March 21, 2012 — The University of Virginia's McIntire School of Commerce was once again ranked second among the nation's best undergraduate business programs in the annual Bloomberg Businessweek rankings, announced Tuesday, and it remains the only program to be ranked either first or second in each of the seven years that Businessweek has ranked undergraduate programs.

The University of Notre Dame's Mendoza College of Business was ranked first. Cornell University's Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management was ranked third.

"McIntire earned A-plus grades for teaching quality, facilities and services, and job placement and was rated the No. 1 MBA feeder school," Carl Zeithaml, dean of the McIntire School, said.

McIntire was No. 2 in the student survey rank and No. 8 in the recruiter survey rank. The school placed seventh for academic quality, determined by measuring five equally weighted components. Businessweek examined average SAT scores, the ratio of full-time students to faculty and average class size. The student survey supplied the percentage of business majors with internships and the hours students spend every week on schoolwork.

McIntire also remains the top-rated program among public institutions, with the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business falling from sixth to seventh and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Kenan-Flagler Business School falling from eighth to 10th.

"Over the past seven years, the school's consistent top-tier ranking in a highly competitive environment is a tribute to the entire McIntire community," Zeithaml said. "Our success is a direct result of our terrific students, faculty and staff, as well as the extraordinary support provided by our alumni, parents and corporate sponsors. Their investment in the McIntire School enables our world-class faculty to remain in the forefront of innovation in both teaching and research. It enables the school to attract superlative students and to produce high-impact graduates. Our 2011 graduates secured excellent jobs, and our class of 2013 is statistically the strongest ever."

Other Virginia schools ranked in the top 50 were the University of Richmond (15th), The College of William & Mary (25th) and James Madison University (31st).

Complete rankings can be found on the Bloomberg Businessweek website.

Bloomberg Businessweek's Top 10 Undergraduate Business Schools

1. University of Notre Dame (Mendoza)
2. University of Virginia (McIntire)
3. Cornell University (Dyson)
4. University of Pennsylvania (Wharton)
5. Emory University (Goizueta)
6. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sloan)
7. University of Michigan (Ross)
8. Washington University in St. Louis (Olin)
9. Boston College (Carroll)
10. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Kenan-Flagler)