Top Online MBA Programs: George Washington University Online MBA In Healthcare

George Washington University Online MBA in Healthcare

With a total enrollment of just under 300 online students, GW’s two-year MBA in Healthcare attracts a slightly older crowd and a high proportion of women. The average age of a new student here is 40 and 49% of the latest class is female. The school reports an acceptance rate of 81%, with an average GMAT score of 506 and undergraduate GPA of 3.26.

There are no face-to-face sessions in the 36-month-long program, but you’ll take 23 seven-week core classes via the Internet in areas such as business law, strategy, finance, operations, and marketing management. And then you’ll have a dozen elective online classes in areas such as management of acute care hospitals, physician practice management, and managing skilled nursing facilities. All of the classes are recorded and archived online.

For physicians and healthcare professionals, it’s a good way to keep working and still earn an MBA. The program is taught by professors with experience in healthcare and business. It includes all the core classes of a traditional MBA program as well as a dozen electives from which you can select those that best suit your professional goals. The core will teach you the fundamentals of business and management so you can take on more responsibilities and expand or diversify your business knowledge. You will gain a solid understanding of finance, accounting, key human resource management principles, and strategy. The electives provide you with the flexibility to take only the classes that fit your personal and professional objectives. Choose from electives such as management of acute care hospitals, physician practice management, and managing the skilled nursing facilities.

All told, there are 52.5 program credit hours required.

Indiana University’s Kelley Direct

Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business is a pioneer in online MBA education, having launched its Kelley Direct program in 1999. Until the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina entered its first MBA@UNC class in the fall of 2011, it was the only highly ranked school offering an online MBA. So Kelley has deep experience in the space, having graduated more than 1,300 with online MBA degrees.

Kelley’s program, moreover, has been so successful that for the first time, in 2012, the school enrolled more MBA students online than it did in its traditional full-time, on-campus program.

The program is taught by the same faculty who teach in Kelley’s full-time MBA program, though the students here tend to be older, averaging nine years of work experience.

In addition to the online MBA, the school also offers the following online degrees: an MS in finance, an MS in global supply chain management, an MS in marketing, and an MS in strategic management.

FORMAT: Entirely online.

COST: $77,700

START DATES: Twice a year in the spring and fall

TIME TO COMPLETE: 36 months

PLATFORM REVIEW: NA

RANKINGS: In U.S. News & World Report’s debut ranking of online MBA programs in 2013, GW’s healthcare MBA ranked 45th.