| The Orfalea College of Business | |
| Motto: | Discere Faciendo (Latin) |
| Mottoeng: | To Learn by Doing |
| Established: | 1959 |
| Type: | Public |
| Dean: | Damon Fleming |
| Faculty: | 117 (2019 Fall)[1] |
| Students: | 2,911 |
| Undergrad: | 2,870 (2019 Fall)[2] |
| Postgrad: | 41 (2019 Fall)[3] |
| City: | San Luis Obispo |
| State: | California |
| Country: | United States |
| Affiliations: | California Polytechnic State University |
The Orfalea College of Business is one of six colleges at California Polytechnic State University.
The college was first established in 1959 as a Business Department in the Sciences Division. In 1962, the Business Department became part of the Applied Arts Division. In 1970, it became part of the School of Business and Social Sciences, and the School of Business in 1977.[4] Finally, it became the College of Business after 1992.[5] In 1987, the school became AACSB accredited for their master's program. The building the school is currently housed in was opened in 1992. In 2001, the college was named after Paul Orfalea, the founder of Kinko's, in recognition of his $15 million gift to the school.[6]
In 2018, Payscale.com ranked the Cal Poly Business Administration Degree No. 8 in the Nation for return on investment. Forbes ranked Cal Poly California’s Best Public-Master’s University in 2018. Additionally, Cal Poly was named "Best in the West" for the 26th year in a row by U.S. News & World Report in 2018. ValueColleges.com ranked the Cal Poly M.S. Tax Program No. 1 in the Nation for return on investment and the Cal Poly Packaging Program No. 1 in the Nation in 2017. In 2016, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked the Orfalea College of Business No. 59 out of 114 colleges and universities in the annual list of top undergraduate business programs. In 2014, the publication also listed the undergraduate program as No. 5 in the nation for return on investment.
For freshmen entering Fall 2019, the Orfalea College of Business accepted 28.8% of applicants (2,046 accepted/7,106 applied); entering freshmen had an average high school GPA of 4.00, an average ACT Composite score of 29.3, and an average SAT score of 1310 – 1460.[7]
The Orfalea College of Business offers 3 majors, 4 minors, and 9 areas of concentrations and options within the Business Administration and Economics Department. Freshmen students have until the end of their second year to declare their concentration and transfer students have until the end of their first year. Students can only declare one concentration but can add multiple minors offered throughout the university.[8] Business Administration is the largest undergraduate major at Cal Poly with 2,414 undergraduate students in Fall 2019.[9]
The MBA degree requires 60 units of coursework. With approval, MBA students can also take another graduate program in parallel with their MBA program.[10]
The MS in Accounting is a 45-quarter unit program.[11]
The MS in Business Analytics is a 10-month program.[12]
The MS in Packaging Value Chain program is 100% online and can be completed in one year.[13]
The MS in Quantitative Economics is a one-year cohort program that starts with a fall intersession (August– September) followed by the fall, winter, and spring quarters with all classes on-campus.[14]
The program includes a mandatory intensive session starting in August immediately before the fall quarter, as well as a winter internship.[15] Cal Poly’s Master of Science in Taxation program was recently ranked No. 1 for value among graduate tax programs in the nation.[16]
The Professional Certificate in Business Analytics is a part-time, interdisciplinary business certificate.[17]
The Orfalea College of Business offers five online professional Packaging Value Chain (PVC) certificate programs. The programs are all offered 100% online.[18]
The four-story building is situated in front of the Richard O’Neill Green lawn.