THREE-PEAT!

For the third consecutive year, the Mendoza College claimed the top spot in Bloomberg Businessweek’s ranking of the best undergraduate business schools in the country.

In comments accompanying the ranking, which included 142 undergraduate business programs, the editors wrote, “Notre Dame once again is firing on all cylinders … very strong academic numbers.” The Mendoza College was rated No. 1 in student satisfaction and No. 2 in the recruiter ranking for 2012. The survey also gave the College marks of A+ in teaching quality, facilities and services, and job placement.

“What’s meaningful to me was the response rate of more than 50 percent of our seniors to the survey,” said Sam Gaglio, assistant dean for Undergraduate Studies. “To me, that’s an indication of the level of engagement they have with their educational experience at the Mendoza College. Our goal is to provide them with not just an excellent education, but a vision for making a difference through their values and passions. It’s humbling to see their survey comments reflect that.”

Bloomberg Businessweek noted that students at Mendoza are quick to laud the school’s focus on ethics and its assistance when it comes to job hunting, as well as its strong alumni support. “The College of Business puts an emphasis not only on outstanding academic growth, but also on finding your vocational calling and on doing business the right way and for the right reasons,” said a Mendoza College graduating senior in the comments section published online with the ranking.

The methodology uses nine measures, including surveys of both senior business majors and employers, median starting salaries for graduates, and the number of alumni each program sends to top MBA programs, as well as a calculation of academic quality.

Rounding out the top five were University of Virginia (McIntire), Cornell University (Dyson), University of Pennsylvania (Wharton) and Emory (Goizueta).

The complete ranking can be found at businessweek.com