Campus Life: A User's Guide

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The University of Virginia's McIntire School of Commerce (UVA McIntire Undergraduate Business Profile) is BusinessWeek's top undergraduate business school, but what's the university like as a whole? According to College Prowler's data, parking is a pain and the school needs some work when it comes to diversity, but the campus is safe and academics are top-notch—don't expect classes to be easy. "Our teachers are all some of the top experts in their fields, and the workload, no matter what your major is, is incredibly heavy," says one UVA student contacted by College Prowler. "Don't expect to continue earning the same grades you got in high school."

a look at diversity

Students at the University of Notre Dame, home of the No. 2 Mendoza College of Business (Mendoza Undergraduate Business Profile), aren't as satisfied overall, but their main complaints shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone who is familiar with the school. For instance, Notre Dame gets low grades in the weather category, presumably for the cold, snowy winters, but when you go to school in northern Indiana, what do you expect? The school earned a C- in campus strictness, meaning resident advisers and administrators are serious about students following the rules and are not afraid to enforce them. On the plus side, students at Notre Dame give campus dining an A+ and rave about athletics. Explains one student contacted by College Prowler: "Varsity sports at Notre Dame are a pretty big deal. Students, parents, and alumni live and die for football weekends and all that comes with it (dressing up, touring campus, tailgating, etc.)."

In terms of diversity, Carnegie Mellon Carnegie Mellon Tepper Undergraduate Business Profile), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT Sloan Undergraduate Business Profile), and University of California-Berkeley (UC-Berkeley Haas Undergraduate Business Profile) all earn high marks for having noticeable percentages of ethnic minorities and international students, as well as students from various economic backgrounds and religious beliefs, as described by College Prowler.

For parents, safety and security are two of the most important factors in choosing a school for their child. Of the top 50 business programs, students at James Madison University (James Madison Undergraduate Business Profile) feel the safest and most secure, giving their school an A+ in the category. Boston College (Boston Undergraduate Business Profile), Brigham Young (BYU Marriott Undergraduate Business Profile), and Ohio University (Ohio Undergraduate Business Profile) also earn high marks for safety. MIT and the University of Washington (Washington Foster Undergraduate Business Profile) earn the lowest marks in the category with C-pluses.

There are many factors to consider when choosing the best university—and business program—for your needs. A school may be highly-ranked, but if it isn't up to the standards you're looking for, it could be a long four years.

Gloeckler is a staff editor for BusinessWeek in New York.

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