2025 OMBA Ranking: Graduation & Retention Rates At The Top Online MBA Programs

Jindal School of Management online MBA graduates pose during their December 2023 commencement ceremony. Courtesy photo

Many things go into choosing an online MBA program that check as many of your personal preference boxes as possible. It can be hard to know where to start.

There’s a program’s ranking, of course. Despite the limitations of every ranking on the market – limitations we have often discussed – this is the starting point for many prospective online MBA students. Poets&Quants’ ranking of the Best Online MBA Programs in the U.S. for 2025 measures programs on 14 different metrics in three categories: Admission Standards, Career Outcomes, and Academic Experience.

Cost is a big one. And though not directly factored into our ranking methodology, we collect tuition and fee data for all 57 schools that participated. With top programs ranging from $47,450 to more than $149,000, students can compare several ROI calculations based on what kind of OMBA they are looking for.

There’s how useful a particular online MBA degree is in helping its graduates achieve key career goals like promotions, raises, or even changing jobs. And, there’s how online graduates rate the learning journey, everything from professor responsiveness to being able to make meaningful connections away from the computer screen.

Factors that sometimes get overlooked, but definitely shouldn’t? The likelihood of students actually finishing the program after starting.

TWO NEW METRICS TO MEASURE PROGRAM RETENTION

We added two metrics to our 2025 methodology to measure how likely students are to actually earn a degree: the 6-year graduation rate and 1-year retention rate. Each is can serve as indicators of the quality of the program and overall student satisfaction. High rates often suggest that the program effectively supports students through to completion, providing valuable resources, faculty support, and a conducive learning environment.

If you’re going to be throwing down good money for an online MBA, you want to know that you have a reasonable chance of actually completing the degree.

6-YEAR GRADUATION RATE: This metric that measures the percentage of students who enrolled during the 2018-2019 academic year that have graduated from the program within six years. (For programs that are not yet six years old, we used a 5-year, 4-year, or 3-year graduation rate.) The metric accounted for 10% of a program’s Admissions Standards score which, in turn, accounted for 33% of its overall ranking score.

The 6-year graduation rate is a common benchmarking metric for undergraduate degrees since most are developed as four-year programs. Online MBA degrees are much more varied in duration. Some are designed to take two to four years to complete, other three to five, depending on the flexibility and required credits for the program.

But, we wanted to be able to measure – and show data for – graduation rates for the online programs we rank. We felt like the 6-year graduation rank shows completion for most programs’ suggested timeframes for completion while providing some standardization.

1-YEAR RETENTION RATE: This metric measures the percentage of students who enrolled in the 2022-2023 academic year who returned to the program the next year. It is a standard metric commonly tracked by both ranking publications and other education agencies. Like, the 6-year graduation rate, the metric accounted for 10% of a program’s Admissions Standards score.

A high retention rate is one indicator of student satisfaction, effective academic support, and a curriculum that meets the needs and expectations of the students. It reflects how well programs engage students and supports them through the initial challenges. Online MBA students are often working professionals who balance their studies with full-time jobs and families. Time management, work-life-school balance, meaningful coursework are all hurdles online students may struggle with in that crucial first year.

GRAD & RETENTION RATES AT THE P&Q TOP 15

The top 15 schools in our 2025 OMBA ranking earned their spot based on their performance across all 14 of the metrics. Graduation and retention rankings account for just 6.67% of the total ranking score – or 3.33% for each metric individually.

That said, the top schools in the ranking weren’t necessarily standouts in either metric save a couple of exceptions. The University of Washington Foster School of Business (ranked No. 4 overall) tied for the highest 6-year graduation rate of any school on the ranking at 100%. Auburn University Harbert College of Business (No. 11 overall), meanwhile, had the highest 1-year retention rate, also 100%.

Jack Welch Management Institute stood out for completely opposite reasons. Despite landing a No. 8 on the ranking overall, it had the lowest 6-year graduation rate (54.6%) and second lowest 1-year retention rate (69%) on the entire ranking.

The table below shows the graduation and retention rates for the top 15 schools on our 2025 OMBA ranking.

Grad/Retention Rates At P&Q’s Top 15 Online MBA Programs
2025 RANK	School	6-Year Graduation Rate	1-Year Retention Rate	Total Program Tuition
1	University of Texas at Dallas (Jindal)	70.00%	96.00%	$64,685 (In-state); $109,257 (Out-of-state)
2	University of Michigan (Ross)	86.11% (5-year)	91.67%	$118,000 (In-state); $128,000 (Out-of-state)
2	Indiana University (Kelley)	91.00%	95.00%	$94,944
4	University of Washington (Foster)	100.00%	95.89%	$96,000
5	Rice University (Jones)	96.50%	96.40%	$118,476
6	University of Southern California, Marshall School of Business	93.00%	90.00%	$132,970
7	Carnegie Mellon University (Tepper)	95.00%	94.00%	$149,058; $111,676 (Accelerated)
8	Jack Welch Management Institute	54.60%	69.00%	$47,450
9	Hofstra University (Zarb)	78.00%	96.00%	$63,367
10	University of Florida (Warrington)	92.00%	95.00%	$59,808
11	Auburn University (Harbert)	86.00%	100.00%	$37,300
12	Santa Clara University (Leavey)	82.00%	92.00%	$92,960
13	Lehigh University	79.10%	80.30%	$48,615
14	University of North Carolina (Kenan-Flagler)	88.00%	91.00%	$125,589
15	University of Massachusetts at Amherst (Isenberg)	84.00%	93.00%	$37,182