Ranking the Best Online MBA Programs

What are the best online MBA programs?

A few years ago, hardly anyone bothered to even rank the digital versions of a school’s MBA. But as distance learning has become increasingly popular, several major publications known for their lists of on-campus degree programs have gotten into the act.

U.S. News & World Report, which debuted an online MBA ranking in 2013, now provides numerical ranks for 172 programs, from No. 1 Indiana University to No. 169 University of North Alabama in Florence (four schools were tied at a rank of 169).

Not to be outdone, The Financial Times rushed into the rankings game in 2014 with a global list of 15 programs that had IE Business School in Spain at the top, followed by Warwick Business School in Britain, Northeastern University’s D’Amore-McKim School in Boston, the University of Florida and Indiana.

The Economist also has ranked online programs in the past, though its last special report on distance learning is somewhat dated, having come out in 2010. Instead of providing numerical rankings for each of the 16 programs evaluated, the British magazine instead chose to rate the programs excellent, good, average or poor. Only two schools’ programs were deemed “excellent” at the time: the University of Florida and IE Business School in Spain. Another three schools were rated “good.” They are the programs at Thunderbird Global School of Management, Indiana University’s Kelley School, and Euro MBA, a consortium of European business schools.

The problem with all these rankings–along with their often significantly flawed methodologies–is that they are so new that many schools have declined to participate in them. The result: The relatively new lists fail to show the full array of business schools now offering online MBAs, including some of the very best schools.

Potential students also will find a large number of websites that purport to rank the best online options, but almost all of them are little more than “link farms” that collect a royalty or click payment when someone seeks more information on one of the listed programs. Any website that ranks online programs but fails to provide detailed explanations of the methodology with specific back-up data for each school is pretty much worthless. Be extremely wary of these fake rankings which often attempt to mix for-profit schools with legitimate academic institutions.

Because so many brand name universities are in the online space today, and their acceptance rates are significantly higher than for their full-time MBA programs, there is no reason to settle for a degree from the University of Phoenix, Kaplan, Capella or any other organization that lacks academic and professional credibility. Prestige may not come cheap, though you will be able to find some very affordable programs at highly ranked business schools.

AT LEAST 20 OF THE TOP 100 BUSINESS SCHOOLS NOW OFFER ONLINE MBA PROGRAMS

We believe the best online MBA programs are simply at the best business schools. The ultimate test for any degree is the reputation of the school that grants it. To that end, we’ve taken our ranking of the flagship full-time MBA programs and filtered out the schools that don’t yet have online versions of their MBA degrees. That exercise led us to a ranking of the best business schools with online MBA programs for the second consecutive year.

All told, there are eight business schools in the Top 50 in the U.S. that now offer online MBA programs: Carnegie Mellon, the University of North Carolina, Indiana University, Maryland, Penn State, Arizona State University, Florida and George Washington. Babson is just outside the top 50 and leads the other 12 business schools in the second half of the Top 100, which includes Northeastern University and Syracuse University, which recently partnered with the educational firm 2U, Inc., to move its more-than-a-decade-long online MBA program on a more sophisticated learning platform, the same one used by UNC at Chapel Hill.

The higher up the list you go, the more likely it is that the online option is as close a replica as you might get if you were on campus. It is far more likely to be taught by the same full-time faculty and to include all the business basics in the on-campus MBA curriculum. In almost all the cases, the MBA degree you get is exactly the same diploma that full-time, on-campus graduates receive.

MANY AFFORDABLE MBA PROGRAMS ARE ON THE BEST LIST

Our list also shows that you don’t have to go heavily into hock to get an MBA. Sure, the most expensive online MBAs cost about $75,000 and up, with a top price tag of $118,000 for the Carnegie Mellon program. But there's also the no frills, though highly recommended, Auburn University program which goes for the rock bottom price of just $27,900. In fact, there are half a dozen programs at highly ranked business schools where you can get the MBA for under $50,000.

While new online MBA programs are being launched at a fairly regular pace, the highest ranked schools with online programs now form a significant group offering would-be students a lot of worthwhile choices. Most of them are blended programs that combine online learning with on-campus retreats and immersions. Many of these programs also allow students to specialize or concentrate on specific fields, ranging from corporate finance and entrepreneurship to global supply chain management and sustainable enterprise.

It’s also worth noting that there are several very good non-U.S. options available, including the global online MBA program from Spain’s IE Business School and Warwick Business School’s MBA by distance learning.

To see the full ranking of the best online MBA programs, check out PoetsandQuants.com:

The Best Online MBA Programs of 2014

Photo: Courtesy Indiana University's Kelley Direct program