Pepperdine University Business Programs

Pepperdine University is a private not-for-profit institution located in Malibu, California. Pepperdine is located in a safe and convenient suburb.

Pepperdine University Rankings

Pepperdine is ranked #135 out of 1,477 schools in the nation for overall quality on our 2023 Best Colleges list. This puts it in the top 10% of all schools in the nation. It is also ranked #12 out of 102 schools in California.

Our rankings are based on an outcomes-based approach rather than subjective ones used by other media outlets. As such, we utilize data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and the College Scorecard, among other sources. Visit our rankings and methodology section to learn more.

Pepperdine has also been awarded the following overall awards by our latest rankings.

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#86	Best Business Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#138	Best Business Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It

Program Level Awards

These are highlights of some of the most noteworthy awards granted to specific programs at Pepperdine.

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#3	Most Popular International Business Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#7	Best International Business Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#12	Best Public Relations & Advertising Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#15	Best Human Resource Management Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#30	Most Popular Human Resource Management Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#31	Most Popular Public Relations & Advertising Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#37	Most Popular Business Administration & Management Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#81	Best Business Administration & Management Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#93	Best Finance & Financial Management Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It

Awards From Around the Web

The following table lists some notable awards Pepperdine has earned from around the web.

Rank	Ranking Name	Source
#1	Best Other Public Relations, Advertising, & Applied Communication Schools	College Factual
#13	Best Public Relations & Advertising Schools	College Factual
#20	Best International Business Schools	College Factual
#28	Best Human Resource Management Schools	College Factual
#88	Best Business Administration & Management Schools	College Factual
#112	Best Business, Management & Marketing Schools	College Factual

Where Is Pepperdine University?

Contact details for Pepperdine are given below.

	Contact Details
Address:	24255 Pacific Coast Hwy, Malibu, CA 90263
Phone:	310-506-4000
Website:	www.pepperdine.edu/

How Do I Get Into Pepperdine?

You can apply to Pepperdine online at: https://seaver.pepperdine.edu/admission/application/undergraduate

Admission Requirements for Pepperdine

Submission	Required?
High School GPA	required
High School Rank	neither required nor recommended
High School Transcript	required
College Prep Program	recommended
Recommendations	required
SAT or ACT Scores	considered but not required
TOEFL	required

How Hard Is It To Get Into Pepperdine?

You'll need to do what you can to make your application stand out if you plan to apply to Pepperdine. The school screens its applicants carefully and has a fairly low acceptance rate of 42%. So, don't just throw your admission packet together at the last minute!

Approximately 40% of accepted students are men and 60% are women. The acceptance rate for men is 46%, and the acceptance rate for women is 39%.

Average Test Scores

About 70% of students accepted to Pepperdine submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 600 and 690. Math scores were between 600 and 720.

Pepperdine received ACT scores from 38% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT English scores ranged between 27 and 34. Math scores were between 25 and 30. Composite scores were between 26 and 31.

Can I Afford Pepperdine University?

The overall average net price of Pepperdine is $51,945. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group.

The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.

Student Loan Debt

It's not uncommon for college students to take out loans to pay for school. In fact, almost 66% of students nationwide depend at least partially on loans. At Pepperdine, approximately 45% of students took out student loans averaging $7,715 a year. That adds up to $30,860 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at Pepperdine is 1.8%. This is significantly lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, which is a good sign that you'll be able to pay back your student loans.

Pepperdine University Undergraduate Student Diversity

There are 3,459 undergraduate students at Pepperdine, with 3,132 being full-time and 327 being part-time.

There are also 6,095 graduate students at the school.

Gender Diversity

Of the 3,132 full-time undergraduates at Pepperdine, 42% are male and 58% are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

The racial-ethnic breakdown of Pepperdine University students is as follows.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	386
Black or African American	153
Hispanic or Latino	488
White	1,498
International Students	340
Other Races/Ethnicities	267

Geographic Diversity

California students aren't the only ones who study at Pepperdine University. At this time, 39 states are represented by the student population at the school.

Over 90 countries are represented at Pepperdine. The most popular countries sending students to the school are China, Saudi Arabia, and Indonesia.

Online Learning at Pepperdine University

In 2019-2020, 9,554 students took at least one online class at the school.

The following chart shows how the online learning population at Pepperdine has changed over the last few years.

Online Affordability Rankings of Pepperdine

During the most recent year for which we have data, the full-time undergraduate tuition at Pepperdine University was $58,002 for both in-state and out-of-state students. The following table shows how Pepperdine is ranked for affordability for both in-state and out-of-state students among colleges and universities that are not mostly online.

Major	Tuition for In-State Students	Tuition for Out-of-State Students
Other Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods	#47	#47

Online Growth Rankings of Pepperdine

The average growth rate over the last four years of online students at Pepperdine University was 181.5%. This is the #257 largest growth rate of all schools that are mostly online. This refers to all students at Pepperdine regardless of major.

When we speak of partially online, we are referring to schools whose online population is less than 50% of its total student body. Mostly online refers to those with online populations greater than or equal to 50%.

Pepperdine University Business Concentrations

The table below shows the number of awards for each concentration.

Major	Bachelor’s	Master’s	TOTAL
General Business Administration and Management	174	424	598
International Business/Trade/Commerce	31	151	182
Other Public Relations, Advertising, & Applied Communication	73	0	73
Organizational Leadership	0	67	67
General Economics	65	0	65
General Human Resources Management/Personnel Administration	0	53	53
Advertising	44	0	44
Management Science	0	40	40
Real Estate	0	33	33
Finance	26	0	26
Human Resources Development	0	24	24
Public Relations, Advertising, & Applied Communication	20	0	20
Accounting	14	0	14
General Organizational Communication	7	0	7
International Business, Trade, & Tax Law	0	5	5
International & Intercultural Communication	4	0	4
Other Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods	0	2	2
Entrepreneurship	0	0	0
TOTAL	458	799	1,257

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• National Center for Education Statistics
• Image Credit: By Infratec~commonswiki under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.