In the 2011 “Best Undergraduate Business Schools” rankings by Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Bentley University ranks among the top 35 in the country, ranking #32 overall.

In overall student satisfaction, Bentley moved up from #25 to #18.  The rankings also assign grades in key areas based on student surveys.  Bentley received:

•    A+ in teaching quality
•    A+ in facilities and services
•    A in job placement

This year 15 new schools entered the rankings.  To rank the 113 eligible undergraduate business programs, Bloomberg BusinessWeek uses nine measures of student satisfaction, post graduation outcomes and an academic quality rating.

The magazine calculates its academic quality rating for each program by combining average SAT scores, student-faculty ratios, class size, the percentage of students with internships, and the number of hours students devote to class work.

This year more than 86,000 graduating seniors at participating schools were asked to complete a 50-question survey covering a range of areas from quality of teaching to recreational facilities. Overall, 28,377 students responded to the survey, a response rate of 33%.

In addition to surveying students, Bloomberg BusinessWeek polled 775 corporate recruiters for companies that hire thousands of business majors each year. They were asked which programs turn out the best graduates, which schools have the most innovative curricula and most effective career services. This year 246 recruiters responded, a response rate of about 32%.

The student survey score counts for 30 percent of the final ranking, with the recruiter survey score contributing 20 percent. Starting salaries and the MBA feeder school measure contribute 10 percent each. The academic quality measure supplies the remaining 30 percent.

Bloomberg Businessweek’s ranking of “The Best Undergraduate Business Schools” is featured on businessweek.com and includes expanded content, the full ranking and methodology.