HITTING THE BOOKS


Special Report: For Business Students, an Uncertain Future

Slide Show:The Top Undergraduate Business Programs

As a barometer of student engagement, few measures are better than the number of hours students spend on class work each week. That’s why, when we surveyed graduating seniors for this year’s ranking of the top undergraduate business schools, we asked them to tell us much time they spend hitting the books. Overall, the number hovers near 15 hours a week, or about 2 hours a day. But that average masks wide variation. At No. 1 Carnegie Mellon, the hours spent on class work each week exceeded 20, an increase of more than 5 from last year, while the school that had the hardest-working students last year, Wake Forest, fell nearly 4 hours per week.


Click column heading once to reorder from highest to lowest. Click twice to reorder from lowest to highest.
Hardest
Working
Rank
Overall
2009
BW Rank
School
Hours per
week on
classwork
Change in
hours from
last year
1 19 CARNEGIE MELLON (TEPPER)
PITTSBURGH  		20.3 5.4 
2 3 PENNSYLVANIA (WHARTON)
PHILADELPHIA  		19.8 3.4 
3 4 MICHIGAN (ROSS)
ANN ARBOR  		19.7 -2.5 
3 14 WAKE FOREST (CALLOWAY)
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C.  		19.7 -3.8 
5 40 WISCONSIN
MADISON  		17.8 N/A.2 
6 13 NORTH CAROLINA (KENAN-FLAGLER)
CHAPEL HILL  		17.7 1.3 
6 47 OHIO
ATHENS  		17.7 N/A
8 18 MIAMI U. (FARMER)
OXFORD, OHIO  		17.1 1.4 
9 24 GEORGETOWN (MCDONOUGH)
WASHINGTON, D.C.  		16.8 4.0 
10 5 BRIGHAM YOUNG (MARRIOTT)
PROVO, UTAH  		16.5 1.1 
10 45 BAYLOR (HANKAMER)
WACO, TEX.  		16.5 1.0 
12 12 RICHMOND (ROBINS)
RICHMOND, VA.  		16.4 -N/A.6 
13 23 BABSON
BABSON PARK, MASS.  		16.3 -2.7 
14 26 LEHIGH
BETHLEHEM, PA.  		15.9 N/A.3 
15 39 CASE WESTERN (WEATHERHEAD)
CLEVELAND, OHIO  		15.8 1.5 
16 44 JAMES MADISON
HARRISONBURG, VA.  		15.5 N/A
17 30 WILLIAM & MARY (MASON)
WILLIAMSBURG, VA.  		15.2 N/A.7 
18 34 TEXAS CHRISTIAN (NEELEY)
FORT WORTH  		15.0 -1.1 
19 8 CORNELL
ITHACA, N.Y.  		14.9 -N/A.8 
19 20 INDIANA (KELLEY)
BLOOMINGTON  		14.9 N/A.6 
21 43 BOSTON U.
BOSTON  		14.6 N/A.6 
21 49 SYRACUSE (WHITMAN)
SYRACUSE, N.Y.  		14.6 N/A
23 25 U. OF WASHINGTON (FOSTER)
SEATTLE  		14.5 -N/A.8 
24 1 VIRGINIA (MCINTIRE)
CHARLOTTESVILLE  		14.4 -1.1 
25 11 VILLANOVA
VILLANOVA, PA.  		14.3 N/A.3 
25 15 NYU (STERN)
NEW YORK  		14.3 -1.0 
25 21 USC (MARSHALL)
LOS ANGELES  		14.3 1.7 
25 37 TEXAS A&M (MAYS)
COLLEGE STATION  		14.3 -N/A.2 
25 48 BINGHAMTON
BINGHAMTON, N.Y.  		14.3 2.5 
30 10 TEXAS (MCCOMBS)
AUSTIN  		14.2 -N/A.5 
31 9 EMORY (GOIZUETA)
ATLANTA  		14.1 N/A
31 22 ILLINOIS
URBANA-CHAMPAIGN  		14.1 -N/A.7 
33 2 NOTRE DAME (MENDOZA)
SOUTH BEND, IND.  		13.9 N/A.9 
33 42 OHIO STATE (FISHER)
COLUMBUS  		13.9 N/A
35 7 MIT (SLOAN)
CAMBRIDGE, MASS.  		13.8 3.6 
36 27 NORTHEASTERN
BOSTON  		13.7 N/A.7 
36 46 CHAPMAN (ARGYROS)
ORANGE, CALIF.  		13.7 N/A
38 6 UC-BERKELEY (HAAS)
BERKELEY, CALIF.  		13.5 -N/A.5 
38 32 SANTA CLARA
SANTA CLARA, CALIF.  		13.5 N/A.9 
40 17 BOSTON COLLEGE (CARROLL)
BOSTON  		13.4 -N/A.1 
41 29 SAN DIEGO
SAN DIEGO, CALIF.  		12.8 N/A.4 
41 31 SMU (COX)
DALLAS  		12.8 -N/A.6 
43 33 BENTLEY
WALTHAM, MASS.  		12.4 N/A.1 
44 16 WASHINGTON U. (OLIN)
ST. LOUIS  		12.2 1.3 
45 35 MARYLAND (SMITH)
COLLEGE PARK  		12.0 1.0 
46 50 U. OF MIAMI
CORAL GABLES, FLA.  		11.9 1.5 
47 36 RENSSELAER POLYTECH (LALLY)
TROY, N.Y.  		11.8 N/A.1 
48 28 AMERICAN (KOGOD)
WASHINGTON, D.C.  		11.5 N/A
49 38 PENN STATE (SMEAL)
UNIVERSITY PARK  		11.3 1.1 
50 41 FORDHAM
NEW YORK  		9.3 N/A.8 

Top 50 Average: 14.8 0.4

Note: This table reflects hours spent on class work only for those students who responded to BusinessWeek’s survey; response rates varied from school to school but averaged 27% of graduating seniors.