Best Undergraduate Business Schools of 2016

by Francesca Levy and Jonathan Rodkin

Every year, students around the country compete for a head start on conquering the corporate world by studying business in college. Since 2006, we have ranked undergraduate business programs to help guide prospective college students and their families in choosing the right degree program for the career they want. Today, after surveying nearly 30,000 students and recruiters at almost 600 companies, we present the best undergraduate B-schools of 2016.

As we did with our MBA rankings, we updated how we rank undergraduate programs to put a bigger focus on the outcome most students want from B-school: the brightest possible career path. We based our ranking on four main metrics (see full methodology):

• Employer Survey (40 percent of total score):  Feedback from recruiters who hire recent business graduates on how well schools prepared students for jobs at their companies.
• Student Survey (35 percent):  Students' own ratings of the campus, career services department, and faculty and administrators.
• Starting Salary (15 percent):  The base compensation of students who had jobs lined up, adjusted for salary variation across industries and regions.
• Internship (10 percent):  The percentage of a school’s graduates who had at least one internship at any time during college.

U.S. Undergraduate Business Programs

Correction: updated to include Case Western Reserve (Weatherhead) as No. 60 in the ranking

Rank	School	Employer survey rank (40%)	Student survey rank (35%)	Salary rank (15%)	Internship rank (10%)	Ranking index score
1	Villanova	2	10	29	15	100
2	Notre Dame (Mendoza)	18	1	13	31	99.86
3	Boston College (Carroll)	5	5	17	12	98.57
4	Indiana (Kelley)	4	13	19	18	96.86
5	UVA (McIntire)	43	2	3	6	95.98
6	Texas at Austin (McCombs)	12	12	15	7	93.34
7	North Carolina (Kenan-Flagler)	28	8	9	17	90.34
8	Michigan - Ann Arbor (Ross)	27	15	6	3	89.49
9	NYU (Stern)	6	34	8	16	89.4
10	Bentley	3	19	53	25	89.13
11	Cornell (Dyson)	67	4	2	9	88.09
12	William & Mary (Mason)	39	3	28	41	86.54
13	Wake Forest	54	6	12	5	86.39
14	Ohio State (Fisher)	7	18	65	37	86.07
15	Emory (Goizueta)	51	9	14	11	84.78
16	Pennsylvania (Wharton)	66	14	1	8	84.58
17	Georgetown (McDonough)	49	17	4	14	82.88
18	Brigham Young (Marriott)	19	20	37	34	80.73
19	Penn State (Smeal)	8	38	40	61	79.5
20	Michigan State (Broad)	15	29	41	55	79.44
21	Southern Methodist (Cox)	63	22	5	21	78.28
22	Northeastern (D'Amore-McKim)	14	44	70	4	77.18
23	Syracuse (Whitman)	11	56	52	20	76.89
24	Texas Christian (Neeley)	80	11	22	22	76.66
25	Washington in St. Louis (Olin)	92	7	11	13	76.33
26	Carnegie Mellon (Tepper)	38	50	7	10	76.1
27	Fordham (Gabelli)	30	31	20	32	75.77
28	Wisconsin	37	28	26	33	74.97
29	Boston University (Questrom)	23	46	38	28	74.18
30	John Carroll (Boler)	1	95	95	45	74.05
31	University of Miami	13	68	18	80	73.85
32	Lehigh	50	23	27	27	73.69
33	Massachusetts (Isenberg)	17	36	73	59	73.26
34	Chapman (Argyros)	16	39	60	85	72.74
35	College of New Jersey	20	51	67	36	72.2
36	UC Berkeley (Haas)	41	59	10	35	71.48
37	Illinois at Urbana-Champaign	29	54	24	47	70.75
38	Ohio	22	33	93	77	70.52
39	Georgia Tech (Scheller)	87	16	16	46	70.44
40	Miami University (Farmer)	59	26	63	40	69.56
41	James Madison	25	52	43	84	69.55
42	Bradley (Foster)	10	84	64	70	69.45
43	Fairfield (Dolan)	40	37	48	39	69.43
44	Bryant	52	25	76	48	68.79
45	Ohio Northern (Dicke)	33	35	98	19	68.18
46	University of Richmond (Robins)	85	24	23	26	67.8
47	North Carolina State (Poole)	55	27	74	69	67.57
48	Elon (Love)	68	32	55	2	67.4
49	Pittsburgh (Katz)	9	92	88	60	66.88
50	Maryland (Smith)	57	45	34	54	66.87
51	Santa Clara (Leavey)	65	40	31	44	66.3
52	Washington (Foster)	32	65	33	82	65.76
53	San Diego	53	48	39	73	65.48
54	George Washington	47	76	21	42	64.27
55	Duquesne (Palumbo)	21	77	96	76	63.63
56	Denver (Daniels)	31	67	87	72	62.66
57	Purdue (Krannert)	74	42	44	62	62.59
58	Florida (Heavener)	46	71	56	38	62.56
59	Cal Poly (Orfaela)	81	43	25	83	61.82
60	Case Western Reserve (Weatherhead)	70	53	46	56	61.63
61	Providence College	35	79	77	64	60.47
62	UC Boulder (Leeds)	79	55	47	74	59.44
63	Loyola (Quinlan)	44	85	45	79	58.55
64	Virginia Tech (Pamplin)	62	81	36	68	58.45
65	Seton Hall (Stillman)	76	66	54	53	58.37
66	American (Kogod)	69	72	49	66	58.21
67	Georgia (Terry)	99	30	42	65	57.47
68	Butler	75	75	83	1	57.42
69	Minnesota (Carlson)	91	49	50	30	57.01
70	Michigan - Dearborn	26	91	89	98	56.83
71	Bowling Green State	42	78	85	93	56.56
72	Connecticut	78	73	57	63	56.47
73	Stonehill	83	64	78	23	56.45
74	Arkansas (Walton)	60	74	72	92	55.98
75	Illinois State	72	58	81	90	55.36
76	Missouri (Trulaske)	34	102	94	29	54.91
77	Lipscomb	24	108	92	50	53.95
78	Drexel (LeBow)	95	62	66	24	53.47
79	Northern Illinois	82	61	69	103	52.85
80	Arizona (Eller)	100	47	62	78	52.75
81	New Hampshire (Paul)	89	57	84	87	51.55
82	Kansas State	58	88	90	99	50.86
83	Tennessee (Haslam)	64	97	71	96	49.59
84	Cincinnati (Lindner)	93	60	91	88	48.67
85	Buffalo	36	99	104	105	48.56
86	Seattle (Albers)	48	89	105	108	47.99
87	Ithaca College	96	86	59	52	47.48
88	Texas at Dallas (Jindal)	104	41	82	104	47.36
89	Tulane (Freeman)	103	90	32	43	47.35
90	Colorado State	88	80	75	95	47.15
91	Quinnipiac	97	82	61	75	46.95
92	Sacred Heart (Welch)	98	87	58	51	46.67
93	Cristopher Newport (Luter)	111	63	102	49	46.58
94	Worcester Poly (Foisie)	108	83	30	81	46.34
95	St. Thomas (Opus)	110	70	79	67	46.17
96	Toledo	73	94	103	97	45.59
97	Rutgers - Newark	84	100	51	106	44.55
98	Akron	61	106	86	100	43.91
99	Tulsa (Collins)	107	96	35	101	40.86
100	Oregon (Lundquist)	71	104	101	107	39.65
101	Hartford (Barney)	101	93	108	57	39.26
102	St. Louis (John Cook)	106	98	100	86	38.19
103	Belmont (Massey)	86	107	111	58	37.35
104	U.S. Coast Guard Academy	114	21	112	114	37.03
105	Utah (Eccles)	77	111	99	109	36.82
106	Portland State	56	110	107	112	36.36
107	Vermont (Grossman)	94	101	110	91	35.44
108	Marist College	90	112	68	71	35.43
109	Florida Southern College (Barney)	105	69	113	111	33.14
110	Kentucky (Gatton)	102	109	97	94	31.94
111	Kent State	45	114	109	110	29.83
112	Rowan (Rohrer)	113	113	80	89	27.62
113	Texas at San Antonio	109	105	106	113	25.2
114	Hult	112	103	114	102	25.11