NIU College of Business achieves continuous rank among nation’s elite, 2021 Poets&Quants survey

For the fourth year in a row, the NIU College of Business ranks among the nation’s elite in the Poets&Quants For Undergrads survey of best business programs. The publication’s 2021 survey places the college at no. 77, two positions higher than last year. The college also ranks no. 30 for best overall academic experience.

“The NIU College of Business has a long legacy of excellence. This is demonstrated through the college’s unwavering commitment to scholarly endeavors, the melding of theory with hands-on application, and to the success of its students and alumni,” says Beth Ingram, executive vice president and provost for Northern Illinois University. “We are proud of our faculty for continuing their equally long legacy of garnering well-deserved public recognition, particularly in such a highly competitive national field.”

Poets&Quants for Undergrads is the leading online publication for undergraduate business education
news. Its annual ranking is considered the most comprehensive assessment of undergraduate business programs. Since the launch of the survey in 2017, the NIU College of Business has been continuously included among its list of the nation’s very best.

Along with evaluating inputs and outputs, Poets&Quants for Undergrads Project Manager Nathan Allen
indicated that the 2021 survey also evaluated what a school does to grow its students over four years.
Allen framed the point succinctly asking: “How do they (the students sic) view their academic
experience.”

“That our students ranked their experience with us so highly as to place us no. 30 nationally for
overall academic experience provides a strong endorsement of the efforts of our faculty and staff to
create exceptional experiences. While being ranked among a prestigious group is a vote of confidence in us, I am especially pleased by the powerful validation from our students,” says Balaji Rajagopalan, dean of the NIU College of Business.

The publication’s methodology included a survey of more than 6,100 alumni and school-reported data.
Recent graduates across 93 elite and highly competitive schools were surveyed on aspects of faculty
availability, extracurricular opportunities and accessibility of the alumni network. Poets&Quants is the
only ranking instrument in the world to collect this data set in one ranking.

Along with being continuously ranked, the NIU College of Business has often been listed as one of few Illinois schools in this survey. This year only two Illinois schools – NIU and UIUC – made the Poets&Quants national ranking of best undergraduate business programs.

by M. De Jean, Director of Marketing, NIU College of Business

Print Friendly, PDF & Email