Belmont University announced today that its undergraduate School of Business has achieved a Top 100 national ranking in BusinessWeek’s third annual report on “The Best Undergrad B-Schools” in the U.S. Belmont ranked No. 89 in the U.S., placed between the University of Arkansas (No. 88) and Louisiana State University (No. 90). Belmont and the University of Tennessee-Knoxville (No. 93) were the only two Tennessee programs to make the list, and Belmont was one of only six private schools in the South to be included. For the second straight year, the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School was recognized as best in the U.S.
Belmont’s College of Business Administration (COBA) Dean J. Patrick Raines said, “This national recognition offers continuing evidence that our COBA faculty and staff are doing a phenomenal job in delivering a high-quality undergraduate business education to our students. And given our continuing partnership with Belmont’s Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business, it also demonstrates what is possible when two academic programs share the same passion for excellence.”
Susan Taylor, COBA associate dean of undergraduate business, added, “Our students and their families will be very pleased with this recognition. It’s also rewarding to know that what we have been telling students when we recruit them is now being validated on such a highly visible national platform.”
BusinessWeek uses a comprehensive methodology for its rankings calculations that includes nine distinct measures. Overall, the magazine surveys around 80,000 business majors and 600 corporate recruiters, in addition to researching the median starting salaries for recent graduates and the number of graduates from each program who go on to attend national top tier MBA programs. BusinessWeek staff also calculate an academic quality score for the undergraduate schools by combining average SAT scores, faculty-student ratios, average class size, the percentage of students with internships and the number of hours students spend on class work each week.
The BusinessWeek report singled out Belmont for achieving high student satisfaction with its entrepreneurship and music business programs. The report also included an accompanying feature story on four business programs that have been successful in utilizing local industry and corporate connections to build a national profile. The University of Louisville (equine industry program), Belmont University (music business), University of Houston (global energy management), and Florida State University (professional golf management) were the four institutions of focus.
BusinessWeek’s complete rankings of the “Best Undergraduate B-Schools” will appear in its March 10, 2008 issue, available on newsstands March 3. Expanded content, including the full rankings methodology, interactive tables, in-depth profiles, and a discussion forum are available at www.businessweek.com/bschools/undergraduate.
For additional coverage, click here to see the story offered by CNN.
