Business school moves up in program rankings
Christina Durano
Neeley undergrads are getting the most bang for their buck, according to the 2008 BusinessWeek rankings of the nation’s undergraduate business schools.
The Neeley School now ranks 32 out of more than 550 accredited business schools in the nation. Last year, Neeley ranked 39.
Bill Moncrief, senior associate dean at Neeley, said the school's ranking rose because in past years, administrators were too busy to provide BusinessWeek with thorough information.
"We were able to get better data on our recruiters this year," Moncrief said. "Last year, we were in a time crunch."
Neeley ranked fourth for return on investment for private schools and 10th for hardest working students. Both rankings topped the charts for undergraduate business schools in Texas.
Return on investment was determined by the average salary per tuition dollar. TCU's tuition for 2007-2008 was $24,865, and the median starting salary of Neeley graduates was $50,000. Neeley graduates' average salaries per tuition dollar was $2.01, according to BusinessWeek.
"We really try to give them skills beyond the classroom that translate well to recruiters," Moncrief said. "(This) is reflected in their salaries."
TCU's Neeley School of Business received an A in teaching quality, an A+ in facilities and service and an A in job placement.
Students agreed with BusinessWeek's assessment.
"The professors are very interested in the students," said Jason Hauck, a junior accounting and finance major. "They are eager to help."
Charles Conway, a sophomore pre-business major, agreed.
"The people in charge care about us," he said.
BusinessWeek used nine criteria to rank undergraduate business programs, including surveys of 80,000 business majors and more than 600 corporate recruiters, the graduates' median starting salaries and the number of graduates who continue to prestigious MBA programs.
It also calculated an academic quality score by combining SAT scores, faculty-student ratios, class size, the percentage of students with internships and the number of hours students spend on class work each week. Neeley's academic quality rank was 43.
"BusinessWeek is very detailed," Moncrief said. "It's not about perception; it's about reality."
Some students said they think the improvement in the Neeley School's rankings will make a degree from the school more valuable.
"(Employers) are going to start to seek out the school, not just in Texas but nationally," said Jake Mattison, a senior entrepreneurial management and e-business major. "It's a place where you can get into a quality job."
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