HITTING THE BOOKS

• Special Report: For Business Students, an Uncertain Future
• Slide Show: The Top Undergraduate Business Programs

As a barometer of student engagement, few measures are better than the number of hours students spend on class work each week. That’s why, when we surveyed graduating seniors for this year’s ranking of the top undergraduate business schools, we asked them to tell us much time they spend hitting the books. Overall, the number hovers near 15 hours a week, or about 2 hours a day. But that average masks wide variation. At No. 1 Carnegie Mellon, the hours spent on class work each week exceeded 20, an increase of more than 5 from last year, while the school that had the hardest-working students last year, Wake Forest, fell nearly 4 hours per week.