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IU's Kelley School moves up among elite undergraduate programs ranked by 'Bloomberg Business Week'


March 4, 2011

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- During a year when Bloomberg Business Week's annual ranking of undergraduate business schools underwent a shake-up due to economic conditions, Indiana University's Kelley School of Business consistently has remained in the publication's Top 20 and moved up one position to 18th.

Kelley remains second among all Big Ten schools and moved up to sixth among such programs at public universities, in rankings that the magazine announced through a Webcast late Thursday (March 3). Kelley's undergraduate program has always been ranked in the Top 20 throughout the six-year history of the survey.

Dan Smith

Corporate recruiters surveyed by Bloomberg Business Week ranked Kelley as the eighth most favorite program nationally and the school's career placement office received an A-plus grade.

Despite challenges presented by historic economic conditions, magazine editors reported that nearly 85 percent of graduates surveyed said they had a job within three months after graduation and had an average salary of $50,000.

Since the survey was conducted last November, Kelley's placement office has noticed about a 15 percent increase in on-campus interviews by companies, according to the school's dean, Dan Smith.

"The good thing for the class of 2011 is that the job outlook is a lot more positive than it was for the class of 2010," said Bloomberg Business Week editor Geoff Gloeckler. "More students have job offers in hand. Companies are saying they're hiring more students this year, and it just seems to be a lot more positive. For the class of 2011, they have a reason to be optimistic."

Kelley maintained its "A" grade for teaching quality and for the resources made available to students.

"Rankings like these are just one measure that parents and prospective students use when narrowing the schools they consider, however, this survey confirms what we're hearing from our corporate partners and from prospective students -- that they are very satisfied by the quality of the education the Kelley School provides," Smith said. "This is a time when recruiters and students could pull away, and they haven't."

Munirpallam Venkataramanan, associate dean for academic programs, noted that interest is at an all-time high in terms of applications; from both standard and direct admit students. For example, the number of applications from honors students, or direct admit students, is up by 20 percent. The average SAT score for all undergraduate students at Kelley is now 1,300.

With an enrollment of nearly 5,000, the Kelley School has the largest undergraduate enrollment in Bloomberg Business Week's Top 20. The student-to-faculty ratio continues to improve, from 21.8-to-1 to 21-to-1.

"There are more than 3,000 colleges and universities that grant business degrees. According to this ranking, we remain among the elite 1 percent in the nation," he said.

Overall, 28,377 college seniors at 113 schools participated in the survey.

In its most recent ranking of M.B.A. programs, in 2010, Bloomberg Business Week ranked Kelley's M.B.A. program 19th.

More information about the rankings is available online at http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/special_reports/20110303best_undergrad_bschools.htm.