Brigham Young’s Marriott School of Management tops the list of best accounting schools, according to
Based on an online survey of business students from the Class of 2013, accounting is one of 10 ranked specialty areas covering a full range of the school experience, from getting in to getting a job.
The ranking for accounting, a focus for nearly a quarter of all undergraduate business students, is based on student response to a question asking them to rank their program’s accounting offerings. Points are awarded for each response, from one point for an “A” grade to five points for an “F,” and averaged for each of the 124 undergraduate business schools. Those with the lowest average are ranked highest.
Brigham Young’s Marriott School of Management garnered a 1.067 score and first place, based on features like its unique “Junior Accounting Core,” an integrated set of six classes in which students are divided into teams of five to take each of the required accounting courses together. The teams work on projects and other assignments as a group to develop skills like critical thinking, teamwork, and written and oral communications, according to David Cottrell, associate director of the accounting school at Marriott.
With 150 students preparing more than 2,000 tax returns each spring to a yield of $3 million in refunds, the school also has the largest student-run volunteer income tax assistance lab in the country.
Placing second and third in the ranking were Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business and UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, respectively.
The full Top 10, with averaged scores, are:
1. Brigham Young (Marriott) 1.067
2. Notre Dame (Mendoza) 1.076
3. UC Berkeley (Haas) 1.081
4. Cornell (Dyson) 1.089
5. Illinois – Urbana-Champaign 1.116
6. Tulsa (Collins) 1.118
7. Richmond (Robins) 1.119
8. Southern Methodist (Cox) 1.12
9. Wake Forest 1.138
10. Tulane (Freeman) 1.141
