Ranked #8 in popularity, accounting is one of the most sought-after bachelor's degree programs in the nation. So, there are lots of possibilities to explore when you're trying to determine where you want to get your degree.
College Factual reviewed 694 schools in the United States to determine which ones were the best for bachelor's degree seekers in the field of accounting. Combined, these schools handed out 42,191 bachelor's degrees in accounting to qualified students.
Choosing a Great Accounting School for Your Bachelor's Degree
The accounting bachelor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality accounting program can vary widely even among the top schools. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
Overall Quality Is a Must
The overall quality of a bachelor's degree school is important to ensure a quality education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To take this into account we include a school's overall Best Colleges ranking which itself looks at a combination of different factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.
Average Early-Career Salaries
Average early-career salary of those graduating with their bachelor's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. After all, your bachelor's degree won't mean much if it doesn't help you find a job that will help you earn a living.
Other Factors We Consider
The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.
Major Focus - How much a school focuses on accounting students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - How many other accounting students want to attend this school to pursue a bachelor's degree.
Educational Resources - How many resources are allocated to students. These resources may include educational expenditures per student, number of students per instructor, and graduation rate among other things.
Student Debt - How easy is it for accounting to pay back their student loans after receiving their bachelor's degree.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized accounting related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for accounting students working on their bachelor's degree.
The accounting school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we've developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of the Best Accounting Bachelor's Degree Schools.
To further help you make the college decision, we've developed a unique tool called College Combat that allows you to compare schools based on the factors that matter the most to you.
Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.
Best Schools for Bachelor’s Students to Study Accounting in the United States
The following list ranks the best colleges and universities for pursuing a bachelor's degree in accounting. Only those schools that rank in the top 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
Every student pursuing a degree in a bachelor's degree in accounting has to look into Bentley University. Located in the city of Waltham, Bentley is a private not-for-profit university with a moderately-sized student population.
Accounting bachelor's degree recipients from Bentley University receive an earnings boost of around $19,273 above the typical earnings of accounting graduates.
Any student pursuing a degree in a bachelor's degree in accounting has to take a look at Texas A&M University - College Station. Texas A&M College Station is a very large public university located in the midsize city of College Station.
Those accounting students who get their bachelor's degree from Texas A&M University - College Station earn $13,636 more than the typical accounting grad.
Villanova is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large suburb of Villanova.
Accounting bachelor's degree recipients from Villanova University receive an earnings boost of about $24,416 over the average earnings of accounting majors.
UIUC is a very large public university located in the small city of Champaign.
Accounting bachelor's degree recipients from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign get an earnings boost of approximately $21,181 over the typical income of accounting majors.
Georgetown is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Washington.
Bachelor's recipients from the accounting program at Georgetown University earn $36,014 above the typical graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
Located in the city of Columbus, Ohio State is a public university with a very large student population.
Bachelor's recipients from the accounting degree program at Ohio State University - Main Campus make $8,849 more than the typical graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.
Located in the large suburb of College Park, UMCP is a public university with a very large student population.
Accounting bachelor's degree recipients from University of Maryland - College Park get an earnings boost of approximately $16,271 over the average income of accounting graduates.
SCU is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit university located in the medium-sized city of Santa Clara.
Accounting bachelor's degree recipients from Santa Clara University receive an earnings boost of about $24,867 above the average income of accounting majors.
Drexel is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Philadelphia.
Bachelor's recipients from the accounting major at Drexel University make $16,519 above the typical college graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
UW - Madison is a fairly large public university located in the city of Madison.
Accounting bachelor's degree recipients from University of Wisconsin - Madison receive an earnings boost of approximately $15,359 above the typical earnings of accounting majors.
Located in the large suburb of Newark, UD is a public university with a very large student population.
Accounting bachelor's degree recipients from University of Delaware receive an earnings boost of about $17,941 over the typical earnings of accounting majors.
UMN Twin Cities is a very large public university located in the city of Minneapolis.
Bachelor's recipients from the accounting degree program at University of Minnesota - Twin Cities make $13,041 above the average college graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.
Michigan State is a very large public university located in the city of East Lansing.
Accounting bachelor's degree recipients from Michigan State University receive an earnings boost of about $12,415 over the typical income of accounting majors.
Located in the medium-sized city of Columbia, Mizzou is a public university with a very large student population.
Accounting bachelor's degree recipients from University of Missouri - Columbia receive an earnings boost of about $11,507 over the average earnings of accounting graduates.
UCONN is a fairly large public university located in the fringe town of Storrs.
Bachelor's recipients from the accounting degree program at University of Connecticut make $17,395 above the typical college grad with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
Located in the suburb of Fairfax, GMU is a public university with a very large student population.
Accounting bachelor's degree recipients from George Mason University get an earnings boost of around $13,741 above the typical earnings of accounting graduates.
Located in the large city of Philadelphia, St. Joe's is a private not-for-profit university with a moderately-sized student population.
Accounting bachelor's degree recipients from Saint Joseph's University get an earnings boost of around $16,257 above the average income of accounting majors.
This section shows the rest of the schools awarded a Best Accounting Bachelor's Degree Schools badge.
Showing in this list means the school was ranked in the top 20% of the 694 different United States accounting schools we analyzed.
The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).