Mays came away among the top 15 public schools for undergraduates in BusinessWeek‘s first ranking of undergraduate programs, released in late April. Mays ranked 13th public and 34th overall in the magazine, which polled students and corporate recruiters to rate the best schools in terms of career outcomes, student experience and job placement.
The school ranked 12th best in terms of student satisfaction, or 5th best among the public schools. Mays also scored high with an “A+” for its facilities and services, which puts the school among the top 20 percent, and an “A” for its job placement success.
“We are pleased to be included in the inaugural BusinessWeek ranking,” said Mays Dean Jerry Strawser. “Receiving high marks for placement is important, as it tells me that our faculty are doing an outstanding job in preparing students for their initial professional careers. Our student satisfaction measure also indicates that, in addition to a great education and great job opportunities, our staff provide outstanding customer service to our students.”
May 2005 graduates reported an 86 percent success rate in finding employment or being accepted into graduate school. More than 490 companies posted jobs for undergraduate business students through Texas A&M’s Career Center during 2004-2005, a 45 percent increase from the prior academic year. Among them were 88 Fortune 500 companies.
Mays’ business education complex is equipped with the latest technology and wireless access throughout the building, and includes the Business Library & Collaboration Commons, a dedicated business research library open 24/5. The school’s Reliant Energy Securities and Commodities Trading Center is also ground zero for giving students first-hand experience with state-of-the-art trading and risk management platforms.
The business school is also implementing an innovative program that lasts students’ entire undergraduate careers and arms them with business and life skills in integrative learning communities. Called “Transitions” because it shepherds the transition into college, through college and on to students’ professional lives, the program will be offered to all 850 incoming freshman in fall 2006.
“Transitions is based on the core competencies that we have identified with the help of our faculty, students and business partners — communications, problem solving, creativity, leadership, teamwork, ethics and globalization,” says Associate Dean Martha L. Loudder. “This program will further improve student and employer satisfaction with the education we are providing.”
BusinessWeek judges business schools based on five measures, from recruiter and student surveys to academic quality, teaching quality, and the starting salaries and career outcomes of graduates.
The undergraduate business program is already among the top 20 public schools in the nation, ranked 19th in U.S. News & World Report‘s 2006 rankings. The general news magazine also rates the undergraduate management program 11th public, and the undergraduate accounting program 16th public. In the Public Accounting Report‘s professor’s survey in 2005, the accounting undergraduate program came in 4th public and 7th overall.
Learn more about the BusinessWeek rankings athttp://bwnt.businessweek.com/bschools/undergraduate/06rankings/.