Students Rank Finance Department Among Top 15

PROVO, Utah – May 15, 2009 – While students across campus were picking their Final Four in the NCAA men's basketball tournament last March, Brigham Young University graduate finance students were choosing their department to go all the way — earning the Finance Department a spot in Entrepreneur's top 15 Student Opinion Honors for Business Schools.

The Marriott School of Management's finance department earned students' top honors on the list, found in the April 2009 issue of the magazine. Created and compiled by The Princeton Review, the Student Opinion Honors for Business Schools reports on six categories: accounting, finance, general management, global management, marketing and operations.  Each list names the 15 graduate schools of business that were highly rated by students evaluating how their MBA program has prepared them for their future career.

"We salute the business schools on these lists for the outstanding job they are doing both academically and professionally in preparing their students to apply their MBA training beyond the classroom to successful job searches and productive careers," says Robert Franek, vice president of publishing and research and development at The Princeton Review.

Beyond the academic training they receive, students on the finance track in the MBA program benefit from studying case studies and gaining hands-on experience through internships and field studies.  The Marriott School's emphasis on having a well-rounded MBA experience also helps finance students gain perspective that is essential in a finance career.

"I think the MBA has helped me see the big picture in how the numbers should influence my decisions," says Kiley Adams, a second-year MBA student from Las Vegas. "Numbers help lead you in the right direction, but all those external factors that you can learn about in a human resources, marketing or sales management all come together to help you make the right decisions."

The Marriott School is located at Brigham Young University, the largest privately owned, church-sponsored university in the United States. The school has nationally recognized programs in accounting, business management, public management, information systems and entrepreneurship. The school's mission is to prepare men and women of faith, character and professional ability for positions of leadership throughout the world. Approximately 3,000 students are enrolled in the Marriott School's graduate and undergraduate programs.