P&Q’s Must Reads: The Best Online MBA Programs Of 2023

Hello everyone  –- Welcome back to Poets&Quants’ Must Reads, a quick, digestible recap of the top business school news, sponsored by Purdue University’s Online MBA Program.

I’m your host, Kristy Bleizeffer, and I’ll be highlighting the most important P&Q stories you might have missed. So, let’s get to it. 

No. 1: The Best Online MBA Programs Of 2023

IU Kelley has done it again.

For the second time in the six years, Indiana University’s Kelley Direct MBA program finished atop all other online MBA programs in the country. Kelley is a pioneer in the online space, launching its remote MBA 22 years ago with 14 students. Compare that to last year when It had more than 700 online MBA and master’s graduates .

Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business came in second, University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business was third.

If you’re considering an online MBA or looking for programs, be sure to check out the full list in our rankings tab.

No. 2: Attention Laid-Off Tech Workers: A Top-5 B-School Wants You To Consider An MBA

Elon Musk began his ownership of Twitter last month by firing thousands of the social media giant’s employees then he fired some more, and then some more.

Meta — the owner of Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram — fired 13% of its workforce this month, around 11,000 employees, after the launch of a very expensive “Metaverse” that was greeted by universal derision.

According to True Up, a website that tracks hundreds of thousands of jobs at top startups, unicorns, and Big Tech, the tech world as a whole has had a layoff-heavy year going back to December 2021, with more than 180,000 tech workers losing their jobs over the last year.

Now, Northwestern Kellogg is courting those laid of tech workers, offering to waive its test scores for its full or part-time MBA programs. 

Read why Kellogg is making this generous offer in our news tab.

No. 3: NYU Stern’s One-Year Tech MBA: 55% Women, 100% Employment

In 2018, NYU Stern launched its Andre Koo Tech MBA, a brand new, one-year specialized MBA program almost in a class by itself. Five years later, its latest class boasts 100% employment after graduation and average first-year compensation approaching $200,000, without the two-year opportunity cost of a full-time program.

And, even as gender parity continues to be an elusive goal for the majority of MBA programs, here, now, is an MBA that has enrolled more women than men – and in tech no less. For the Class of 2023, Stern’s tech MBA is 55% women, up from the 42% it enrolled for its inaugural class.

Read more about the program on our homepage. 

No. 4: Our Weekly Round Up of  News You Can Use

No matter where you are in your MBA journey, we bring several helpful stories for you this week.

First up: Don’t miss our second annual $50,000 pitch competition with Washington University’s Olin Business School. The BIG IdeaBounce® is a pitch contest open to all current business school students. Submit your idea in an easy-to-complete online form by January 15, 2023. Get full entry details, and more on that $50,000 prize, in our news tab.

Next: For those looking for the right programs, we have the latest employment reports from the class of 2022. This week, you can get the stats for MIT Sloan,  Duke Fuqua, and Chicago Booth. Find these and other recent jobs reports in our news tab.

Finally: What does Stanford really look for in its MBAs? Former adcoms reveal the secrets in this helpful story, available now, in our admissions tab.

And, that’s it for this week’s Must Reads recap. 

I also want to alert all the school seekers out there to CentreCourt’s upcoming MBA Festival, where you’ll get front-row seats to leaders of some of the top MBA programs. Our next event is February 7-8, and is the must-attend event for any serious MBA candidate. Register now for free.

Again, I’m Kristy Bleizeffer, and you can join me next week, right here, for a recap of what’s important in the world of business education. Thanks for listening and, as always, stay informed!