NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--For the fifth consecutive year, University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business was awarded the top spot on Bloomberg Businessweek’s ninth annual ranking of the Best U.S. Undergraduate Business Schools. The University of Virginia’s McIntire School of Commerce ranked second, also for the fifth consecutive year, and Cornell University’s Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management ranked third, for the third year running. Boston College’s Carroll School of Management and Olin Business School at Washington University, St. Louis rounded out the top five.

A total of 132 U.S. undergraduate business programs are included in the 2014 Bloomberg Businessweek ranking which was released today on Businessweek.com at businessweek.com/2014undergradrankings.

"Bloomberg Businessweek’s undergraduate business school ranking is designed to reflect the changing landscape of undergraduate programs,” said Francesca Levy, Business Education Editor, Bloomberg Businessweek. “It gives prospective students a critical overview of the schools currently offering the best academic experience and the best post-collegiate opportunities – in other words, the best return on these students’ investment of time and money."

"We are proud that ours is widely acknowledged as the most thoroughly researched undergraduate business school ranking,” said Jonathan Rodkin, Rankings and Research Coordinator, Bloomberg Businessweek. “We look forward to continuing to update our rankings to reflect the best practices in survey methodology.”

Bloomberg Businessweek’s undergraduate business school rankings are based on five components: student assessment, academic quality metrics, employer opinion, median starting salary, and a "feeder school" score. Notre Dame held onto the top spot by ranking in the top five for academic quality and employer sentiment, and scoring the highest on the student assessment, with students raving about the Catholic university’s attention to business ethics and social purpose.

Below are Bloomberg Businessweek’s top 20 U.S. Undergraduate Business Schools for 2014:

2014 Rank 2013 Rank Business School 1 1 Notre Dame (Mendoza) 2 2 Univ. of Virginia (McIntire) 3 3 Cornell (Dyson) 4 6 Boston College (Carroll) 5 4 Washington Univ. (Olin) 6 9 Univ. of Texas at Austin (McCombs) 7 5 Univ. of Pennsylvania (Wharton) 8 13 Indiana Univ. (Kelley) 9 7 Emory (Goizueta) 10 10 Univ. of North Carolina (Kenan-Flagler) 11 18 Wake Forest 12 8 Univ. of Michigan (Ross) 13 12 Brigham Young (Marriott) 14 14 New York Univ. (Stern) 15 11 Univ. of California, Berkeley (Haas) 16 17 Univ. of Richmond (Robins) 17 24 Carnegie Mellon (Tepper) 18 16 Georgetown Univ. (McDonough) 19 25 Northeastern (D'Amore-McKim) 20 20 Bentley

Highlights from Bloomberg Businessweek’s 2014 ranking include:

Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business was the only school to rise into the top 10 this year, climbing to 8 from 13 last year. Kelley School of Business ranked first on the employer survey.

The University of Virginia’s McIntire, University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton, and Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper (#2, #7, #17 respectively, on the 2014 list), tied for highest median starting salaries at $70,000.

Wake Forest University’s School of Business (#11 on the list) ranked the highest for academic quality.

Providence College had the biggest rise among ranked schools, jumping 34 spots to 75, from 2013 to 2014, on the strength of a 66-place increase on its employer survey score.

Rutgers University fell the furthest from 2013 to 2014, dropping 37 spots to 118.

The University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School (#7) is the only school to make the top 10 in Bloomberg Businessweek’s 2012 full-time MBA rankings and this year’s undergraduate list. (The University of Virginia and Cornell ranked in the top 10 MBA programs, but they educate undergraduate business majors and MBAs in separate colleges).

Methodology:

Our undergraduate rankings are based on five components: student assessment (30%), academic quality metrics (30%), employer opinion (20%), median starting salary (10%), and a "feeder school" score (10%), which reflects how many students undergrad programs send to top MBA programs. The academic quality metrics include average SAT score, average class size, student/faculty ratio, percentage of students with business-related internships, and average number of hours students spend on coursework per week. Our student survey, which captures student assessments of teaching quality, school facilities, career services, and other factors, recorded 28,842 responses from graduating seniors. Our employer survey, which measures employers' perceptions of student quality at schools where they hire undergraduates, recorded responses from 301 firms across the country.

About Bloomberg Businessweek:

Recipient of the 2012 National Magazine Award for General Excellence, Bloomberg Businessweek offers a global perspective, timely insights, and unique stories to a new breed of business leader who has an original vision for the future and a willingness to think differently. Founded in 1929, the magazine is a trusted market leader with a global circulation of over 980,000 each week and is available in 150 countries. Drawing on more than 2,400 journalists in 146 bureaus across 72 countries, Bloomberg Businessweek, Businessweek.com, and the award-winning Bloomberg Businessweek+ app cover the business world like no one else can.