Top Colleges for Business Majors

College of Business signWhich colleges are graduating the most students with majors in business excluding specialty schools?  I looked at schools with at least a 49% or better four-year graduation rate because “graduating” is an important part of this question. In terms of absolute numbers, the top 15 are pretty much large universities, almost all public universities with two exceptions, Indiana Wesleyan University and Bentley University.

Not surprisingly, these two universities are on the list of the top 15 institutions with the highest percentage of graduates with business majors.  These 15 colleges were all private and tended to be on the small size with Indiana Wesleyan University being the largest at just under 10,000 full-time undergraduates. The percentage of business majors ranged from 41% to 95% at Bentley University.


With daily news reports of college graduates having to move back in with their parents and doing free part-time internships in hopes of getting a job, a lot of people think that majoring in business is a pretty good idea. It is by far the most popular undergraduate degree and the third highest paying according to the “What’s It Worth” study of college majors by Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce.

Of course, some business majors pay better than others, with Hospitality Management being at the low-end and Business Economics at the high-end. You can find out more about the Occupation Outlook for specific majors at the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

And it’s also important to remember just because you didn’t major in business doesn’t mean you can’t work in business. According to the Wall Street Journal, there is also an increasing emphasis of liberal arts skills such as critical thinking in business programs to meet the changing demands of business. The key is to demonstrate practical skills whether learned through a business major or internship opportunities.

The following tables list the top 15 colleges for undergraduate business majors with a 49 percent or better four-year graduate rate excluding specialty schools.

Top 15 Colleges/Universities by Percentage of Undergraduate Degrees Awarded in Business

Name

Type

Business- Management- Marketing- and related Support
Services

% Business- Management- Marketing- and related Support
Services

Full-time Under-graduates

SAT Critical Reading 75th%

SAT Math 75th%

ACT  75th%

Bentley University

Private

979

94.7

4,102

630

670

28

Bryant University

Private

657

81.6

3,229

590

630

27

Robert Morris University Illinois

Private

684

75.1

3,853

Webber International University

Private

76

73.1

627

490

520

21

Peirce College

Private

178

63.8

809

Baker University

Private

253

55.5

1,198

543

555

26

Indiana Wesleyan University

Private

1,461

54.9

9,763

590

590

27

University of Denver

Private

619

52.3

5,021

650

660

30

John Brown University

Private

241

49.8

1,485

600

600

28

Saint Joseph’s University

Private

506

49.1

4,619

600

610

26

University of St Thomas

Private

614

47.6

5,958

650

650

28

Gwynedd Mercy College

Private

162

47.4

1,500

540

540

Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota

Private

227

45.8

1,440

590

540

26

Siena College

Private

282

42.1

3,207

610

630

26

Bluffton University

Private

90

41.1

864

610

590

24


Top 15 Colleges/Universities by Number of Undergraduate Degrees Awarded in Business

Name

Type

Business- Management- Marketing- and related Support
Services

% Business- Management- Marketing- and related Support
Services

Full-time Under-graduates

SAT Critical Reading 75th%

SAT Math 75th%

ACT  75th%

Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus

Public

2,188

19.0

37,485

630

670

29

Florida State University

Public

1,597

20.1

29,069

640

650

28

Ohio State University-Main Campus

Public

1,562

16.4

38,523

650

700

30

University of Georgia

Public

1,502

23.1

24,408

660

670

29

Indiana Wesleyan University

Private

1,461

54.9

9,763

590

590

27

Indiana University-Bloomington

Public

1,341

19.9

30,957

630

650

29

University of Florida

Public

1,309

14.1

30,475

670

690

30

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Public

1,256

22.7

23,241

640

680

29

University of Southern California

Private

1,097

25.8

16,688

720

750

33

The University of Texas at Austin

Public

1,058

12.0

35,558

660

700

31

Bentley University

Private

979

94.7

4,102

630

670

28

University of Maryland-College Park

Public

965

14.7

24,841

680

710

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Public

945

12.7

30,613

660

770

31

Miami University-Oxford

Public

920

24.8

14,452

630

650

29

University of Massachusetts Amherst

Public

893

18.4

19,821

620

640

28

 

Leave a Comment