Choosing an Undergrad Business School

College Search & Selection
1

<p>While one can achieve in the business world from a variety of college majors, many students enjoy pursuing an undergraduate business degree. So what are the key elements to consider in choosing an undergraduate business school? I suggest the following four factors:</p>

<li> Quality of your peers</li>
<li> Size of the classroom in which you will learn and proximity to your professors</li>
<li> Quality of the teaching that is provided</li>
<li> Strength of graduate placement</li>
</ol>

<p>Business Week provides a survey that provides some clues for each of these areas. Here is how schools ranked in the BW Top 50 undergraduate business schools compared on Teaching Quality:</p>

<p>BW Grade for Teaching Quality, College</p>

<p>A+, U Penn (Wharton)
A+, U Virginia (McIntire)
A+, Notre Dame (Mendoza)
A+, Cornell
A+, Emory (Goizueta)
A +, NYU (Stern)
A+, MIT (Sloan)
A+, Villanova
A+, Boston College
A+, Wash U (Olin)
A+, Georgetown (McDonough)
A+, U Richmond
A+, Wake Forest
A+, SMU (Cox)
A+, Lehigh
A+, Babson</p>

<p>A, BYU (Marriott)
A, U Texas (McCombs)
A, UC Berkeley (Haas)
A, U North Carolina (Kenan)
A, Indiana U (Kelley)
A, USC (Marshall)
A, Carnegie Mellon (Tepper)
A, Miami U (Farmer)
A, Bentley
A, TCU
A, U Maryland
A, Marquette</p>

<p>B, U Michigan (Ross)
B, U Minnesota
B, U Wisconsin
B, Michigan State
B, Boston University
B, Penn State (Smeal)
B, Texas A&M
B, James Madison
B, Baylor
B, U Georgia
B, Syracuse
B, U Miami
B, U Florida
B, Fordham
B, Denver
B, U Pittsburgh</p>

<p>C, U Illinois
C, Northeastern
C, U Iowa
C, George Washington
C, Ohio State
C, Purdue</p>

2

<p>from what i hear, their rankings are pretty accurate in terms of teaching quality – although i like the suggestions you have made…i would add one other, that sort of fits into grad placement, but that is alumni relations – in the business world, this will actually matter a lot</p>

3

<p>Here are the grades that Business Week assigns for Graduate Placement from undergraduate business schools, which I suspect takes alumni connections into consideration. I also added the median starting salaries information although I hesitate to use this as the deciding feature due to the proclivity of certain schools to place into higher wage cities and/or higher wage industries. </p>

<p>BW Grade for Job Placement , Median Starting Salary , College</p>

<p>A+ , $60,000 , U Penn (Wharton)
A+ , $58,000 , U Virginia (McIntire)
A+ , $53,500 , Notre Dame (Mendoza)
A+ , $55,000 , Cornell
A+ , $60,000 , U Michigan (Ross)
A+ , $60,000 , NYU (Stern)
A+ , $61,118 , MIT (Sloan)
A+ , $49,500 , U Texas (McCombs)
A+ , $57,000 , UC Berkeley (Haas)
A+ , $50,000 , Villanova
A+ , $50,000 , Boston College
A+ , $50,000 , Indiana U (Kelley)
A+ , $58,000 , USC (Marshall)
A+ , $53,000 , U Illinois
A+ , $48,500 , SMU (Cox)
A+ , $43,500 , U Minnesota
A+ , $45,000 , Northeastern</p>

<p>A , $50,000 , Emory (Goizueta)
A , $48,000 , BYU (Marriott)
A , $53,500 , U North Carolina (Kenan)
A , $45,766 , Miami U (Farmer)
A , $55,000 , Lehigh
A , $43,500 , U Wisconsin
A , $43,000 , Michigan State
A , $41,400 , Penn State (Smeal)
A , $40,000 , Texas A&M</p>

<p>B , $60,000 , Georgetown (McDonough)
B , $51,750 , U Richmond
B , $53,500 , Wake Forest
B , $60,000 , Carnegie Mellon (Tepper)
B , $45,000 , Babson
B , $42,500 , Bentley
B , $48,148 , TCU
B , $42,100 , James Madison
B , $46,000 , U Maryland
B , $41,303 , Baylor
B , $40,000 , U Georgia
B , $42,000 , Ohio State
B , $42,000 , U Miami
B , $40,841 , Purdue
B , $42,000 , Marquette
B , $40,000 , U Florida
B , $52,500 , Fordham</p>

<p>C , $55,000 , Wash U (Olin)
C , $45,000 , Boston University
C , $37,500 , U Iowa
C , $42,750 , George Washington
C , $46,185 , Syracuse
C , $35,000 , Denver
C , $40,000 , U Pittsburgh</p>

4

<p>While it is a blunt instrument for making these types of judgments, using SAT scores as a gauge of student aptitude is a common practice and one that Business Week uses in its evaluation of undergraduate business schools. Following are the average SAT scores for the students enrolled in the undergraduate business schools listed below:</p>

<p>Average SAT score , College</p>

<p>1439 , U Penn (Wharton)
1438 , NYU (Stern)
1420 , Wash U (Olin)</p>

<p>1396 , SMU (Cox)
1389 , Carnegie Mellon (Tepper)
1387 , MIT (Sloan)
1379 , Notre Dame (Mendoza)
1370 , USC (Marshall)
1369 , UC Berkeley (Haas)
1364 , Emory (Goizueta)
1360 , U Maryland
1355 , Georgetown (McDonough)
1350 , U Virginia (McIntire)</p>

<p>1340 , U Illinois
1336 , Cornell
1332 , U Michigan (Ross)
1331 , U North Carolina (Kenan)
1329 , Wake Forest
1324 , Boston College
1315 , U Texas (McCombs)
1300 , U Florida</p>

<p>1298 , Lehigh
1295 , Villanova
1284 , U Richmond
1283 , U Minnesota
1283 , Boston University
1263 , Babson
1260 , U Wisconsin
1260 , George Washington
1253 , Indiana U (Kelley)</p>

<p>1246 , U Miami
1232 , BYU (Marriott)
1231 , U Pittsburgh
1225 , Northeastern
1220 , Miami U (Farmer)
1220 , Bentley
1218 , Texas A&M
1212 , U Georgia</p>

<p>1199 , Marquette
1197 , Penn State (Smeal)
1191 , Syracuse
1190 , Fordham
1185 , Ohio State
1176 , U Iowa
1169 , Baylor
1167 , James Madison
1162 , TCU
1159 , Purdue
1150 , Denver
1130 , Michigan State</p>

5

<p>and for the dimension of average class size and proximity to the professor, here is the data…</p>

<p>Student/Faculty Ratio , College</p>

<p>7/1 , MIT (Sloan)
9/1 , Carnegie Mellon (Tepper)
10/1 , Emory (Goizueta)
11/1 , U Penn (Wharton)
11/1 , U Virginia (McIntire)
11/1 , Babson
12/1 , NYU (Stern)
12/1 , Wash U (Olin)
12/1 , Bentley
13/1 , U Richmond
13/1 , U Minnesota
14/1 , U Michigan (Ross)
14/1 , U Iowa
15/1 , Miami U (Farmer)
16/1 , Wake Forest
16/1 , SMU (Cox)
16/1 , U Wisconsin
17/1 , Villanova
18/1 , Notre Dame (Mendoza)
18/1 , BYU (Marriott)
18/1 , Boston University
18/1 , TCU
19/1 , Cornell
19/1 , Baylor
19/1 , U Georgia
21/1 , U Maryland
22/1 , U North Carolina (Kenan)
22/1 , Indiana U (Kelley)
22/1 , Lehigh
22/1 , Michigan State
22/1 , Denver
23/1 , Georgetown (McDonough)
23/1 , Purdue
23/1 , Fordham
24/1 , George Washington
24/1 , Syracuse
24/1 , Marquette
25/1 , Northeastern
26/1 , U Illinois
27/1 , Boston College
28/1 , USC (Marshall)
28/1 , Texas A&M
28/1 , Ohio State
29/1 , James Madison
30/1 , U Miami
31/1 , U Pittsburgh
35/1 , UC Berkeley (Haas)
42/1 , U Texas (McCombs)
43/1 , Penn State (Smeal)
54/1 , U Florida</p>