IU Program Receives Top Honors
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowIndiana University’s online MBA program has been ranked No. 1 by business education news website Poets & Quants. According to the site, this year’s ranking of the Best Online MBA Programs Of 2021 was its biggest and most competitive with 47 schools participating, up from 35 the past two years.
The Kelley Direct Online MBA program, which is part of IU’s Kelley School of Business, finished near the top in the three previous annual rankings. The program finished second twice and third once behind Carnegie Mellon and USC Marshall.
“Our strengths stem from key commitments we have made to our students,” said Ramesh Venkataraman, chair of Kelley Direct MBA and M.S. Programs. “We know that the idea of online learning can be intimidating for some learners, so we work hard to provide meaningful, lasting connections between individual students and their peers, our faculty and dedicated staff.”
Kelley landed this year’s first place ranking, jumping ahead of last year’s winner, Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business, which ranked second this year. The University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business was ranked third.
“There’s still a thought that the online MBA is not an integral part of a school,” added Venkataraman. “In many places, the online MBA is a way to make money, which is not the case here. For us, it’s another offering.”
Poets & Quants says IU’s program is the most affordably priced of the winners at $74,520, which is about $37,000 less than the online MBA at USC, and about $67,000 under the hybrid online MBA at Carnegie Mellon.
The top 10 programs are below:
- Indiana University (Kelley), $74,520
- Carnegie Mellon University (Tepper), $141,320
- University of Southern California (Marshall), $111,663
- George Washington University, $100,883
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Kenan-Flagler), $125,589
- Lehigh University, $41,595
- Villanova University, $66,000
- Auburn University (Harbert), $35,375
- University of Washington (Foster), $78,000
- Santa Clara University (Leavey), $83,510
Poets & Quants says the rankings are based on three equally weighted factors: the quality of incoming students, an assessment of the MBA experience by graduates and career outcomes of alumni.
You can connect to the ranking and methodology by clicking here.