2010 Rankings: Undergraduate Business Schools Take on the Recession
Graduating with an undergraduate business degree isn't as lucrative these days as it used to be, reports a recent BusinessWeek article "The Best B-Schools vs. the Recession." While students used to graduate with two or three job offers with average starting salaries at $50,000, current graduates are much harder pressed to receive even a single job offer at a much lower salary.
Students are becoming dissatisfied with their undergraduate business degrees and the institutions from which they graduated. In January, only 38% of students who responded to a BW survey had a job offer, compared to last year's 46% and the previous year's 56%. Overall student satisfaction is down 14% from last year. Such negative outcomes have affected this year's Bloomberg BusinessWeek annual ranking of undergraduate business programs.
Undergraduate business programs are working extremely hard to give a leg-up to their graduates in the job market, often turning to social media and other technology boosts. Virginia's McIntire School uses Twitter and Facebook to distribute job opportunities and internships and to disseminate career tips. Notre Dame students are being encouraged to connect with alumni through different tech tools. Miami University in Oxford, Ohio now offers a course that provides practical hands-on training to students and exposure to potential employers. University of Richmond's Robins School of Business has enhanced its interview prep resources.
UC Berkeley Haas has initiated an interesting program that has received extremely positive feedback—the Turn the Tables Fair. At this unusual job fair, students set up booths that market themselves as prospective employees to the company reps who walk around the fair to do their research.
Such initiatives have placed the mentioned schools in the higher ranking positions. Below you'll see the top 20 ranked undergraduate business programs. Beside each program is the median starting salary.
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1.
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Notre Dame Mendoza
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$55,000
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2.
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UVA McIntire
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$55,500
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3.
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MIT Sloan
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$62,000
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4.
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U. Penn Wharton
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$60,000
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5.
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Cornell
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$55,000
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6.
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UC Berkeley Haas
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$55,000
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7.
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Emory Goizueta
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$53,000
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8.
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Michigan Ross
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$59,000
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9.
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Boston College Carroll
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$55,000
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10.
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Texas McCombs
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$54,000
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11.
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Brigham Young Marriott
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$50,000
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12.
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NYU Stern
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$59,800
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13.
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Washington U. Olin
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$57,000
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14.
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UNC Kenan-Flagler
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$55,000
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15.
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U. of Richmond Robins
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$52,000
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16.
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Miami U. Farmer
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$49,500
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17.
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Babson
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$48,500
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18.
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Wake Forest
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$50,000
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19.
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Indiana Kelley
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$51,000
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20.
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Villanova
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52,000
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Click here for more information on the 2010 Undergraduate Business Program rankings.
Related Accepted.com Resources:
 Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best
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1. Notre Dame Mendoza
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$55,000
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2. UVA McIntire
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$55,500
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3. MIT Sloan
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$62,000
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4. U. Penn Wharton
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$60,000
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5. Cornell
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$55,000
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6. UC Berkeley Haas
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$55,000
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7. Emory Goizueta
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$53,000
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8. Michigan Ross
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$59,000
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9. Boston College Carroll
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$55,000
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10. Texas McCombs
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$54,000
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11. Brigham Young Marriott
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$50,000
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12. NYU Stern
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$59,800
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13. Washington U. Olin
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$57,000
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14. UNC Kenan-Flagler
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$55,000
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15. U. of Richmond Robins
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$52,000
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16. Miami U. Farmer
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$49,500
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17. Babson
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$48,500
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18. Wake Forest
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$50,000
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19. Indiana Kelley
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$51,000
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20. Villanova
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52,000
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Financial Times Global 2010 MBA Rankings
The Financial Times published today its 2010 ranking of global MBA programs. Its ranking attempts to "assess the effect of the MBA on ... subsequent career progression and salary growth." Consequently it draws its data from the schools themselves and from surveys of graduates at least three years after earning their MBA degree. In building its rankings, FT analyzes "alumni salaries and career development; the diversity and international reach of the business school and its MBA programme; and the research capabilities of each school." For complete information on FT's methodology, please see "Getting to Grips with the Method."
The best business schools according to FT:
- London Business School
- University of Pennsylvania: Wharton
- Harvard Business School
- Stanford GSB
- INSEAD
- Columbia Business School
- IE (tied with Columbia)
- MIT Sloan
- Chicago Booth
- Hong Kong UST Business School
I have long argued that far more valuable than the overall rankings are the specialty rankings. Here are FT's specialty rankings:
Top for international business
1 Thunderbird School of Global Management
2 University of South Carolina: Moore
3 Georgetown University: McDonough
4 Insead
5 George Washington University
6 Hult International Business School
7 IMD
8 Manchester Business School
9 University of Southern California: Marshall
10 London Business School
Top for finance
1 University of Chicago: Booth
2 New York University: Stern
3 University of Pennsylvania: Wharton
4 Rice University: Jones
5 University of Rochester: Simon
6 London Business School
7 Columbia Business School
8 Macquarie Graduate School of Management
9 University of Iowa: Tippie
10 University of Toronto: Rotman
Top for accountancy
1 Brigham Young University: Marriott
2 University of Chicago: Booth
3 University of Texas at Austin: McCombs
4 New York University: Stern
5 Macquarie Graduate School of Management
6 University of Rochester: Simon
7 Cornell University: Johnson
8 University of Pennsylvania: Wharton
9 Rice University: Jones
10 Texas A & M University: Mays
Top for entrepreneurship
1 Babson College: Olin
2 Stanford University GSB
3 Imperial College Business School
4 UCLA: Anderson
5 University of California at Berkeley: Haas
6 MIT Sloan School of Management
7 University of Cambridge: Judge
8 IMD
9 Wisconsin School of Business
10 Insead
Top for economics
1 University of Chicago: Booth
2 Cranfield School of Management
3 MIT Sloan School of Management
4 Yale School of Management
5 University of Rochester: Simon
6 Imperial College Business School
7 Melbourne Business School
8 University of Pennsylvania: Wharton
9 IE Business School
10 New York University: Stern
Top for corporate social responsibility
1 University of Notre Dame: Mendoza
2 University of California at Berkeley: Haas
3 Yale School of Management
4 Ipade
5 University of Virginia: Darden
6 Brigham Young University: Marriott
7 Esade Business School
8 University of Michigan: Ross
9 University of North Carolina: Kenan-Flagler
10 Thunderbird School of Global Management
Top for general management
1 University of Virginia: Darden
2 Harvard Business School
3 Ipade
4 Dartmouth College: Tuck
5 IMD
6 University of Michigan: Ross
7 University of Western Ontario: Ivey
8 Northwestern University: Kellogg
9 Stanford University GSB
10 Duke University: Fuqua
Top for marketing
1 Northwestern University: Kellogg
2 Duke University: Fuqua
3 Indiana University: Kelley
4 Ipade
5 Esade Business School
6 Wisconsin School of Business
7 Imperial College Business School
8 University of Michigan: Ross
9 HEC Paris
10 Cornell University: Johnson
Rather than list all my important caveats for using rankings, I'll simply refer you to our MBA Rankings Report.
 By Linda Abraham, President and Founder of Accepted.com.
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