Tepper School Interior
SANTA CLARA PLACED FIRST IN ACADEMIC EXPERIENCE AND CAREER OUTCOMES
Santa Clara’s program is similar in that it allows students to change between MBA programs for elective courses. “It gives students more networking opportunities and a different experience if that’s what they desire,” says Nydia MacGregor, the faculty director of MBA programs at Santa Clara.
MacGregor says the school has also created three specialized master’s programs in marketing, finance and analytics, and business analytics that have opened up more electives for MBA students. Leavey has also bolstered its career staff and resources, allowing each online MBA student to meet with career coaches and gain access to more career development webinars. “We’ve got a little army of career coaches,” MacGregor adds.
The other aspect of Santa Clara’s online MBA program that makes it stand out? “We’re here in Silicon Valley,” MacGregor says. The themes and aspects important to businesses in Silicon Valley are “like a bright red thread” through the curriculum.”
FLEXIBILITY, CAREER SERVICES POPULAR AMONG RECENT GRADS
Both Santa Clara and Carnegie Mellon were buoyed by highly positive alumni satisfaction rates in our survey. As noted, Santa Clara finished first in both alumni survey categories — academic experience and career outcomes. Carnegie Mellon finished fifth in academic experience and second in career outcomes. Meantime, Carnegie Mellon finished ninth in admissions standards and Santa Clara finished 26th.
Finishing high up in both alumni survey categories is even more impressive this year due to the addition of last year’s dataset in the ranking that puts slightly more emphasis on consistency. Simply put: The past two graduating classes at Santa Clara and Carnegie Mellon have been extraordinarily satisfied with their experience.
When it comes to alumni satisfaction, four schools stand out above the rest. Besides Santa Clara, Carnegie Mellon, and USC, The College of William & Mary was the only other school to finish in the top five in both alumni survey portions of the methodology. William & Mary, which rose eight spots to finish just outside of the top ten at No. 11, though it placed No. 50 in admissions standards.
Santa Clara’s MacGregor says interest in their program is “very healthy.” And, where even a couple of years ago, applicants would ask if the transcript or diploma would show the MBA was awarded online, that’s not as much of an issue. “We don’t get those questions anymore,” MacGregor says.
As for looking for an online MBA program, McCauley says to lay out your priorities and then do some research. “Figure out what’s important to you and make sure you’re comparing apples to apples,” she says.
More About Poets&Quants’ 2022 Online MBA Ranking
The Complete Ranking: How each of 52 of the best online MBAs place
Evaluating Each Online Program: How Online MBA Students Rate Their Programs
What Online MBA Students Get: How Online MBA Students Rate Their Degree’s Career Impact
Gaining Admissions: Acceptance Rates For The Top Online MBA Programs
What It Takes To Get In: Average GMATs, GREs and GPAs At Top Online MBA Programs
Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California
The 2022 Poets&Quants Best Online MBA Programs
| Rank | School | Final Score | YOY Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | University of Southern California (Marshall) | 100.00 | +2 |
| 2 | Carnegie Mellon University (Tepper) | 97.83 | ——– |
| 3 | Santa Clara University (Leavey) | 96.15 | +7 |
| 4 | University of Washington (Foster) | 93.47 | +5 |
| 5 | Indiana University (Kelley) | 93.19 | -4 |
| 6 | University of North Carolina (Kenan-Flagler) | 90.01 | -1 |
| 7 | Rice University (Jones) | 88.30 | NA |
| 8 | Baylor University (Hankamer) | 85.18 | +8 |
| 9 | Lehigh University | 84.03 | -3 |
| 10 | Jack Welch Management Institute | 83.32 | +10 |
| 11 | College of William & Mary (Mason) | 83.14 | +8 |
| 12 | University of Denver (Daniels) | 82.65 | +11 |
| 13 | North Carolina State University (Poole) | 80.64 | -2 |
| 14 | Auburn University (Harbert) | 80.33 | -6 |
| 15 | University of Utah (Eccles) | 74.95 | ——– |
| 16 | University of Maryland (Smith) | 74.50 | -3 |
| 17 | Villanova University | 73.99 | -10 |
| 18 | University of Massachusetts (Isenberg) | 73.64 | +3 |
| 19 | University of Tennessee-Chattanooga | 73.41 | +7 |
| 20 | Arizona State University (W. P. Carey) | 73.16 | +7 |
| 21 | University of Florida (Warrington) | 71.22 | -4 |
| 22 | Syracuse University (Whitman) | 69.32 | NA |
| 23 | Worcester Polytechnic Institute | 68.90 | 6 |
| 24 | Louisiana State University (Ourso) | 68.51 | +13 |
| 25 | Washington State University (Carson) | 67.10 | -13 |
| 26 | University of Kansas | 66.53 | NA |
| 27 | University of Nebraska-Lincoln | 66.29 | -3 |
| 28 | Bryant University | 65.61 | NA |
| 29 | Pepperdine University (Graziado) | 65.17 | NA |
| 30 | Drexel University (LeBow) | 62.91 | -16 |
| 31 | Hofstra University (Zarb) | 62.90 | +4 |
| 32 | University of Wisconsin (Consortium) | 62.71 | ——– |
| 33 | SUNY Oswego | 62.63 | -3 |
| 34 | University of South Florida (Muma) | 62.62 | -9 |
| 35 | University of North Texas (Brint Ryan) | 62.42 | NA |
| 36 | Temple University (Fox) | 61.92 | NA |
| 37 | University of North Dakota (Nistler) | 61.39 | -6 |
| 38 | George Washingon University | 60.83 | -34 |
| 39 | Ohio University | 60.58 | -3 |
| 40 | Creighton University (Heider) | 59.95 | ——– |
| 41 | Kennesaw State | 59.65 | +4 |
| 42 | American University (Kogod) | 58.79 | -14 |
| 43 | University of Arizona (Eller) | 57.25 | -21 |
| 44 | Oklahoma State University (Watson) | 56.06 | ——– |
| 45 | University of Texas-Dallas (Jindal) | 56.00 | -27 |
| 46 | Florida International University | 54.60 | -8 |
| 47 | University of Delaware (Lerner) | 53.40 | -13 |
| 48 | University of Massachusetts-Lowell (Manning) | 45.86 | -15 |
| 49 | University of Michigan-Dearborn | 38.89 | -7 |
| 50 | University of Cincinnati (Linder) | 32.94 | -7 |
| 51 | Northeastern University (D’Amore-McKim) | 13.06 | -10 |
| 52 | Rogers State University | 0.00 | -5 |
See the following pages for rankings of each core category of our rankings
