Strong performance for UF MBA in latest US News ranking, despite pandemic

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – In spite of a volatile year with plenty of challenges for higher education, UF MBA at the University of Florida Warrington College of Business held onto its strong position on U.S. News & World Report’s “2022 Best Graduate Schools” released Tuesday. For the third consecutive year, UF MBA was named among the top 10 U.S. public programs and top 30 national programs.

The UF MBA Full-Time program rose to the No. 26 spot overall and the No. 9 position among U.S. publics, climbing from No. 28 and No. 10, respectively.

“To say the past year has been challenging for those seeking and providing education is an understatement,” said John Gresley, Assistant Dean and Director of UF MBA. “Despite the hardships, I’m incredibly proud that UF MBA has risen to the challenge by remaining true to our proven formula for success, which includes academic strength, professional development opportunities and personalized career services.”

UF MBA was able to maintain its standard of excellence for student quality. Students in its cohort, at the time of U.S. News’ survey, had an undergraduate average GPA of 3.43 and average GMAT score of 686. Along with other qualities, these scores helped UF MBA build a strong class with an acceptance rate of about 26%, putting it among the top 15 in terms of student selectivity.

A portion of UF MBA’s success stems from its network of career services support that aids students in earning jobs at the world’s top companies. Even with a struggling job market due to the pandemic, more than 76% of UF MBA students had a job at the time of graduation and more than 90% had a job three months after graduation. The average starting salary for UF MBA Full-Time graduates is $129,227, an increase of more than $8,000 from last year’s average.  

Beyond highly qualified students and a proven method of career services support, students like Rachelle Antoine (MBA ’21) note UF MBA’s commitment to diversity and inclusion.

“I think what made UF stand out to me, I think in meeting the people, was that UF recruited kindness,” Antoine said. “And I just think that is so interesting. I didn’t expect everyone to be so nice and helpful, especially people from so many diverse backgrounds.”

Two other UF MBA programs were ranked as part of U.S. News & World Report’s ranking of graduate programs. For the first time, the UF MBA Executive program was included among the best in the nation, coming in at No. 9 among U.S. publics and No. 26 overall. The UF MBA Weekend Professional program has maintained a spot on U.S. News’ list since 2011, this year being named the No. 26 program among U.S. publics and No. 41 professional program overall.

“At UF MBA, we believe in a packaged approach to providing business education options,” Gresley said. “People have different needs based on their personal and professional lives, and we understand how important it is to invest in MBA modalities that will help our students in a way that works best for them.” 

Multiple business specialties at UF MBA were also ranked, all of which were among the top 15 public programs in the United States, including a first-ever ranking for entrepreneurship studies:

• Accounting – No. 12 U.S. publics; No. 26 overall
• Entrepreneurship – No. 13 U.S. publics; No. 35 overall
• Marketing – No. 8 U.S. publics; No. 20 overall
• Real Estate – No. 8 U.S. publics; No. 12 overall

U.S. News and World Report decides its list of top graduate schools in the nation through a combination of objective measures including placement success, student selectivity and a reputational assessment. To determine the “2022 Best Graduate Schools” list, all 486 MBA programs accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International (AACSB) were surveyed in fall 2020 and early 2021.

UF MBA was also able to maintain its strong rankings across the other national and international business school ranking lists including a No. 6 U.S. publics ranking and No. 1 rankings in value of money and career services from Financial Times and a No. 5 U.S. publics ranking from The Economist.