WashU Olin’s BSBA program ranked ninth in the latest ranking of undergraduate business schools from Poets & Quants, a showing that reflects the increasing competitiveness of the ranking since it debuted with WashU at No. 1 in 2016.
In the 2023 edition of the Poets & Quants ranking, Olin fell five spots from its 2022 ranking, which was released March 1. That showing came in spite of the school garnering an overall score of 95.52—nearly three points higher than last year’s score.
P&Q centers its ranking on three main criteria: the quality of the incoming students, the career outcomes students achieve after graduation and their view of their school’s academic experience. The former two criteria are based on surveys of school data (e.g., acceptance rates, SAT scores, salary averages) completed between June and December. The latter student experience data is based on a survey of graduates from the class of 2020.
Olin remained stable at fourth place in employment results, and rose from 29th to 17th in academic experience, but fell to eighth in the admissions category.
I know that diversity now has weighing in the P&Q rankings – could the diminished placement be due to our more predominately white student body compared to other T10 business schools?
I understand Poets & Quants typically posts comparative data, but has not yet for this year. What I can say is that for the Olin undergraduate program, the class that entered in fall 2022 included 19% first-generation college students, was 49% female and 28% underrepresented students of color. And 3% of those incoming students were international.