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McIntire’s Undergraduate Program Ranked Second by BusinessWeek

	Photo by Dan Addison.

“With top-flight faculty and high salaries, UVA came close to unseating Wharton at No. 1.”
—BusinessWeek

For the third consecutive year, the McIntire School of Commerce has been ranked second among the nation’s best undergraduate business programs by BusinessWeek magazine. The University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School held on to the top spot in the 2008 ranking, but McIntire closed the gap between the two schools to create what one BusinessWeek editor called a “virtual dead heat” during the online chat Feb. 28, 2008, when the ratings were announced.

“The big news this year is the University of Virginia,” wrote Louis Lavelle, B-Schools Editor for BusinessWeek, during the chat. “It really gained on Wharton. The ranking is based on an ‘index’ number, and the No. 1 school is always an index number of 100. Last year Virginia was way behind—it had an index number of 92.7. This year it was 99—a virtual dead heat.”

	Photo by Dan Addison.

BusinessWeek collects extensive data in five different areas to compile its rankings: a survey of students, a survey of recruiters, the median salaries of graduates, the number of graduates who go on to top-ranked M.B.A. programs, and an academic quality measure that includes test scores and faculty-student ratios among other measures.

For the second year in a row, McIntire ranked first in the student satisfaction survey among the 96 programs that BusinessWeek ranked. McIntire again received an A+ grade in each of the areas of teaching quality, facilities and services, and job placement. The median starting salaries of McIntire graduates increased more than 10 percent, and the BusinessWeek comment within the ranking was “[w]ith top-flight faculty and high salaries, UVA came close to unseating Wharton at No. 1.”

The University of Notre Dame finished a close third, with an index of 96.7, and BusinessWeek commented that Wharton, Virginia, and Notre Dame formed a “cluster of their own” at the top of the ranking. Despite the stability of the two schools at the top for the past three years, the rest of the ranking changed considerably from last year. Michigan (No. 6) and Texas (No. 10) were the only other public universities among the top 10.

In a note to faculty and staff, Dean Carl Zeithaml commented, “I know that we are proud to be ranked once again among the top undergraduate business programs in the country, and each and every one of you should feel a tremendous sense of achievement. It is the result of your daily efforts and commitment. I am very pleased that our terrific students recognize the exceptional effort of our faculty and staff to create a great undergraduate experience for them. Our ranking is a real tribute to our students, who distinguish themselves in many ways; our great teaching and continuous curriculum improvements; the wonderful support that our students receive from Student Services, Technology Services, and Career Services; and our successful and loyal alumni and corporate partners.

“Finally, although we all want to be No. 1, I sincerely appreciate that we are recognized among the elite based on the efforts and achievements of everyone in the McIntire community. I was asked today how I felt about the impending ranking, and I honestly responded that I am confident that we all did everything that we could throughout the year to build and maintain the very best program. I also know that we will continue to do everything that we can to make the program and the entire School even better. As we do so, the rankings will take care of themselves.”

 

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