University of Florida’s Warrington College of Business Online MBA

The University of Florida Warrington College of Business has been delivering MBA content online since the 20th century. Back in 1999, when the online program was launched, the school would mail VHS tapes to students, says John Gresley, assistant dean and director of the Florida MBA.

Gresley tells this story to illustrate that the school has been in the online MBA space since before it was as easy and convenient as it is now. “This is not something that we decided to start doing when it became popular and easy for everybody,” he tells Poets&Quants. “We’ve been committed to offering students a quality MBA education at a distance for as long as we’ve been able to do so.” That commitment includes several faculty who have taught in the online program since its launch: “They’ve grown up with the technology, so as the technology has gotten better, they’ve gotten better,” Gresley says.

Students can choose from four focus areas: Finance, Entrepreneurship, Marketing, and Global Business — “focus areas, not concentrations,” Gresley says, “so they’re a deeper dive in the curriculum for students to find areas that may be more applicable for them, but it’s not something that is officially recognized on a transcript. … Those four areas are really the strengths of the college. That’s where we have the concentration of faculty and the availability — we use the same senior faculty and tenure-track faculty we would use in our full-time and professional programs. They’re teaching courses already and using that same teaching experience and learned knowledge in the online space, as well.”

The UF MBA online program is unique among every other program I researched. Unlike some of the lengthy timelines at other schools, it’s only 24…

The University of Florida Warrington College of Business has been delivering MBA content online since the 20th century. Back in 1999, when the online program was launched, the school would mail VHS tapes to students, says John Gresley, assistant dean and director of the Florida MBA.

Gresley tells this story to illustrate that the school has been in the online MBA space since before it was as easy and convenient as it is now. “This is not something that we decided to start doing when it became popular and easy for everybody,” he tells Poets&Quants. “We’ve been committed to offering students a quality MBA education at a distance for as long as we’ve been able to do so.” That commitment includes several faculty who have taught in the online program since its launch: “They’ve grown up with the technology, so as the technology has gotten better, they’ve gotten better,” Gresley says.

Students can choose from four focus areas: Finance, Entrepreneurship, Marketing, and Global Business — “focus areas, not concentrations,” Gresley says, “so they’re a deeper dive in the curriculum for students to find areas that may be more applicable for them, but it’s not something that is officially recognized on a transcript. … Those four areas are really the strengths of the college. That’s where we have the concentration of faculty and the availability — we use the same senior faculty and tenure-track faculty we would use in our full-time and professional programs. They’re teaching courses already and using that same teaching experience and learned knowledge in the online space, as well.”

The UF MBA online program is unique among every other program I researched. Unlike some of the lengthy timelines at other schools, it’s only 24 months long and executed in a flexible course structure.

“The University of Florida is routinely ranked a top online program,” says past OMBA Nancy Oswald. “The folks in the MBA office were exceedingly kind and helpful when I made my initial inquiries, so I knew I’d found the program for me. I needed and loved the schedule flexibility. I could watch a lecture and do my assignments anytime that was convenient for me. I feel much more informed of why some business decisions that might seem strange on the surface are made. Previously, I didn’t always see “the big picture.” I also feel confident when reviewing financial results and competent in understanding the relative importance of various metrics. My very first course, Professional Writing, was probably the most impactful course of all!