A few months ago I shared some outstanding data points about our 2021 Freshmen Class, which highlight the fact that D'Amore-McKim is a highly-desirable education destination. We've been attracting brilliant and ambitious students for quite some time, and it's humbling when this truth is validated. We do not want to overact or place undue reliance on external rankings, but they can help us understand how we compare with other business schools, so I was pleased to see our #13 Best Undergraduate Business School ranking in the new 2022 Poets&Quants (P&Q) list.
Again, rankings aren't everything, but they can be one tool for highlighting the good things our community is doing while also assessing where we can improve. Some of our outstanding accomplishments that are showcased in P&Q include:
- Yielding our most academically qualified freshman class to date, with an average high school GPA of 4.22 (ranked #4 in P&Q) and average self-reported SAT score of 1463 (ranked #7 in P&Q).
- Yielding our most diverse freshman class ever, with 20% identifying as Black or Hispanic/Latinx.
- Achieving gender parity in our freshman class for the first time ever (ranked #5 in P&Q with women representing 54% of the new class).
- Providing a strong foundation for our graduating seniors so they can earn an average salary and bonus of $75,309 (ranked #14 in Career Outcomes by P&Q).
- Helping to place 98% of our 2021 graduating seniors in careers or graduate education within three months of graduation.
- Ensuring that, even with the tremendous disruption that COVID-19 caused, 93% of our 2021 seniors completed at least one co-op before graduation.
Not surprisingly to us, the new ranking also reinforces our need to continuously improve and enhance the student experience. The cost of getting a degree at D'Amore-McKim should reflect the experiences, support, and outcomes our students desire. We must continue assessing and building our student advising foundation; create deeper connections between our students, faculty, staff, and alumni; and provide even more world-class student co-op experiences that help enhance their classroom education. We all know the importance of these areas and the need to strive for continuous improvement.
We have designed a world-class undergraduate curriculum that is well-aligned with the D'Amore-McKim Strategic Plan and the new University Academic Plan which emphasizes skill-building around technology, analytics, and human creativity and innovation. New concentrations and combined majors provide choice and mobility for our students, erasing the boundaries of a traditional siloed education. Our student body, curriculum, and initiatives also accentuate the power of diversity and experiential education.
I am indebted to Senior Associate Dean of Undergraduate Programs Jeff Born and his advising and co-op teams for their hard work, dedication, and leadership. They have worked in conjunction with the full D'Amore-McKim community to continue moving the quality and reputation of our undergraduate programs forward. We do this for our students, not for rankings, but let's celebrate this small win and external recognition of our efforts and continue with the important and rewarding work we do.
Emery
Emery Trahan
Interim Dean
D'Amore-McKim School of Business