BusinessWeek magazine recently released its 2008 undergraduate business school rankings. SMU’s Cox School of Business ranked No. 23 overall, up one place from being ranked No. 24 in the 2007 version of BusinessWeek’s rankings.
“Year after year the bar continues to rise in terms of the quality of the SMU Cox undergraduate program,” Dr. Albert W. Niemi, Dean of the Cox School of Business said. “I thank our faculty, staff, students, alumni and friends who work hard to make the Cox School a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and experience for our students.
“We are delighted with BusinessWeek’s ranking of the Cox BBA program, and we will continue to stay focused on the school’s mission by placing even greater emphasis on the overall quality of the program and providing an outstanding experience for our students,” he said.
In addition to the No. 23 overall ranking, the business school excelled in several specific categories. It ranked No. 7 for the second year running in the student survey for satisfaction, No. 4 for highest average SAT score and No. 2 for highest average ACT score.
It also received the No. 15 ranking for academic quality, the highest academic quality in Texas, No. 19 for sending the most undergraduates to top MBA programs and No. 22 for return on investment among private universities.
“I continue to be thrilled that our seniors rank their SMU Cox experience so well – No. 7 in the nation – and that our academic quality is also highly recognized,” Director of BBA Admissions Stephanie Dupaul said. “Great things happen when exceptionally gifted students and talented faculty come together. That’s the core of the SMU Cox advantage.”
The ranking system weighed several criteria in order to come up with each school’s final ranking. Thirty percent of the ranking was based on surveys of more than 80,000 graduating seniors majoring in business, with a recruiter survey accounting for 20 percent of the ranking.
The ranking also considered starting salaries (10 percent), which schools sent the most students to top MBA programs (10 percent) and several measures of academic quality, including faculty-student ratios and average SAT scores (30 percent). Despite this holistically quantitative approach, Dupaul was quick to note that rankings do not tell the whole story.
“Looking at a ranking and nothing else when making a college decision is like asking someone you’ve never met to buy your clothes,” Dupaul said. “One size or style does not fit all, and no one ranking will identify what is the best fit for each individual student.”
