UVa’s McIntire School Rated Tops among Undergraduate Business Programs

For the fifth straight year, UVa’s McIntire School of Commerce earned one of two top positions in Bloomberg BusinessWeek’s annual rankings of undergraduate business programs. Overall, UVa came in second after Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business and was followed by MIT’s Sloan School of Management at number 3.

To rank programs, BusinessWeek used nine measures, including surveys of senior business majors and corporate recruiters, median starting salaries, and the number of graduates each program sends to top MBA programs. Academic quality was rated by combining average SAT scores, student-faculty ratios, class size, the percent of students with internships, and student reports on hours devoted to class work.

Not surprisingly, schools performing well in the ranking made extraordinary efforts to help students find employment by “enlisting faculty and alumni, using social media, and developing talent pipelines to local businesses.” In addition to noting McIntire’s programs, services, and facilities, BusinessWeek made special mention of UVa’s career services programs and the use of Twitter and Facebook to distribute career tips and help students find jobs and internships, particularly in industries where openings are scarce.

“We’re really trying to be creative in our whole approach,” explained Tom Fitch, UVa’s assistant dean of career services. “We’re all out for the same goal, which is helping students find jobs.”

At number 15, the University of Richmond's Robins School of Business also received special recognition for interview training offered to sophomores through a program developed by Richmond alumnus Paul B. Queally, co-president at the New York-based private equity firm Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe. The two-day crash course covers “everything from the one-minute elevator pitch and networking to thank-you notes and business dinner etiquette.” The training, says Queally, “gives Richmond students a potential advantage in the interview process where they compete with candidates from Ivy League Schools.”

Other local schools ranked in the top 50 were Georgetown University (23), the College of William and Mary (25), the University of Maryland (36), James Madison University (41), and Loyola University of Maryland (45). Complete rankings can be found on the BusinessWeek website.