Cornell's undergraduate business program rose four slots over 2006 in BusinessWeek's rankings of the top undergraduate business education programs, released March 8.

The applied economics and management (AEM) major, offered through the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, won Cornell the No. 10 spot in the magazine's second annual rankings of undergraduate business schools, which hits newsstands March 19. The magazine ranked Cornell No. 14 last year.

Cornell is one of four schools BusinessWeek profiled this year to accompany its Top 50 rankings. The magazine lauded Cornell's AEM major, which graduated 216 students in 2006, for providing "opportunities for academic exploration at every turn."

While many business schools produce "well-rounded grads," the story reads, Cornell stands out for actively encouraging students to take courses beyond their majors.

"Cornell, set amid the bucolic splendor of 4,000 wooded acres in Ithaca, N.Y., takes academic exploration a big leap further," the section reads. "In addition to the variety they encounter outside the business program, students get a second dose inside, where they're required, strangely enough, to take a full year of biology -- thanks to the program's affiliation with Cornell's agriculture school -- as well as five electives ranging from consumer behavior to emerging markets."

The University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School took the top spot in the BusinessWeek rankings for the second time. It was followed by: University of Virginia, University of California-Berkeley, Emory University, University of Michigan, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Notre Dame, Brigham Young University and New York University.