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<p>as you may know, bucknell has a well respected accounting program with good placement history. of the 30 accounting graduates from my original class (2007) on which there is data, 27 are currently employed at one of the ‘big four’ accounting firms. one is in law school. and the other two are at morgan stanley and blackrock. </p>
<p>mean reported starting salary for the class of 2008 accounting majors was over $54,000, with 34 of the 45 responding graduates (not in graduate school) employed at ‘big four’ firms shorty after graduation. only two graduates did not respond, so the data is fairly complete. and the 11 employed elsewhere include people pursuing a professional golf and military careers, as well as someone teaching in spain and another who landed a job in investment banking. </p>
<p>my understanding is that richmonds business programs are also strong. unfortunately, there does not appear to be public data available for placement/salary comparisons.</p>
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<p>with that in mind, id likely base much of my decision on other factors. though the schools certainly have a large overlap in terms of student body and culture, richmond is decidedly the more ‘southern’ and conservative of the two. the schools respective housing policies are strong evidence of this difference (richmond preferring single-sex dormitories and bucknell preferring single-sex rooms on mixed-gender floors). the rural location of bucknell relative to the more (sub-) urban richmond is another key difference. bucknells stronger focus on science and engineering, and the slightly different type of students those programs typically attract, is a third. </p>
<p>if you have any more specific questions, feel free to ask. either way, good luck with your decision.</p>