Business Week Lowers CBA Ranking

In the midst of facilities transitions and fresh faculty vision, Fordham’s College of Business Administration just received a little more incentive to get competitive. Mere weeks after the announcement of Hughes Hall’s renovation, Business Week’s “Top Undergraduate Business Programs 2010” thundered CBA’s new ranking, which dropped to a “disappointing” No. 48, a seven-point fall from last year’s spot at 41.

“I am disappointed, and I am committed to listening to the students and recruiters to understand what we can do to improve their experiences,” CBA Dean Donna Rapaccioli said. “The ranking appears to have fallen largely because of our recruiters’ response to the survey. We were also ranked very low in facilities.”

CBA has already taken steps to relieve this facilities problem, approving the $30 million renovation of Hughes Hall for the business school’s new headquarters. This reallocation of campus resources will provide 50,000 extra square feet for the business school, which is set to include a trading floor, auditorium, study lounges and other necessities for the growing CBA.

“The state-of-the-art facilities will create a much-improved learning environment for our students,” Rapaccioli said. “We also have a new trading room in Faber Hall.”

In addition to aging facilities and recruiting problems, Rapaccioli noted another key factor in CBA’s lower ranking: the CBA students surveyed by Business Week gave the school a relatively poor rating themselves, garnering a mere 69th place compared to how other students ranked their schools. Rapaccioli believes that a number of new opportunities can change students’ feelings.

“We have launched a student-managed investment fund and offered new courses by experts in the business world,” Rapaccioli said. “We have expanded our international program, and students will be in Kenya, Beijing, Santiago, Buenos Aires and Paris during this spring break. We also have career coaches in both finance and marketing.”

Alumna Laura Roche, CBA ’92, said she shares Rapaccioli’s optimism, despite the Business Week rankings.

“I'm disappointed in the drop in the rankings, but I feel confident that Fordham will rise in future rankings, given the talented students that it's attracting and the focus on building the University through programs such as the Excelsior \ Ever Upward \ Campaign,” Roche, who serves as the Chief Finance Officer at Atwater Capital, said.

While displaying some of CBA’s flaws, Business Week also highlighted its recent successes. Teachers received an “A” grade for “Teaching Quality,” and CBA grads’ median starting salary matched that of the No. 1 school—Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business—at a respectable $55,000. CBA also boasts high job placement and internship rates.

This year’s top five undergraduate business schools, from one to five, were as follows: University of Notre Dame, University of Virginia, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Pennsylvania and Cornell University. Among the year’s biggest surprises was that of DePaul University; its business school rose a whopping 31 spots to reach number 40 this year.

“Regardless of what this one publication's rankings are, I think that the school [CBA] is on the cusp of making a breakthrough to become one of the very top ranked schools,” Roche said. “As an alum, it's pretty exciting to watch.” 

Given such high morale from the Fordham community, CBA administrators and students are hoping for the best when Business Week rates the schools anew in 2011.