Poets&Quants for Undergrads, the leading online publication for undergraduate business education news, has unveiled its sixth annual Best Undergraduate Business Schools 2022 rankings. Georgia Institute for Technology made the top 10.
This year’s ranking will include 95 schools, up from 93 last year. For the first time since the launch of this ranking, the methodology has been adjusted. Changes include reducing the weight given to average SAT scores from 35% to 10%. Additionally, the weight given to acceptance rates was lowered from 35% to 30%. The average high school GPA of the most recently enrolled class (15%) was added along with the average percentage of students that reported being National Merit finalists or semi-finalists (15%). Learn more about the rankings methodology here.
“We believe the quality of business education comes down to three core issues,” said Nathan Allen, Project Manager, Poets&Quants for Undergrads. “The quality of the raw talent coming through the door, what a school does with that talent over four years, and finally how the marketplace responds to the graduates coming off campus.”
Rounding out the top 10 undergraduate business school programs are:
- University of Pennsylvania (Wharton)
- Georgetown University (McDonough)
- University of Southern California (Marshall)
- Washington University in St. Louis (Olin)
- University of Virginia (McIntire)
- University of Michigan (Ross)
- New York University (Stern)
- University of Notre Dame (Mendoza)
- Villanova University
- Georgia Institute of Technology (Scheller)
The Scheller College of Business at the Georgia Institute of Technology continued it’s three-year climb in our rankings of Best Undergraduate Business Schools moving into the top-10 for the first time in the five years of this ranking. Georgia Tech placed 18th in 2019 and 14th last year.
Scheller had an acceptance rate of 23.29% this year, aligning closely with last year’s acceptance rate of 24%. This fall’s class saw 83% coming from the top 10% of their high school class with an average GPA of 3.96, a large increase from last year, when 65% came from the top 10 percentile.
Scheller is best known for its multi-faceted approach to business education. As a part of Georgia Tech, the B-school intrinsically combines aspects of STEM into the curriculum with key capstone courses that exemplify Scheller’s multi-dimensional approach to business education.
SCHELLER CURRICULUM
The Scheller curriculum allows students to complete all degree requirements, one semester abroad and two internship semesters in four years. Additionally, students are admitted directly to the Scheller College of Business in their first year so they can kick-start their business education immediately.
Students begin their educational journey taking core courses within Georgia Tech in English, Mathematics, Humanities, Social Science, Computer Science, Health, and Laboratory Science giving them a holistic foundation to their business education.
“Our undergraduate students benefit from an innovation and technology focus in the classroom that translates to robust and stellar careers,” Craig Womack, the director of undergraduate programs at Scheller told us. “We excel at weaving technology into all aspects of the business classroom.”
Scheller students can choose from eight concentrations including Accounting, Finance, General Management, IT Management, Leadership and Organizational Change, Marketing, Operations and Supply Chain Management, and Strategy and Innovation.
TECHNOLOGY & MANAGEMENT PROGRAM
One of the cornerstone offerings at Scheller is the Denning Technology & Management (T&M) Program. Through the program, students can earn a 22-credit-hour minor with tracks including: Computing & Business Minor, Engineering & Business Minor, and Technology & Business Minor.
T&M students study managing emerging technologies and new product and services development. The program is topped off with an integrated capstone project course, where students work in teams to focus on a specific problem posed by one of the program’s Corporate Affiliates.
“This project allowed me to connect to my first employer, who then connected me to my current job,” one 2018 alumni told us. “I worked in a cross-functional team to research and develop an innovative solution to an actual problem at the company chosen for my capstone project.”
Another key benefit of the Scheller education is the very location of Georgia Tech — located in the heart of midtown Atlanta’s Technology Square, an area with a high density of startups, corporate innovators, and academic researchers.
“Scheller College takes advantage of its proximity to Tech Square by building relationships and fostering opportunities within this leading innovation hub,” Womack said. “Our students are provided the chance to explore both the business and technological aspects offered in their surroundings.”
This prime location offers Scheller students opportunities to work with some big name organizations.
“I worked directly with the Home Depot to help evaluate a new loyalty program and got to travel to various cities to interview store associates,” one 2018 alumni told us. “At the end of the project, my team presented to executives at THD headquarters.”
HANDS-ON LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES
In addition to the T&M Program, there are a number of other experiential learning opportunities available to Scheller students to dive deeper into their field of study and apply their knowledge in real-world settings.
One 2018 alumni said the Sustainable Business Practicum course was a highlight during their time at Scheller. Through the course, students focus on real-world sustainability projects (those with an environmental or social dimension that impacts business risk or opportunity) with student teams working together to develop practical recommendations and solutions for participating company sponsors.
“I also participated in the Carbon Reduction Challenge and won with team SunTrust in 2017 while interning there and then coached a 2nd-place team in 2019 from SunTrust as an alumnus,” the 2018 alumni told us. “I had the opportunity to present lessons of the 2017 victory at Georgia Tech TEDx twice and across multiple blog posts.”
Another 2018 alumni recalled working with a student team of consultants to fix an internal issue for Georgia Tech faculty.
“We focused on creating a new timesheet, equipment, and resources planning site on service now,” the alumni told us. “We were tasked with gathering requirements, configuring our system to match these requirements, then demoing it to our clients. This was a unique experience because it was essentially what I’m doing in my professional life nowadays.”
STRONG EMPLOYMENT OUTCOMES
Scheller’s Class of 2020 saw strong employment outcomes on both internship and job numbers. Some 95% of the Class of 2020 had a business-focused internship before graduation with 91.01% securing a full-time position within three months of graduation. An overwhelming 95.92% of 2018 Scheller alumni surveyed reported that their first job was in their desired industry with 87.76% saying that job was at their desired company.
With a multi-faceted education, hands-on learning opportunities, and a prime location for technological innovation, Scheller is perfect for students interested in exploring the worlds of both business and technology.
Alumni say:
“We did a capstone project that incorporated all facets of business into culminating deliverables. I also believe that the college significantly stresses the importance of work experience.”
“We consulted for a real-life company and helped them kick start their social media campaign! Very cool to see us working in the real world while still in school. Invaluable experience.”
“It was the breadth of experience I received that strengthened my career and academic aspirations. I was involved in project work partnering with Atlanta businesses in every single upper level class I took, and I benefited from that work in more ways than I can count.”
Poets&Quants for Undergrads compiled the 2022 exclusive rankings based on a representative survey of over 5,400 alumni and school-reported data. Recent grads across the 95 schools were surveyed on aspects of faculty availability, extracurricular opportunities, and accessibility of the alumni network. This data doesn’t exist together anywhere else in the world.
Visit here to learn more about the 2022 Rankings, the methodology and to locate a specific school. Follow us on social #PQURankings and @PoetsAndQuants. Poets&Quants for Undergrads “The Best Undergraduate Business Schools” 2022 Edition featuring detailed profiles of the Top 95 programs, will be published in early 2022.
About Poets&Quants for Undergrads:
Poets&Quants for Undergrads is a leading news website dedicated to the coverage of undergraduate business education. Highlighting the content is the annual exclusive ranking of the best undergraduate business schools across the United States. Founder and editor-in-chief John A. Byrne launched the one-of-a kind-rankings in 2016 to help students make the best possible choice for an undergraduate business education. Poets&Quants for Undergrads is the sister website to Poet&Quants, which concentrates on MBA programs. For more information, visit poetsandquantsforundergrads.com. Follow us on social #PQURankings, @PoetsAndQuantsU, Facebook.com/poetsandquantsforundergrads, and linkedin.com/company/poets-quants-forundergrads.
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