Elon's business school retains top national ranking

Bloomberg Businessweek includes the Martha & Spencer Love School of Business high on its 2014 list of the nation's best undergraduate business programs.

Elon University ranked #45 on a list of top schools with undergraduate business programs announced this week by Bloomberg Businessweek, which each year publishes comprehensive rankings of premiere colleges and universities across the United States.

Bloomberg Businessweek has now featured the university’s Martha and Spencer Love School of Business among the nation’s top 50 undergraduate business programs for three consecutive years.

Elon debuted in the Bloomberg Businessweek survey in 2011 at #60. Bloomberg Businessweek identifies the nation’s top undergraduate business programs based on student satisfaction, a survey of employers and academic quality.

“Being ranked among Bloomberg Businessweek’s top 50 public and private business schools, and among the top 30 private business schools, shows that we offer a high-quality business education to our students,” said Raghu Tadepalli, dean of the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business. “The ranking also shows us that we compete very well and hold our own amongst the best undergraduate business programs in the country.”

The only other North Carolina undergraduate business schools ranked in the top 50 were the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (#10) and Wake Forest University (#11).

Elon’s #45 undergraduate ranking comes one week after the Love School of Business officially earned reaccreditation from AACSB International —The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business.

In developing the Best Undergraduate Business Schools ranking, Bloomberg Businessweek used surveys of both senior business majors and employers, median starting salaries for graduates, and the number of alumni each program sends to top MBA programs. A calculation of academic quality is also included in the methodology, combining average SAT scores, student-faculty ratios, class size in core business courses and the percentage of students with internships.

“Bloomberg Businessweek’s undergraduate business school ranking is designed to reflect the changing landscape of undergraduate programs,” said Francesca Levy, the magazine’s business education editor. “It gives prospective students a critical overview of the schools currently offering the best academic experience and the best post-collegiate opportunities – in other words, the best return on these students’ investment of time and money.”

This year, 132 undergraduate business programs received a Bloomberg Businessweek ranking.

The Love School includes 1,625 students who study in the departments of accounting, economics, finance, management, and marketing and entrepreneurship. The Love School includes a prestigious Business Fellows program, the Chandler Family Professional Sales Center, the Doherty Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership, the William Garrard Reed Finance Center and an Executive Education program.