Guide to Best Colleges for Business Majors

Interested in pursuing a business major? Our blog offers a comprehensive guide to the best colleges that can propel your career in the business world. We highlight institutions known for their strong business programs, faculty expertise, and networking opportunities. Explore a range of colleges, from Ivy League universities to specialized business schools, and gain insights into their academic offerings, internships, and alumni networks. Whether you aspire to be an entrepreneur, marketer, or financial analyst, our blog will help you make an informed decision about the best colleges for business majors and set you on the path to success.

Running a successful business requires strength, confidence, endurance, and high levels of innovation and creativity. 

Whether you want to be a founder or a prominent contributor to a business’s operations, this line of work can be demanding and unpredictable. If you’re willing to take some risks for the possibility of great reward, however, then the business of business is the right path for you – and the perfect place to start is at business school.

If you’re a high school student wondering where the best colleges for business are, you may be asking yourself, “Is it good to major in business?” or perhaps already trying to find out what’s the best business school in America. No matter your starting place, we’re here to help and empower you in your search.

Empowerly has broken down the answers to the following questions that aspiring business students around the world are mulling over:

• What are the best colleges to study business at?
• Is it good to major in business?
• What’s the best business school in America?

To explore what we’ve found and heed some of our expert advice on getting into business school, keep reading.

When searching for the best colleges for business, you’re likely to come across a lot of anti-business school rhetoric – or lists of the world’s leading entrepreneurs who struck success without an MBA.

Although this is true and very possible in some cases, earning a business degree provides you with much more access to the worldwide business sphere and a greater chance of being successful in the future.

If you’re asking yourself, “Is it good to major in business in college?”, we suggest you explore the following points to help inform your ultimate decision:

• Attending business school will help increase your education in the sector and ensure you’re on the right path for your future.

The most obvious reason to explore the best colleges for business? Education. Attending a prestigious business school allows you to receive quality information, insights, and experience from some of the world’s most successful business people – and, of course, their valued instructors.

Beyond receiving thorough business education to inform your budding career, attending business school will help you be sure that this environment is, in fact, the right career path for you. 

Too many people pursue a degree in a field they don’t end up wanting to spend their lives in, but thankfully, college is the perfect avenue for figuring that out in real-time. If you’re still unsure about business as your path of choice, you can catch a glimpse into your possible future at business school, allowing you to safely weigh the pros and cons of that crystal ball while gaining some great experience and education.

• Attending business school will boost your future credibility as a businessperson or entrepreneur. 

Attaining an MBA gives you credibility just as any other college degree would. Of course, it’s possible to succeed as a businessperson or entrepreneur without having gone to college, but it definitely doesn’t hurt to have a degree that backs up your expertise.

Having attended one of the best colleges for business and being able to put that on your resume or job application will give you a leg up, especially when competing against other candidates for a position or business loan. This is a major plus when it comes to asking yourself, “Is it good to major in business?”

• Attending business school will open you up to a supportive network you’ll be able to utilize for the duration of your business career.

You’ve heard the term, “It’s all about who you know,” and you might already be aware of  how applicable this is to almost any profession. Knowing the right person can get you in the door of where you want to be. Of course, you’ll have to be able to back up the reference, but having one to vouch for you is usually a huge help.

When it comes to figuring out what’s the best business school in America, you might want to take a look at the school’s networking opportunities. This is particularly valuable to a business student, who will have to rely on relationship building as a major anchor to a credible future career in the industry.

Many schools are aware of this and ensure their business students are tapped into a robust network: with one another, with resources provided by the university, and with contacts specific to their field of interest. 

• Attending business school will grant you access to exclusive leadership opportunities, in-field experiences, and tried-and-true skills to inform your future success.

Another great reason to research, “What are the best colleges to study business at?” is for access to some of the best experiential programs in the country – a.k.a., getting some hands-on opportunities to explore the business world.

Attending one of the best colleges for business means presentations, leadership practice, in-field experiences with your area of interest, and the collection of tried-and-true tips for success you’ll garner along the way and eventually use towards your career.

What’s the best business school in America? The following CEOs and entrepreneurs will all have different answers to that question, but one thing they all have in common: they all asked themselves, “What are the best colleges to study business at?” and then got to work.

Here’s a list of some of the most sworn-by business schools from some of the world’s most successful business people…with a little bias (a.k.a., here’s where some of the world’s most successful business people went to school).

• Hey Warren Buffett, what’s the best business school in America? The “Oracle of Omaha” attended the University of Pennsylvania 

• Hey Elon Musk, what’s the best business school in America? The “Technoking of Tesla” attended the University of Pennsylvania and Stanford University

• Hey Jamie Dimon, what’s the best business school in America? The JPMorgan Chase CEO attended Tufts University and Harvard University 

• Hey Mary Barra, what’s the best business school in America? The General Motors CEO attended Kettering University and Stanford University

• Hey Mark Zuckerberg, what’s the best business school in America? The Facebook founder attended Harvard University

• Hey Melinda Gates, what’s the best business school in America? The philanthropist attended Duke University 

• Hey Indra Nooyi, what’s the best business school in America? The former PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi attended the Yale School of Management – after earning her MBA at the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta.

Based on the impressive alma mater of some of the most successful entrepreneurs and businesspeople in the world, you can already tell that there are a variety of options out there. In addition, we sourced available statistics and our extensive experience helping college students figure out their path to present a list of some of the best colleges for business in the country.

Hopefully, this will help answer the burning questions we’ve sought to tackle:

• What are the best colleges to study business at?
• Is it good to major in business?
• What’s the best business school in America?

Let’s get into it.

• The University of Pennsylvania

The University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School has educated some of the most successful business people and entrepreneurs in the world, making it a prime answer to the question: “What are the best colleges to study business at?”

If you’re wondering, “Is it good to major in business?” As a UPenn student, the answer is yes. The school was the country’s first business school and boasts the largest alumni network in the United States.

• Stanford University

Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business is another popular answer to, “What are the best colleges to study business at?”

71.5 percent of graduates end up employed, and the school is particularly lauded for its accounting, marketing, entrepreneurship, finance, nonprofit, management, supply chain, and production programs. 

• Harvard University

Harvard University’s Business School has hosted plenty of successful business people and entrepreneurs. The Ivy League program emphasizes real-life experience and has built a program that allows students to apply classroom theory to their actual field of interest in a variety of ways, like working with real firms on projects or immersing themselves in study-abroad programs that collaborate with international industries. 

• The University of Chicago

The University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business is known as one of the best colleges for business in the United States.

The program is revered for its wide variety of departments and concentrations, like accounting, business analytics, e-commerce, consulting, entrepreneurship, ethics, economics, international business, industrial management, leadership, manufacturing and technology leadership, not-for-profit management, public policy, real estate, sports business, supply chain management, logistics, statistics, and much more. 

• Northwestern University

Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management is another revered case study for students wondering, “Is it good to major in business?”

86.4 percent of the school’s graduates are employed, which speaks to the program's success. And speaking of programs: Kellogg students enjoy variety and flexibility, with the ability to choose from a traditional full-time MBA program or a part-time program. The school also emphasizes international research and provides plenty of in-field experience to give students a solid idea of what it will be like to actually work in their industry of choice.

• Yale University

Yale University’s School of Management is one of the best colleges for business in the country. 84.4 percent of the school’s graduates are employed, after majoring in one of the several focuses offered to business students on campus.

At Yale, business students study “raw” cases – analysis of stock charts and articles, global studies, and a Leadership Development Program that takes students and their curriculum overseas for international experience. 

• Columbia University

Columbia University’s Business School is popularly found in articles and listicles that answer the questions: “What are the best colleges to study business at?” or “Is it good to major in business?”

The school performs incredibly well across a variety of national rankings, most recognized for its accounting, marketing, nonprofit, entrepreneurship, finance, international, real estate, and management programs. 

• University of California, Berkeley

The University of California, Berkeley, has the Haas School of Business as a credible option for interested students.

The program offers full-time and part-time options, and about 74.5 percent of its students are employed at the time of graduation.

The Haas School of Business is well-known for its global connections, and students enjoy international experiences that enrich their curriculum and expand their understanding of how the business world works on a mass scale. 

• Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College’s Tuck School of Business boasts an “intimate” campus community – one where graduate students are boldly immersed in the curriculum and encouraged to work collaboratively as they inch closer to their MBA. 

The school’s business students also enjoy early hands-on experiences: in the first year of business school, Dartmouth attendees will apply their classroom modules to help solve existing challenges for companies as collegiate consultants. 

• Duke University

The Fuqua School at Duke University has educated and shaped some of the nation’s most successful entrepreneurs and businesspeople. The school is ranked #12 in the U.S. for business and is notably lauded for its entrepreneurship, business analytics, accounting, marketing, and international programs.

Figuring out the best colleges for business can be a difficult task, but Empowerly is here to help steer you in the right direction.

We hope this article has been helpful in answering your pressing questions: 

• What are the best colleges to study business at?
• Is it good to major in business?
• What’s the best business school in America?