The latest U.S. News & World Report ranking of U.S. undergraduate business programs places the Wisconsin School of Business 13th overall among business schools, down from 12th last year, seventh among public institutions, and third among Big Ten business schools.

Two programs within the Wisconsin School of Business retained their rankings within the magazine’s top-five list of specialties. The Real Estate program was again ranked second and the Risk Management and Insurance program was again ranked third in the nation. In the same issue, the Marketing program ranked 10th, Quantitative Analysis ranked 11th, the Finance program ranked 15th, the Accounting program ranked 16th and the Management program ranked 17th.

“Rankings are a relative measurement of how we compare to other business schools along certain dimensions at a given point in time,” said Mike Knetter, dean of the Wisconsin School of Business. “We remain committed to attracting great students, providing an exceptional educational experience, increasing career readiness and global understanding and generating great career opportunities.

“Next fall, we will welcome our first sophomores into the program, allowing for a more structured curriculum in which courses build upon each other. The new curriculum also will focus on strengthening students’ communication and quantitative skills and provide better internship opportunities. We are also focused on other improvements, such as increasing diversity amongst our student body and enhancing the international exposure of our graduates,” he said.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison as a whole was ranked 35th in the U.S., seventh among public universities, and third among Big Ten schools. The rankings are based solely on the judgments of deans and senior faculty who responded to an invitation to nominate peer institutions on a scale of 1 (marginal) to 5 (distinguished). A total of 38 percent of those surveyed responded. Specialty areas were ranked based on the number of nominations received from respondents.

Wisconsin’s undergraduate program has been ranked among top programs in the U.S. by U.S. News & World Report ever since the magazine began ranking undergraduate business programs in 1996.

Posted in Undergraduate Program