Another Top U.S. B-School Launches A Master's In Management: UNC Kenan-Flagler

Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill will launch a new master in management program this year aimed at recent college grads who have not previously studied business

The top business schools in the United States are no longer also-rans in the master in management sweepstakes.

Long considered a European degree in contrast to the strongly U.S. MBA, the master in management has seen a surge of interest in U.S. B-schools in recent years. According to a Poets&Quants analysis, through 2024 34 top B-schools in the U.S. offered 38 MiM programs, ranging in duration from nine months to three years and ranging in cost from just over $12K to more than than $140K.

New year, new MiM program. This week UNC-Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flagler Business School announced the launch of a 10-month Master of Science in Management which, like its counterparts at UNC’s peer schools, will be aimed at recent college grads. The program is set to launch in August, pending final approval by the University of North Carolina System and the Board of Governors at UNC-Chapel Hill.

MiMs APPEAL TO WOMEN, AND THAT APPEALS TO UNC K-F

Master in management programs are generally early-career programs, designed for and appealing to recent college graduates with little to no work experience. Exceptions among top U.S. programs are Stanford’s MSx, which requires significant work experience; MIT’s Master of Science in Management Studies; and Yale SOM’s Master’s in Advanced Management. All three share another fact: They are much more expensive than the average MiM.

In terms of cost, Kenan-Flagler’s new program is not among this group. Tuition and fees for the full-time, 30-credit on-campus program will be $46,923 for in-state residents and $53,260 for out-of-state residents for the 2025-2026 academic year, according to a news release from the school, putting the new program squarely in the middle of the pack of top U.S. MiMs (see the full list below).

Another noteworthy fact about MiMs: They tend to appeal especially to women, a fact borne out by the several programs on P&Q‘s list that have achieved gender parity in the last two years. At one program last year — USC Marshall School of Business’s Master of Management Studies — women comprised an astonishing 86% of students. Bringing more women to campus was likely a motivating factor for Kenan-Flagler, which saw its share of women in the full-time MBA program sink to 31% in 2024, two years after reaching a program high of 38%.

HELPING STUDENTS MORE EFFECTIVELY COMPETE FOR JOBS

Classes in the new Master of Science in Management are slated to begin August 18, 2025. Applications to the program are expected to open in mid- to late March after it receives formal final approval by the UNC Board of Governors, which anticipated to occur at the board’s meeting in late February.

Once approved, the program’s curriculum will cover key business disciplines including accounting, finance, marketing, analytics, economics, strategy, leadership, operations and business communication, according to the school, giving students the option to concentrate in either finance or marketing.

Additionally, in an experiential learning capstone course, student teams will work on consulting projects “with leaders from top companies and organizations to provide actionable solutions to real business challenges,” according to the school.

“We are offering the Master of Science in Management Program to prepare recent college graduates to launch business careers,” says Courtney Knoll, associate dean of the new program and the Master of Accounting Program at UNC Kenan-Flagler, in the school’s announcement. “It strengthens our graduate degree offerings for recent college graduates who want to pursue business careers and will prepare them to compete more effectively in the job market.”

Learn more about the UNC Kenan-Flagler Master of Science in Management program here.

THE TOP MASTER IN MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS IN THE UNITED STATES

School	Program Name	Location	Duration	Tuition (2024)	GRE/GMAT Required?	STEM-Designated?	Women (2024)
Chicago (Booth)	Master in Management	Chicago, Illinois	10 Months	$65,000	Yes	Yes	NA
Northwestern (Kellogg)	Master in Management	Evanston & Chicago, Illinois	10 Months	$66,918	Yes	Yes	NA
Stanford GSB	MSx Program	Palo Alto, California	1 Year	$143,144	Yes	Yes	38%
MIT (Sloan)	Master of Science in Management Studies	Boston	9 Months	$84,350	Yes	Yes	30%*
Yale SOM	Master’s in Advanced Management	New Haven, Connecticut	1 Year	$84,900	Yes	Yes	45%
Michigan (Ross)	Master of Management	Ann Arbor, Michigan	10 Months	$53,615 for Michigan residents; $58,615 for others	Yes, unless applicant has an undergraduate GPA of 3.3 or higher	No	53%*
Virginia (McIntire)	Master of Science in Commerce	Charlottesville, Virginia	10 Months	$46,010 in-state; $52,648 out-of-state & international	No	Yes	39%
Duke (Fuqua)	Master of Management Studies: Foundations of Business	Durham, North Carolina	10 Months	$65,300	Yes	Yes	38%
Duke (Fuqua)	Master of Management Studies: Duke Kunshan University	Durham, North Carolina and Kunshan, China	10 Months	$65,300 for non-Chinese students and 200,000 RMB for citizens of China, Hong Kong, Macau & Taiwan	Yes	No	53%
New York (Stern)	Master of Science in Organization Management and Strategy	New York & Shanghai, China	12-20 Months	$74,976	Yes	No	37%*
Cornell (Johnson)	Master of Professional Studies in Management	Ithaca, New York	10 Months	$62,456*	Yes, but Cornell undergrads with a cumulative GPA of 3.3 or higher may get waiver	Yes	NA
USC (Marshall)	Master of Management Studies	Los Angeles	1-2 Years	$62,946	Yes	No	86%
Carnegie Mellon (Tepper)	Master of Science in Management	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	9 Months	$66,330	Yes but waivers available	Yes	NA
Emory (Goizueta)	Master in Management	Atlanta	10 Months	$62,800	No	No	NA
UNC-Chapel Hill Kenan-Flagler	Master of Science in Management	Chapel Hill, North Carolina	10 Months	$46,923 for in-state residents and $53,260 for out-of-state residents	No	No	NA
Georgetown (McDonough)	Master of Science in Management	Washington, D.C.	10 Months	$57,960	Yes, unless applicant has an undergraduate GPA of 3.2 or higher	Yes	51%*
Hult	Master of International Business	Boston, San Francisco, London, Dubai	1 Year	$56,700 Boston or San Francisco, 45,300 GBP London, 184,300 AED Dubai	No	Upgrade to STEM degree available for a fee	44%*
Maryland (Smith)	Master’s in Management Studies	College Park, Maryland	9 Months	$48,930 for Maryland residents; $62,175 for others	No	No	NA
South Carolina (Moore)	Master of International Business	Columbia, South Carolina	1 Year	$21,000 for South Carolina residents; $24,900 for others	Yes, but waivers available for “high-achieving students”	No	50%
South Carolina (Moore)	Master of International Business Double Degree	Columbia, South Carolina and one of seven campuses of partner university	2 Years	$36,300 for South Carolina residents; $43,260 for others	Yes, but waivers available for “high-achieving students”	No	50%
Texas A&M (Mays)	Master’s in Business	College Station, Texas	11 Months	$35,900 for Texas residents, $58,800 for others	Yes	No	41%*
Texas-Dallas (Jindal)	MS in Management Science	Dallas, Texas or remote	18-24 Months	$20,428 for Texas residents; $38,508 for others	No	Yes	59%*
Arizona State (Carey)	MS in Management	Phoenix, Arizona	9 Months	$12,562 for Arizona residents, $26,496 for others	Yes	Yes	NA
Florida (Warrington)	MS in Management	Gainesville, Florida	1 Year	$16,983 for Florida residents; $40,174 for others	No	No	NA
George Washington	MS in Management	Washington, D.C.	1 Year	$67,815	No	No	NA
Boston (Questrom)	Master’s in Management Studies	Boston	9 Months	$66,670	No	Yes	52%*
Fordham (Gabelli)	MS in Management	New York	12-15 Months	$63,090	No	No	NA
Denver (Daniels)	Master of Science in Management	Denver, Colorado	10 Months	$75,060	No	No	NA
Babson (Olin)	MS in Management & Entrepreneurial Leadership	Wellesley, Massachusetts	9 Months	$54,600	No	No	41%
Lehigh	MS in Management	Bethlehem, Pennsylvania	9 Months	$54,150	No	Yes	53%
Northeastern (D’Amore-McKim)	Master of Science in Management (MS x)	Boston, London, Miami, Remote	1-2 Years	$54,500	No	No	NA
Northeastern (D’Amore-McKim)	Master of Science in International Management	Boston	12-16 Months	$54,480	No	No	52%
Notre Dame (Mendoza)	MS in Management	South Bend, Indiana	11 Months	$58,512	Yes, unless applicant has Notre Dame degree or 3.3 undergrad GPA or higher	Yes	40%
Wake Forest	Master of Science in Management	Winston-Salem, North Carolina	10 Months	$51,944	Yes, unless applicant has an undergrad GPA of 3.2 or higher and at least two grades of B or better in quantitative or other rigorous coursework from a U.S.-based college/university	Yes	57%*
Michigan State (Broad)	Online MS in Management, Strategy & Leadership	Remote	20-24 Months	$33,900	Yes, unless applicants have 3 or more years’ full-time managerial experience in a supervisory role and a cumulative undergrad GPA of 3.0 or higher	No	NA
Illinois (Gies)	Master of Science in Management	Urbana-Champaign, Illinois	9 Months	$30,154 for U.S. residents, $41,354 for international students	No	Yes	56%*
Illinois (Gies)	iMSM	Remote	12-60 Months	$12,492	No	No	39%
Pepperdine (Graziadio)	Online Master in Management & Leadership	Remote & Malibu, California	16 Months	$38,610	No	No	NA
San Francisco (Masagung)	Online Master in Management	Remote	18-36 Months	$49,500	No	No	NA

DON’T MISS THE TOP MASTER IN MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS IN THE UNITED STATES and ST. GALLEN RECAPTURES FIRST IN THE FINANCIAL TIMES’ 2024 RANKING OF MASTER’S IN MANAGEMENT