), with 13 representatives hailing from outside the United States. Come graduation, seven members will be starting at McKinsey & Company, while another 6 will join Deloitte.

What do the 2025 Best & Brightest Business Majors have in common? Think passion and purpose – a commitment to a particular industry or outcome – that pushes to always be questioning listening, learning, and growing. Go-getters all, they possess an infectious, can-do drive that leaves little room for half measures. Some command the whole room and others quietly hold teams together. Either way, they bring a calmness and confidence amid the setbacks. You don’t just count the Best & Brightest to show up – you can expect them to deliver.

The Best & Brightest may have interned at Bain and Morgan Stanley, but they learned business fundamentals scooping ice cream at Stone Cold Creamery or delivering meals through DoorDash. Outside business school, these rising stars competed in football, cross country, wrestling, and rugby – along with case and big idea competitions. They worked as teaching assistants, residence advisors, research assistants, and ambassadors – when they weren’t busy running clubs, organizing fund-raisers, or mentoring underclassmen. In the end, the Best & Brightest were the catalysts who made things happen. Filled with faith and optimism, these business majors elevated their classmates to be their best selves. In the process, they became as urgent as they were unforgettable. Over time, that spirit will enable each of them to do something special, in one form or another.

CAPITALIZING ON EVERY OPPORTUNITY

Mott is just one of many on this year’s list. “[I] realized that all juniors and seniors live off campus during their upperclassmen years,” he tells P&Q. “When looking into rent, I realized that the mortgage cost was the same as the monthly rent. From that moment, I was determined to buy my first home. Through various strategies and creative financing, I accomplished that goal. I spent the entire summer replacing the floors, painting the walls, putting in blinds, an outdoor fence, a new refrigerator, and a washer and dryer. I managed to finish all the renovations by the start of school and had five students living there in my junior year.”

Once listed among the best ten-year-olds in chess, Mott started chess programs at two elementary schools to provide meals and teach problem-solving skills. He also ranks among the nation’s top 50 high jumpers, while serving as captain of Lehigh’s 130-member track and field team. A four-time member of the Dean’s List, Mott even led the marketing efforts for a Barcelona startup – along with completing treks to Silicon Valley and Vietnam. With graduation looming, Mott is now weighing whether to scale his ventures or start graduate school. Either way, he made the most of every minute and opportunity at Lehigh – and left his classmates and community better for it.

“Skyler Mott is one of the hardest-working, creative, and execution-focused students I’ve worked with,” shares Chris Kauzmann, Innovator-In-Residence at Lehigh University. “Not only does he possess the ability to identify market opportunities, generate creative ideas, and execute on those ideas, he does so with a kindness, charm, and support of others that is truly exceptional. Skyler has not only been an exceptional student, but a role model to other students.”

SETTING THE BAR ON AND OFF THE COURT

Some Best & Brightest students are already leaving big shoes to fill. Case in point: Stephen Mitchell, an example of a true servant leader. A starting guard on Marquette University’s basketball team, Mitchell doesn’t need to score points to make an impact. Known for energy and leadership, Mitchell is a finalist for the Naismith National Defensive Player of the Year. This year, he also chipped in 10 points, 4 rebounds and 2 steals per game. In the process, he helped Marquette reach the NCAA tournament during all four years on the team. However, Mitchell equally shines away from the hardwood. He was named the Men’s Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year by the Big East Conference and Marquette’s Most Outstanding Senior in both Finance and Information Systems. And those accolades don’t include achieving a perfect 4.0 GPA in the fall of 2024.

There really isn’t any secret behind Mitchell’s success, says Dr. Terence Thong-Hwee Ow, a Professor of Information Systems, Analytics and Supply Chain Management at Marquette University’s College of Business. He just puts in the work on and off the court. “He pays rigorous attention to details to solve problems in programming; as an example, he put in copious amounts of work analyzing his opponents’ tendencies, which allowed him to create turnovers for his team. His classmates at Marquette marvel at his commitment and excellence in coursework.”

Others marvel at just how the Best & Brightest can juggle everything in their lives. At Cornell University’s Nolan School of Hotel Administration, Isabella Suffredini has been selected to TA for nine courses. That doesn’t count running the sales operation for the Hotel Ezra Cornell annual conference – or teaching her classmates how to play cards in the Cornell Women’s Poker Club. Saanvi Sood, a senior at Emory University’s Goizueta School, is a TA for three clubs: the Marketing Consulting Practicum, Corporate Political Strategy and Business Communications. Ticketed to join the Boston Consulting Group, Sood also served as the President of the Emory Data Science Club and CEO for the Emory Impact Investment Group.

“[The latter is] microfinancing organization supporting small businesses in historically underserved Atlanta communities,” Sood tells P&Q. “During my tenure, I led a fundraising campaign to expand our fund and amplify our impact. Through outreach to over 500 contacts and the support of the Goizueta community, we grew our fund from $200K to $360K—ensuring the club’s ability to provide low-interest loans in perpetuity.”

MAKING AN IMPACT, EVERY MINUTE OF EVERY DAY

Some Best & Brightest members invested heavy time in particular areas. Levi Montoya became a first-generation college student after growing up in a single parent home. After transferring from community college to the University of California-Berkeley’s Haas School, he got involved in nearly everything, from being elected president of the Consulting Club to being tapped to conduct public policy research. However, Montoya found his real footing in case competitions. Here, his team ranked among the top performers in several events – even claiming Best Presentation at the MasterCard Advisors Case Competition. Compare that to Chad Burks. Over his four years at Binghamton University, Burks’ case teams collected five first-place finishes. Along the way, he was named the school’s Transformational Leader of the Year in 2022-2023. Such achievements would’ve come as a surprise to Burks when he was a freshman. Back then, he was hesitant to get involved, worried he wouldn’t fit in.

“The truth is that growth and being comfortable often cannot coexist,” he tells P&Q. “I realized that the only fear I had was not putting myself in a position to do the things I needed to in order to reach what I imagined to be my full potential. From there, I finally started challenging myself to get extremely involved and meet others on campus. Doing this has paid tremendous dividends in helping me achieve things that I previously couldn’t have imagined to be possible.

At USC’s Marshall School, Santiago Briones Lopez could also be found nearly everywhere. He worked as a consulting career advisor, performing over 100 one-on-one coaching sessions. He led the 250-member Latino Student Business Association, growing membership by 60%. He also gave campus tours as a student ambassador and completed internships at KPMG, Bain, and FTI Consulting. You could say Lopez equals leadership – a quality he attributes to his father and mother, whose combined backgrounds include management, marketing, consulting, teaching, and hospitality. From them, he says, he learned that success is measured more in making a difference than in titles and accolades.

“That’s why my proudest achievement isn’t a title or an internship—it’s my impact. As a student ambassador, I’ve helped students find their place at USC. As a mentor, I’ve guided peers into their dream careers. And as a leader, I’ve helped build communities that will outlast my time in them. If I’ve made someone’s journey a little easier, a little clearer, or a little more possible—then I’ve done something worth being proud of.”

GIVING BACK TO THE COMMUNITY

Impact has also been the mission for the University of Wisconsin’s Hali Jama, who co-founded the school’s Somali Student Association and Business Behind Fashion Club. After creating a career advice video that generated over a million views on social media, she launched Success Sessions, a coaching venture that was booked up four months in advance. At Binghamton University, Adam Bandler played a number of leadership roles in the Harper’s Ferry Student Volunteer Ambulance Service, a volunteer, 24×7 EMS service that provides basic and advanced life services to students and the local community alike. At the University of Pittsburgh, Isabelle Layding proved she could perform at the highest levels during her Consulting Field Projects.

“I’ve been an Engagement Manager for two projects with billion-dollar companies, which has been an incredible learning experience. Through my work with FedEx Ground, I was able to work with a group of MS students to find $4 million [dollars] of value for our clients, which was a pretty cool feeling as an undergraduate Junior.  I’m currently working with the Westinghouse Electric Corporation, and I am very excited for the potential impact that this engagement will have on the future of nuclear energy internationally. These projects encouraged me to pursue a career in consulting after graduation, and I learned a great deal about managing teams, building client relationships, and delivering significant results in a short period of time.”

Layding wasn’t alone in delivering impact outside the business school walls. At the Wharton School, Daniel Babalola helped to launch VITA@Penn, a student organization that partners with the IRS to provide tax assistance to working families. His classmate, Shivani Desai, instructs local elementary students as part of the West Philadelphia Tutoring Project. At the same time, she teaches English to West African immigrants for an after-school program at Henry C. Lea Elementary School. Similarly, Mark Metryoos, a senior at Notre Dame’s Mendoza College and President of the 2,000-member Wall Street Club, teaches financial literacy at a local high school. Here, he discovered that many students – particularly those in the First Generational Low Income (FGLI) category – lacked financial literacy and job search skills. From this epiphany, the Equity in Business InMy Sitesitiative (EBI) was born.

“Largely because of Mark’s efforts, EBI provides programming and other resources to students who seek to fill in the gaps in their business comprehension,” explains Andrew Wendelborn, Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Studies at Mendoza. “From résumé preparation and money management workshops to career treks and graduate school visits, EBI serves to break down barriers for both business and non-business students while creating a strong community among them.”

LAUNCHING INITIATIVES TO GIVE CLASSMATES MORE OPPORTUNITIES

In fact, the Best & Brightest often launched initiatives that solidified their legacies at their schools. At Texas Christian University, Luke Swan, a Dean’s Scholar and finalist for the school’s Outstanding Senior Award, co-founded its Pickleball Club. Down I-45, Caroline Mazur-Sarocka calls Rice University home. Here, she is the captain of the Lacrosse team and President of the 500-member Rice Business Society. Along the way, she started the Investment Banking Bootcamp to provide training and alumni mentorship to sophomores and juniors looking to enter the field. Through Mazur-Sarocka’s leadership, the initiative has educated 100 students, while hitting 80% placement in recruiting.

“After going through the finance recruiting process myself, it allowed me to share all the resources I had accessed,” she explains. “As the number of undergraduate students at Rice Business began to grow, I was worried that students would become competitive and the recruiting process would become more difficult for everyone. That inspired me to organize this event, bringing all students interested in investment banking together once a week over the course of a semester. Everyone bonded and quickly became friends, helping one another mock-interview and find the best internship opportunities.”

Cornell University’s Brian Kim-Koutsis identified a similar need at the Dyson School of Applied Economics and Business. He developed the Dyson Undergraduate Student Handbook after arriving on campus and realizing there was “no easy one-stop location” for answers on everything from classes to clubs to recruiting. For him, the handbook was a means to “level the playing field” for students.

“Before arriving on campus, everyone has different levels of business knowledge and connections to Cornell,” he tells P&Q. “Some students have already completed internships at banks or have siblings who attended Cornell. Others start with a blank slate, similar to me. The purpose of the handbook is to increase accessibility to the information necessary to thrive in Dyson…I can now say with certainty that every future student entering Dyson will have a place to find answers to nearly all their questions, easing their stress and facilitating a successful transition to campus.”

Next Page: Fun Facts and Advice to Future Students

Pages 3-4: 100 in-depth profiles of the 2025 Best & Brightest Business Majors