The ranking comes from Poets & Quants, a business education news outlet that released its survey results on Dec. 5.
The undergraduate business degree program at Elon's Martha and Spencer Love School of Business ranks among the best in the country, according to a new survey published by business education news outlet Poets & Quants.
Elon's program ranked No. 48 in the U.S. in the survey by Poets & Quants that includes private and public institutions of all sizes. The survey methodology focuses on three main components — school admissions standards, alumni perspectives on the educational experience and employment data. View the complete rankings here.
Raghu Tadepalli, dean of the Love School of Business, said the Poets & Quants ranking is a testament to the outstanding work of the school's faculty and staff.
"The Love School of Business continues to compare very favorably with nationally known universities and indeed ranks above many of them," Tadepalli said. "It is an honor to work with a dedicated group of faculty and staff who place student learning and success front and center.”
Elon achieved its highest marks in the area of the academic experience, which was based on surveys of alumni who had been away from school for at least two years to determine how satisfied they were. Among the questions alumni were asked were whether they would recommend the school to a friend, whether the business degree was worth the time and cost and how effective the career advising effort of the school was.
New this year in the category was an assessment of whether students have a signature experience or global immersion opportunity during their time in the program.
The rankings factored in employment outcomes by looking at the percentage of graduates who started jobs within 90 days, the average salaries of graduates and the percentage of the class with internships before their senior year. For admissions standards, the rankings considered average SAT scores for the last entering class, the percentage who finished in the top 10 percent of their classes in high school and the acceptance rate for the business school program.
Elon ranked 37th for academic experience, 40th for the employment of its graduates and 71st in admissions standards. Tadepalli noted that among private schools, Elon's Love School of Business ranks 24th on this year's Poets & Quants list.
Poets & Quants is headed by Editor-in-Chief John Byrne, who along with being the founder of C-Change Media formerly served as executive editor of Bloomberg Businessweek, Businessweek.com and Fast Company. He created the first regularly published rankings of business schools for Businessweek in 1988 and has authored several business school guidebooks.
“This is THE most thorough data-driven study of undergraduate business education ever undertaken," Byrne said "At a time when parents and students are confronting ever-increasing tuition bills and levels of debt, the return-on-investment of a degree is more important than ever. We measure those returns and it's no wonder that more parents are encouraging their children to major in business. The best business schools are a no-brainer investment because they are reporting record or near-record starting salaries and job placement for their graduates.”
Elon’s Love School of Business was one of three North Carolina schools to make the list, joining Wake Forest University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania took the top spot in this year’s rankings.