Purdue vs University of Richmond for business: which is better for internships and recruiting?

For business internships and recruiting, Purdue usually has the bigger and more structured pipeline, especially if you want access to large employers, campus recruiting at scale, and a broad alumni network tied to business, supply chain, analytics, and corporate roles. The Daniels School of Business is closely connected to Purdue’s larger employer ecosystem, and companies that already recruit Purdue engineers and technical talent often hire business students too. That tends to create a lot of volume in internships and full-time recruiting.

Purdue makes the most sense for the student who wants a large public university environment with many recruiters, many student organizations, and strong access to industries like manufacturing, operations, consulting, finance-adjacent corporate roles, and especially supply chain. If you are proactive, comfortable standing out in a big crowd, and interested in pairing business with analytics, technology, or a more quantitative edge, Purdue’s setup is very attractive.

Richmond fits a different kind of student well. If you want smaller classes, closer faculty relationships, and more individualized career support, Richmond can be very compelling. Its business program benefits from the school’s tight-knit environment and location near a real business hub, which can help with internships during the academic year as well as alumni networking. Students who do best there often value personal mentoring, polished communication skills, and a more selective, relationship-driven recruiting process.

For pure recruiting scale, Purdue has the edge. For hands-on advising and a more intimate path to internships, Richmond can be excellent, but it depends more on how much you value that smaller setting and East Coast network. In practice, Purdue often offers more doors; Richmond can offer warmer introductions.