Best MBA Programs for the Working Professional

Key Infor­ma­tion:

• The Uni­ver­si­ty of Chica­go and Carnegie Mel­lon Uni­ver­si­ty have top MBA pro­grams for the work­ing professional. 
• The best MBA pro­grams for work­ing adults are often accel­er­at­ed pro­grams, help­ing you reach your careers goals sooner.
• Earn­ing an MBA allows you to con­cen­trate on high demand areas such as project man­age­ment, inter­na­tion­al busi­ness, sup­ply chain man­age­ment, and busi­ness ana­lyt­ics.

Accord­ing to the Bureau of Labor Sta­tis­tics, the field of busi­ness occu­pa­tions had some of the high­est wage pre­mi­ums for work­ers with a master’s degree. Earn­ing a Master’s of Busi­ness Admin­is­tra­tion (MBA) is one of the busi­ness world’s high­est aca­d­e­m­ic achieve­ments and is nec­es­sary for those who wish to move to the top. But what about pro­fes­sion­als who don’t have the leisure to take sev­er­al years away from work to go back to school? The good news is uni­ver­si­ties today are ready to meet that demand. In fact, more and more schools are adding pro­grams suit­ed to the work­ing adult. There are flex­i­ble, con­ve­nient, and afford­able options for those in the work­force, avail­able at some of the most pres­ti­gious schools in the nation.

Relat­ed:

• Effec­tive Study Plans and Time­lines for PMP Exam Preparation
• Best Pro­fes­sion­al Cer­ti­fi­ca­tions for Lead­ers and Executives
• Online Advanced Man­age­ment Pro­grams and Cours­es for Executives
• Career Devel­op­ment and Upskilling Pro­grams for Work­ing Adults
• Best Cloud Com­put­ing Cer­ti­fi­ca­tions for Career Advancement

Why Earn an MBA?

An MBA opens the doors for busi­ness pro­fes­sion­als to work as man­agers in finance, oper­a­tions, busi­ness, and mar­ket­ing. Exec­u­tive-lev­el posi­tions in fields such as health­care, sales, and busi­ness are filled by those with a gold­en MBA in hand. Many MBA pro­grams offer con­cen­tra­tions in high demand areas such as project man­age­ment, inter­na­tion­al busi­ness, sup­ply chain man­age­ment, and busi­ness ana­lyt­ics. Work­ing busi­ness pro­fes­sion­als already in the field increase their salary poten­tial and qual­i­fy for pro­mo­tion to high­er lev­el jobs by earn­ing an MBA.

What are the Benefits of an Online/Hybrid MBA?

• You don’t have to quit your job. MBA pro­grams designed for the work­ing pro­fes­sion­al rec­og­nize that their stu­dents are employed, and offer all sorts of flex­i­ble options to allow them to con­tin­ue work­ing. This is accom­plished through online, evening, week­end, and oth­er flex­i­ble programs. 
• Often, a dis­tance MBA pro­gram is com­plet­ed in an accel­er­at­ed fash­ion. That’s right, tak­ing cours­es via dis­tance pro­grams often speed up the process, and for those who are will­ing to study hard, some pro­grams can be com­plet­ed in as lit­tle as 18 months.
• Stu­dents who are already work­ing often don’t have to enter into the job mar­ket when they grad­u­ate. Earn­ing an MBA places you in a posi­tion for a pro­mo­tion in your cur­rent field. Employ­ers want trained pro­fes­sion­als, and when you are already work­ing for a com­pa­ny, you can avoid the need for the dread­ed job search.

Methodology

In an effort to find the best MBA pro­grams for the work­ing pro­fes­sion­al, we combed through the nation’s top-ranked busi­ness schools to find pro­grams that offer flex­i­bil­i­ty for the work­ing adult. This is accom­plished through online, dis­tance, and hybrid options. Once our list was com­piled, we gave each school a score using cal­cu­la­tions based on rep­u­ta­tion, fac­ul­ty-to-stu­dent ratio, cost per cred­it hour, and aver­age mid-career salary. It should be not­ed that the cost per cred­it hour was cal­cu­lat­ed based on tuition only, and in some cas­es, was aver­aged from annu­al tuition. All sta­tis­tics were gath­ered from the Nation­al Cen­ter for Edu­ca­tion Sta­tis­tics, payscale.com, and school websites.

1. University of Chicago

• Loca­tion: Chica­go, IL
• Total Stu­dent Pop­u­la­tion: 16,227
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 5 to 1
• Degrees Offered: Bach­e­lor’s degree, Mas­ter’s degree, Post-mas­ter’s cer­tifi­cate, Doc­tor’s degree — research/scholarship, Doc­tor’s degree-pro­fes­sion­al practice
• Accred­i­ta­tion: High­er Learn­ing Com­mis­sion as well as sev­er­al oth­er accred­it­ing bodies.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Chica­go is home to the Booth School of Busi­ness, one of the top busi­ness schools in the nation. Work­ing pro­fes­sion­als who are look­ing to earn an MBA and move up in their careers need not look fur­ther. The MBA pro­gram is offered in four for­mats: Full-time, Evening, Week­end, and Exec­u­tive. All four pro­grams use the same renowned fac­ul­ty and car­ry the strength of a Chica­go Booth degree. The Evening MBA is an excel­lent option for the work­ing pro­fes­sion­al liv­ing the Chica­go area. On aver­age, it takes two and half to three years to com­plete. The Week­end MBA offers class­es on Fri­day and Sat­ur­day, draw­ing 70 per­cent of its stu­dents from out­side of Illi­nois. Regard­less of what option you choose, you can be assured that you are receiv­ing an excel­lent edu­ca­tion, uti­liz­ing the 5 to 1 fac­ul­ty to stu­dent ratio. This low ratio, com­bined with an aver­age mid-career salary of $123,200, and an excel­lent rep­u­ta­tion pro­pel the Uni­ver­si­ty of Chica­go to #1 on this list.

• Cost per Cred­it: $2376
• Pro­gram Website

2. Carnegie Mellon University

• Loca­tion: Pitts­burgh, PA
• Total Stu­dent Pop­u­la­tion: 13,869
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 10 to 1
• Degrees Offered: Bach­e­lor’s degree, Mas­ter’s degree, Post-mas­ter’s cer­tifi­cate, Doc­tor’s degree — research/scholarship, Doc­tor’s degree-pro­fes­sion­al practice
• Accred­i­ta­tion: Mid­dle States Com­mis­sion on High­er Edu­ca­tion as well as sev­er­al oth­er accred­it­ing bodies.

Carnegie Mel­lon Uni­ver­si­ty is a pri­vate, glob­al research uni­ver­si­ty found­ed by the famous Andrew Carnegie in 1900. Locat­ed three miles from Down­town Pitts­burgh, CMU is orga­nized into sev­en schools: Engi­neer­ing, Fine Arts, Human­i­ties & Social Sci­ences, Infor­ma­tion Sys­tems and Pub­lic Pol­i­cy, Mel­lon Col­lege of Sci­ence, Com­put­er Sci­ence, and Business. 

The Tep­per School of Busi­ness at Carnegie Mel­lon offers an online hybrid MBA which pro­vides the same rig­or­ous cur­ricu­lum taught by the same fac­ul­ty as the on-cam­pus pro­gram. Stu­dents par­tic­i­pate in “Access Week­ends,” which take place six times a year at var­i­ous loca­tions. Dur­ing these week­ends stu­dents spend time with fac­ul­ty and class­mates build­ing per­son­al and pro­fes­sion­al con­nec­tions. Geared toward the work­ing pro­fes­sion­al, the live, inter­ac­tive class­es take place two evenings a week, while offline work is com­plet­ed at your own pace at any time. Also worth not­ing is that stu­dents can trans­fer into the full-time pro­gram at any time because they are the same pro­gram. Stu­dents can be assured that even though the class­es are online, they are receiv­ing the same excel­lent edu­ca­tion as tra­di­tion­al brick-and-mor­tar degrees. Last­ly, Carnegie Mel­lon is one of the more afford­able pro­grams on the list. 

• Cost per Cred­it: $1375
• Pro­gram Website

3. Georgetown University

• Loca­tion: Wash­ing­ton D.C.
• Total Stu­dent Pop­u­la­tion: 19,005
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 11 to 1
• Degrees Offered: One but less than two years cer­tifi­cate, Bach­e­lor’s degree, Post­bac­calau­re­ate cer­tifi­cate, Mas­ter’s degree, Doc­tor’s degree — research/scholarship, Doc­tor’s degree-pro­fes­sion­al practice
• Accred­i­ta­tion: Mid­dle States Com­mis­sion on High­er Edu­ca­tion as well as numer­ous oth­er accred­it­ing bodies.

The McDo­nough School of Busi­ness at George­town offers sev­er­al options for pro­fes­sion­al stu­dents who are look­ing to earn their MBA. Stu­dents may choose from the Full-time Pro­gram, Evening Pro­gram, or the Flex Pro­gram. A unique com­po­nent of a George­town MBA is the Glob­al Busi­ness Expe­ri­ence, which sets the tone for the entire cur­ricu­lum. The pro­gram requires stu­dents to com­plete a glob­al con­sult­ing project, where they work to address com­plex busi­ness chal­lenges in part­ner­ship with For­tune 500 exec­u­tives from orga­ni­za­tions all over the globe. Once the project is final­ized, stu­dents trav­el to present their solu­tions to busi­ness­es. Full-time stu­dents can choose from a num­ber of places to study abroad for a semes­ter. In fact, 77 per­cent of 2017 incom­ing fresh­men had trav­eled inter­na­tion­al­ly, and they rep­re­sent­ed 43 coun­tries. The inter­na­tion­al fla­vor and glob­al out­look are a dis­tinc­tion but the fan­tas­tic ben­e­fits of being in D.C. can’t be left out.

• Cost per Cred­it: $1930
• Pro­gram Website

4. Rice University

• Loca­tion: Hous­ton, TX
• Total Stu­dent Pop­u­la­tion: 7,022
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 6 to 1
• Degrees Offered: Bach­e­lor’s degree, Mas­ter’s degree, Doc­tor’s degree — research/scholarship
• Accred­i­ta­tion: South­ern Asso­ci­a­tion of Col­leges and Schools, Com­mis­sion on Colleges

Rice Uni­ver­si­ty is a pri­vate research uni­ver­si­ty in Hous­ton, Texas and is orga­nized into eleven res­i­den­tial col­leges and eight schools. With a ded­i­ca­tion to excel­lence, espe­cial­ly research, 99 per­cent of Rice full-time fac­ul­ty have a doc­tor­ate or ter­mi­nal degree in their field. MBA@Rice is Rice Uni­ver­si­ty’s cut­ting-edge pro­gram specif­i­cal­ly designed for work­ing pro­fes­sion­als. The pro­gram con­sists of 54 cred­its and can be com­plet­ed online in 24 months.

“The launch of our online pro­gram marks a sig­nif­i­cant mile­stone for our school as we pre­pare to wel­come a new group of busi­ness lead­ers to our fam­i­ly,” said Peter Rodriguez, dean of Rice Busi­ness. “MBA@Rice will make our out­stand­ing pro­grams acces­si­ble to work­ing pro­fes­sion­als who don’t live in Hous­ton.” Because the pro­gram began with the work­ing per­son in mind, it offers the per­fect blend of high-qual­i­ty edu­ca­tion with ulti­mate flex­i­bil­i­ty. Stu­dents can take up to six cred­its in each 10-week term. When the term ends, stu­dents take exams. An addi­tion­al week is added on that can be used for a Res­i­den­tial Inten­sive Learn­ing Expe­ri­ences (ILEs) or an extend­ed break between terms. The low fac­ul­ty to stu­dent ratio of six to one, afford­able tuition, an aver­age mid-career salary of $133,600, and ulti­mate flex­i­bil­i­ty make Rice Uni­ver­si­ty a nat­ur­al choice for the top five on the list. 

• Cost per Cred­it: $2148
• Pro­gram Website

5. University of Southern California

• Loca­tion: Los Ange­les, CA
• Total Stu­dent Pop­u­la­tion: 45,687
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 9 to 1
• Degrees Offered: Bach­e­lor’s degree, Post­bac­calau­re­ate cer­tifi­cate, Mas­ter’s degree, Post-mas­ter’s cer­tifi­cate, Doc­tor’s degree — research/scholarship, Doc­tor’s degree-pro­fes­sion­al prac­tice, Doc­tor’s degree — other
• Accred­i­ta­tion: WASC Senior Col­lege and Uni­ver­si­ty Com­mis­sion as well as numer­ous oth­er accred­it­ing bodies.

A pri­vate research uni­ver­si­ty locat­ed in Los Ange­les, Cal­i­for­nia, the Uni­ver­si­ty of South­ern Cal­i­for­nia was found­ed in 1880. Today they are an edu­ca­tion­al pow­er­house and one of the top fundrais­ing insti­tu­tions in the world. They give back to the local econ­o­my, con­tribut­ing over $8 bil­lion every year to California’s economy.

USC’s Mar­shall School of Busi­ness recent­ly launched an Online MBA degree. The course­work reflects that of the on-cam­pus MBA, which means you can be assured of both the rig­or and cama­raderie that res­i­den­tial stu­dents expe­ri­ence. Cours­es are a led by Mar­shall fac­ul­ty but are designed for an online for­mat. Stu­dents will learn using a vari­ety of medi­ums includ­ing a one-week on-cam­pus res­i­den­cy, engag­ing videos pro­duced at the USC Mar­shall stu­dio, and week­ly, live and per­son­al class ses­sions con­duct­ed via web­cam. Geared for our tech­nol­o­gy-dri­ven soci­ety, stu­dents com­plete an inte­grat­ed, flex­i­ble pro­gram that pre­pares them for suc­cess­ful busi­ness lead­er­ship. Stu­dents can expect an afford­able price, low fac­ul­ty to stu­dent ratio, and a top-notch Mar­shall degree that makes them high­ly com­pet­i­tive in the job market.

• Cost per Cred­it: $1954
• Pro­gram Website

6. University of California Berkeley

• Loca­tion: Berke­ley, CA
• Total Stu­dent Pop­u­la­tion: 41,891
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 18 to 1
• Degrees Offered: Bach­e­lor’s degree, Post­bac­calau­re­ate cer­tifi­cate, Mas­ter’s degree, Post-mas­ter’s cer­tifi­cate, Doc­tor’s degree — research/scholarship, Doc­tor’s degree-pro­fes­sion­al prac­tice, Doc­tor’s degree — other
• Accred­i­ta­tion: WASC Senior Col­lege and Uni­ver­si­ty Com­mis­sion as well as numer­ous oth­er accred­it­ing bodies. 

Found­ed in 1868, the Uni­ver­si­ty of Cal­i­for­nia Berke­ley serves as the flag­ship insti­tu­tion of the ten research uni­ver­si­ties asso­ci­at­ed with the Uni­ver­si­ty of Cal­i­for­nia sys­tem. Today UC Berke­ley is affil­i­at­ed with three Unit­ed States Depart­ment of Ener­gy Nation­al Laboratories—Lawrence Berke­ley Nation­al Lab­o­ra­to­ry, Lawrence Liv­er­more Nation­al Lab­o­ra­to­ry, and Los Alam­os Nation­al Laboratory. 

UC Berke­ley approach­es their MBA the same way they do all their programs—with aca­d­e­m­ic rig­or and an empha­sis on glob­al engage­ment. The Evening & Week­end MBA Pro­gram at UC Berke­ley makes earn­ing an MBA entire­ly pos­si­ble for the work­ing par­ent, young entre­pre­neur, or busi­ness pro­fes­sion­al seek­ing to move up in their career. There are two ways to com­plete the MBA, evening or week­end. The pro­gram begins in late July or ear­ly August with the required “WE Launch ori­en­ta­tion week­end.” After an ini­tial ori­en­ta­tion, stu­dents go on to choose cours­es that best works for them. The pro­gram is designed to be com­plet­ed in three years, but it can be com­plet­ed in as lit­tle as two and a half. After fin­ish­ing your third semes­ter, you have the option to switch between the evening and week­end pro­gram. Stu­dents will are assigned to a cohort, which ensures you learn from and with peo­ple with dif­fer­ent per­spec­tives and skills. 

• Cost per Cred­it: $2242
• Pro­gram Website

7. University of Michigan

• Loca­tion: Ann Arbor, MI
• Total Stu­dent Pop­u­la­tion: 46,002
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 11 to 1
• Degrees Offered: Bach­e­lor’s degree, Post­bac­calau­re­ate cer­tifi­cate, Mas­ter’s degree, Post-mas­ter’s cer­tifi­cate, Doc­tor’s degree — research/scholarship, Doc­tor’s degree-pro­fes­sion­al prac­tice, Doc­tor’s degree — other
• Accred­i­ta­tion: High­er Learn­ing Com­mis­sion as well as numer­ous oth­er accred­it­ing bodies. 

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Michi­gan was found­ed in 1817. Since then, the Uni­ver­si­ty has grown to include 19 schools and col­leges with a total enroll­ment of over 46,000 stu­dents. Con­sid­ered a “Pub­lic Ivy,” U‑M puts research at the top of the pri­or­i­ty list and spends more on research than any oth­er U.S. pub­lic university. 

Ross School of Busi­ness at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Michi­gan offers an Online MBA per­fect for the work­ing adult. Stu­dents will have the oppor­tu­ni­ty to study at their own pace, par­tic­i­pate in syn­chro­nized class ses­sions with peers, attend com­pe­ti­tions and work­shops, and a com­plete a con­sult­ing project for a real com­pa­ny. Stu­dents com­plete learn­ing mod­ules which are short instruc­tion­al videos that can be com­plet­ed at your own pace, though they must be com­plet­ed in time for the syn­chro­nous learn­ing events. Although UM’s MBA is an online pro­gram, there is no doubt that it is thor­ough and is an effec­tive prepa­ra­tion to take pro­fes­sion­als to the next lev­el. There are 57 cred­its required for com­ple­tion as well as three on-cam­pus res­i­den­cies, which cov­er the top­ics of busi­ness inno­va­tion, busi­ness trans­for­ma­tion, and busi­ness lead­er­ship. The flex­i­bil­i­ty com­bined with an excel­lent rep­u­ta­tion and expe­ri­ence place UM in the top ten.

• Cost per Cred­it: $2132
• Pro­gram Website

8. UCLA

• Loca­tion: Los Ange­les, CA
• Total Stu­dent Pop­u­la­tion: 44,027
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 18 to 1
• Degrees Offered: Bach­e­lor’s degree, Mas­ter’s degree, Doc­tor’s degree — research/scholarship, Doc­tor’s degree-pro­fes­sion­al practice
• Accred­i­ta­tion: WASC Senior Col­lege and Uni­ver­si­ty Com­mis­sion as well as numer­ous oth­er accred­it­ing bodies. 

Found­ed in 1919, and now one of the most pre­em­i­nent schools in Amer­i­ca, UCLA is a leader in many cat­e­gories. UCLA’s effec­tive­ness can be eas­i­ly seen by their results: 10 Nation­al Medals of Sci­ence, three Pulitzer Prizes, 13 Nobel Lau­re­ates, 12 Rhodes Schol­ars, and more. 

UCLA under­stands today’s fast-mov­ing tech-filled soci­ety. Their Ful­ly Employed MBA (FEMBA) is offered through the Ander­son School of Man­age­ment. Inten­tion­al­ly designed from begin­ning to end for the work­ing per­son (and in fact, by work­ing pro­fes­sion­als), the hybrid degree offers flex­i­bil­i­ty, qual­i­ty, and afford­abil­i­ty. In addi­tion to online cours­es, there are four required on-cam­pus vis­its per quar­ter. This aver­ages out to one week­end every three weeks. With the time between cam­pus vis­its, stu­dents uti­lize the University’s dig­i­tal learn­ing plat­form (called FLEX) to lis­ten to online lec­tures, par­tic­i­pate in inter­ac­tive group work and use web-based study tools. Stu­dents can be assured that the degree they are earn­ing through this dis­tance-based pro­gram is the same qual­i­ty as the on-cam­pus MBA. Ander­son is ranked #16 for “Best Busi­ness Schools” by U.S.News and World Report and #6 for their MBA pro­gram by The Econ­o­mist. Add to the con­ve­nience and qual­i­ty the 7th most afford­able degree on the list and it’s easy to see why UCLA made the top ten.

• Cost per Cred­it: $1530
• Pro­gram Website

9. Lehigh University

• Loca­tion: Beth­le­hem, PA
• Total Stu­dent Pop­u­la­tion: 7,017
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 9 to 1
• Degrees Offered: Bach­e­lor’s degree, Post Bac­calau­re­ate cer­tifi­cate, Mas­ter’s degree, Doc­tor’s degree — research/scholarship
• Accred­i­ta­tion: Mid­dle States Com­mis­sion on High­er Edu­ca­tion as well as numer­ous oth­er accred­it­ing bodies. 

Lehigh Uni­ver­si­ty is locat­ed in Beth­le­hem, Penn­syl­va­nia, near both New York City and Philadel­phia. Found­ed in 1865, Lehigh offers a rig­or­ous aca­d­e­m­ic edu­ca­tion for its 7,000 stu­dents. The Uni­ver­si­ty is con­sid­ered one of the twen­ty-four “Hid­den Ivies” in the North­east­ern Unit­ed States. 

LU offers a Flex MBA pro­gram that can be com­plet­ed on-cam­pus, online, or hybrid. This AACSB-accred­it­ed MBA is an excel­lent option for the work­ing adult who may want dif­fer­ent pac­ing than a full-time pro­gram. Lehigh’s part-time pac­ing (per­fect­ly suit­ed for those with a full work or life sched­ule) is accom­plished through the Class­room­LIVE expe­ri­ence, the key to LU’s suc­cess. This plat­form means you con­trol the pace, on your own, depend­ing on what your sched­ule an any giv­en day dic­tates. You can flex between attend­ing class­es on-cam­pus and online through it. If you need to trav­el for a work assign­ment for two weeks, you can attend class­es in per­son, and then when you leave town, you can join your class­es online. This ulti­mate flex­i­bil­i­ty and con­ve­nience is a dis­tinct advan­tage, and a nec­es­sary one for so many in our soci­ety today. Anoth­er option at Lehigh is the VEN­TURE­series. This is a one-of-a-kind Exec­u­tive Cer­tifi­cate pro­gram and MBA Track that focus­es exclu­sive­ly on entre­pre­neur­ship, hands-on learn­ing, and cre­ative prob­lem solv­ing and leadership.

• Cost per Cred­it: $1075
• Pro­gram Website

10. Emory University

• Loca­tion: Atlanta, GA
• Total Stu­dent Pop­u­la­tion: 14,263
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 9 to 1
• Degrees Offered: Bach­e­lor’s degree, Post­bac­calau­re­ate cer­tifi­cate, Mas­ter’s degree, Post-mas­ter’s cer­tifi­cate, Doc­tor’s degree — research/scholarship, Doc­tor’s degree-pro­fes­sion­al prac­tice, Doc­tor’s degree — other
• Accred­i­ta­tion: South­ern Asso­ci­a­tion of Col­leges and Schools as well as numer­ous oth­er accred­it­ing bodies. 

Locat­ed on a beau­ti­ful cam­pus in Atlanta, Geor­gia’s his­toric Druid Hills neigh­bor­hood, Emory Uni­ver­si­ty is a top-ranked pri­vate insti­tu­tion rec­og­nized for lib­er­al arts, grad­u­ate and pro­fes­sion­al schools, and one of the world’s lead­ing health care systems. 

Not only is Emory Uni­ver­si­ty one of the world’s most high­ly regard­ed research insti­tu­tions, Emory has a rep­u­ta­tion that can’t be beat­en. And this rep­u­ta­tion is worth con­sid­er­ing in a com­pet­i­tive mar­ket­place. Through Emory’s Goizue­ta Busi­ness School you can earn a Mod­u­lar MBA for Exec­u­tives. The Mod­u­lar MBA for Exec­u­tives is a hybrid MBA with a cre­ative, busi­ness-friend­ly sched­ule, specif­i­cal­ly designed for senior exec­u­tives and pro­fes­sion­als. The Exec­u­tive MBA is ranked #1 by U.S. News and World Report for the “Best Exec­u­tive MBA’s in Geor­gia.” The unique hybrid for­mat is both flex­i­ble and com­pre­hen­sive and can be com­plet­ed in as lit­tle as 18 months. Although the cost is high­er than oth­ers on the list, the superb rep­u­ta­tion of Emory, com­bined with the low fac­ul­ty to stu­dent ratio of nine to one, and the mid-career salary of $121,400 place Emory Uni­ver­si­ty in the top ten.

• Cost per Cred­it: $2254
• Pro­gram Website

11. New York University 

• Loca­tion: New York, NY
• Total Stu­dent Pop­u­la­tion: 26,417
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 9 to 1
• Degrees Offered: Less than one year cer­tifi­cate, Asso­ci­ate’s degree, Bach­e­lor’s degree, Post Bac­calau­re­ate cer­tifi­cate, Mas­ter’s degree, Post-mas­ter’s cer­tifi­cate, Doc­tor’s degree — research/scholarship, Doc­tor’s degree-pro­fes­sion­al prac­tice, Doc­tor’s degree — other
• Accred­i­ta­tion: Mid­dle States Com­mis­sion on High­er Edu­ca­tion as well as numer­ous oth­er accred­it­ing bodies.

The largest pri­vate uni­ver­si­ty in the Unit­ed States, New York Uni­ver­si­ty was found­ed in 1831. Known for its glob­al pres­ence, the Uni­ver­si­ty has cam­pus­es in New York, Abu Dhabi, and Shang­hai and oper­ates 11 glob­al aca­d­e­m­ic cen­ters and research pro­grams in over 25 countries. 

As one of the most pres­ti­gious Uni­ver­si­ties in the nation, it only fits that New York Uni­ver­si­ty offers many excel­lent options for MBA stu­dents. Work­ing pro­fes­sion­als will be sat­is­fied with the part-time oppor­tu­ni­ties NYU offers. The Accel­er­at­ed Two-Year options allow stu­dents to com­plete their MBA in two years while work­ing. Class­es are held dur­ing the evening on week days and all day on Sat­ur­days. Stu­dents begin the pro­gram in either the fall or spring semes­ters and the semes­ters are 12 weeks in length. Class­es also con­tin­ue into the sum­mer, which is divid­ed into two six-week semes­ters, with each class meet­ing two nights per week or all day on Sat­ur­day. This Accel­er­at­ed option is inten­sive and requires a lot of time com­mit­ment. How­ev­er, the pay­off is great as you can fin­ish your degree in only two years. Stu­dents who don’t want the accel­er­at­ed option can enter into sev­er­al Part-time MBA pro­grams that meet on the week­ends or evenings and take any­where from two to six years to complete. 

• Cost per Cred­it: $2228
• Pro­gram Website

12. Wash­ing­ton Uni­ver­si­ty in St. Louis

• Loca­tion: St. Louis, MO
• Total Stu­dent Pop­u­la­tion: 15,303
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 8 to 1
• Degrees Offered: Less than one year cer­tifi­cate, Asso­ci­ate’s degree, Bach­e­lor’s degree, Post Bac­calau­re­ate cer­tifi­cate, Mas­ter’s degree, Post-mas­ter’s cer­tifi­cate, Doc­tor’s degree — research/scholarship, Doc­tor’s degree-pro­fes­sion­al prac­tice, Doc­tor’s degree — other
• Accred­i­ta­tion: High­er Learn­ing Com­mis­sion as well as numer­ous oth­er accred­it­ing bodies.

Wash­ing­ton Uni­ver­si­ty in St. Louis was found­ed in 1853. It is made up of sev­en schools and offers a wide vari­ety of degrees and pro­grams. The University’s loca­tion in the vibrant St. Louis places stu­dent sat­is­fac­tion high. Pro­fes­sion­al foot­ball, hock­ey, and base­ball as well as notable his­tor­i­cal sites and the 1,400-acre For­est Park, it’s no sur­prise stu­dents, fac­ul­ty, and alum­ni love Wash­ing­ton University.

Boast­ing flex­i­bil­i­ty for the career pro­fes­sion­al, the Pro­fes­sion­al MBA at Wash­ing­ton Uni­ver­si­ty in St. Louis is an excel­lent option. The cur­ricu­lum includes a com­pre­hen­sive core of busi­ness class­es as well as 30 hours of elec­tives. Upon com­ing into the pro­gram, stu­dents choose between evening or week­end class­es, whichev­er works best with their sched­ule. Once core course­work is com­plete, you can switch between evening and week­end class­es. Part of the pro­gram includes work­ing with a full-time advi­sor, expo­sure to cor­po­rate part­ners, and mak­ing con­nec­tions with­in the thriv­ing alum­ni net­work. The aver­age student’s age in the pro­gram, and it takes approx­i­mate­ly three years to com­plete. Less than $2000 per cred­it hour, this pro­gram is worth con­sid­er­ing due to the afford­able cost and high flexibility.

• Cost per Cred­it: $1740
• Pro­gram Website

13. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

• Loca­tion: Blacks­burg, VA
• Total Stu­dent Pop­u­la­tion: 34,440
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 14 to 1
• Degrees Offered: Bach­e­lor’s degree, Post­bac­calau­re­ate cer­tifi­cate, Mas­ter’s degree, Post-mas­ter’s cer­tifi­cate, Doc­tor’s degree — research/scholarship, Doc­tor’s degree-pro­fes­sion­al prac­tice, Doc­tor’s degree — other
• Accred­i­ta­tion: South­ern Asso­ci­a­tion of Col­leges and Schools, Com­mis­sion on Col­leges, and numer­ous oth­er accred­it­ing bodies.

Vir­ginia Poly­tech­nic Insti­tute and State Uni­ver­si­ty, oth­er­wise known as Vir­ginia Tech, is a research uni­ver­si­ty locat­ed in Blacks­burg, Vir­ginia. The Uni­ver­si­ty offers 250 under­grad­u­ate and grad­u­ate degree pro­grams to over 34,000 stu­dents. Their annu­al research exceeds $504 million.

Pam­plin Col­lege of Busi­ness at Vir­ginia Tech offers three MBA pro­grams for work­ing pro­fes­sion­als, the Evening, Exec­u­tive, and the Pro­fes­sion­al Pro­gram. The Pro­fes­sion­al Pro­gram is a part-time pro­gram with month­ly week­end class­es and cohort-style instruc­tion. This hybrid online and in-class for­mat typ­i­cal­ly takes 24 months to com­plete, per­fect for the work­ing pro­fes­sion­al. It should be not­ed that class­es only begin in the Fall for this pro­gram. The Evening Pro­gram can be com­plet­ed either full- or part-time and begins in either the Spring or the Fall. There is also a study abroad option in this pro­gram. Class­es are held on week­night any­where from two to four times per week and is locat­ed in Falls Church, Vir­ginia. Grad­u­ates earn an aver­age mid-career salary of $112,600. Regard­less of the pro­gram you choose, you can be assured a high-qual­i­ty, low-cost (4th low­est on our list), Vir­ginia Tech education.

• Cost per Cred­it: $1267
• Pro­gram Website

14. The Uni­ver­si­ty of Texas at Austin

• Loca­tion: Austin, TX
• Total Stu­dent Pop­u­la­tion: 51,525
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 18 to 1
• Degrees Offered: Bach­e­lor’s degree, Post­bac­calau­re­ate cer­tifi­cate, Mas­ter’s degree, Doc­tor’s degree — research/scholarship, Doc­tor’s degree-pro­fes­sion­al practice
• Accred­i­ta­tion: South­ern Asso­ci­a­tion of Col­leges and Schools, Com­mis­sion on Col­leges, and numer­ous oth­er accred­it­ing bodies.

Found­ed in 1883, The Uni­ver­si­ty of Texas at Austin enrolls over 51,000 total stu­dents and has an $8.8 bil­lion eco­nom­ic impact every year. There are hun­dreds of degrees offered in just about every field, as well as 450 study abroad programs. 

With such vast resources, it is no sur­prise that there are many options at UT Austin for those who are seek­ing an MBA. For this rank­ing, we are focus­ing on the MBA most geared for the work­ing professional—The Evening MBA (TEMBA). The goal of UT’s pro­gram is to offer career advance­ment for those in the busi­ness pro­fes­sion with­out career inter­rup­tion. This is accom­plished by allow­ing stu­dents to work dur­ing the day while tak­ing class­es at night. In the case of TEMBA, cours­es are Mon­day and Tues­day night, though the part-time MBA’s are offered at Hous­ton and Dallas/Fort Worth. TEMBA Hous­ton offers class­es on alter­nat­ing week­ends, for exam­ple. Class­es are con­duct­ed with a cohort-focused cur­ricu­lum and an empha­sis on a wide vari­ety of busi­ness man­age­ment knowl­edge and skills. The aver­age class size is 62 stu­dents, and stu­dents aver­age three to ten years of work­ing expe­ri­ence. Sur­round­ed by oth­er work­ing pro­fes­sion­als chal­lenges stu­dents to excel in their field as well as pro­vides the oppor­tu­ni­ty to forge essen­tial busi­ness connections. 

• Cost per Cred­it: $1896
• Pro­gram Website

15. Uni­ver­si­ty of Minnesota

• Loca­tion: Min­neapo­lis, MN
• Total Stu­dent Pop­u­la­tion: 51,848
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 17 to 1
• Degrees Offered: Less than one year cer­tifi­cate, Asso­ci­ate’s degree, Bach­e­lor’s degree, Post Bac­calau­re­ate cer­tifi­cate, Mas­ter’s degree, Post-mas­ter’s cer­tifi­cate, Doc­tor’s degree — research/scholarship, Doc­tor’s degree-pro­fes­sion­al prac­tice, Doc­tor’s degree — other
• Accred­i­ta­tion: High­er Learn­ing Com­mis­sion as well as numer­ous oth­er accred­it­ing bodies.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Min­neso­ta was found­ed in 1851 in the Twin Cities as a land grant uni­ver­si­ty. Orga­nized into 19 col­leges and schools, and there are cam­pus­es in Crook­ston, Duluth, Mor­ris, and Rochester. There are over 400,000 alum­ni worldwide.

Carl­son School of Man­age­ment at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Min­neso­ta offers an Online MBA pro­gram that can be com­plet­ed from the com­fort of your own home. Per­fect for the work­ing pro­fes­sion­al, busy work­ing par­ent, or an aspir­ing busi­ness per­son, the aver­age stu­dent in this pro­gram has six years of work expe­ri­ence. Even though it is an online pro­gram, it is com­pa­ra­ble with the on-cam­pus pro­gram and takes an aver­age of two years to com­plete. Flex­i­bil­i­ty is a draw, and stu­dents can work at a pace that fits best with their sched­ule. It should be not­ed that there are two in-per­son res­i­den­cies required to com­plete the pro­gram. Because the Uni­ver­si­ty is so large, there is also an exten­sive alum­ni net­work that grad­u­ates have access to of over 55,000 alum­ni, some­thing that can be a dif­fer­ence mak­er in your job search. The pro­gram is 52 cred­its and begins with a core cur­ricu­lum, fol­lowed by elec­tives that mark our a spe­cif­ic path based on indi­vid­ual interest.

• Cost per Cred­it: $1535
• Pro­gram Website

16. Uni­ver­si­ty of Washington 

• Loca­tion: Seat­tle, WA
• Total Stu­dent Pop­u­la­tion: 46,166
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 19 to 1
• Degrees Offered: Bach­e­lor’s degree, Mas­ter’s degree, Post-mas­ter’s cer­tifi­cate, Doc­tor’s degree — research/scholarship, Doc­tor’s degree-pro­fes­sion­al prac­tice, Doc­tor’s degree — other
• Accred­i­ta­tion: North­west Com­mis­sion on Col­leges and Uni­ver­si­ties as well as numer­ous oth­er accred­it­ing bodies.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Wash­ing­ton is a mul­ti-cam­pus uni­ver­si­ty in Seat­tle, Taco­ma, and Both­ell with over 46,000 stu­dents. One of the old­est uni­ver­si­ties on the West Coast, UW was found­ed in 1861. The Uni­ver­si­ty is a mem­ber of the Asso­ci­a­tion of Amer­i­can Uni­ver­si­ties, which is a group of 60 top research schools.

The UW Fos­ter School of Busi­ness offers a Hybrid MBA pro­gram. The two-year, 62-cred­it pro­gram is designed for work­ing peo­ple, whether par­ents, busi­ness pro­fes­sion­als or young aspir­ing entre­pre­neurs, this inter­ac­tive pro­gram is afford­able and con­ve­nient. Most class­es are deliv­ered online, but quar­ter­ly on-cam­pus cours­es are required. Know­ing the Fos­ter School of Busi­ness is high­ly respect­ed in the busi­ness com­mu­ni­ty gives con­fi­dence that you’ll be hire­able and well-pre­pared on day one. You learn from expe­ri­enced and expert teach­ers who have con­sult­ed with giants such as Boe­ing, Microsoft, and the Wash­ing­ton State Depart­ment of Trans­porta­tion. The cur­ricu­lum takes you through a strong busi­ness core, cohort-style, which then branch­es out into focused elec­tives. Hands-on case analy­sis, expe­ri­en­tial prob­lems, and real-world col­lab­o­ra­tion are uti­lized. Admis­sion is selec­tive and requires GMAT/GRE scores, a min­i­mum of 3 years work expe­ri­ence, strong com­mu­ni­ca­tion skills (essays, let­ters of rec­om­men­da­tion, and inter­view), and the abil­i­ty to demon­strate lead­er­ship potential.

• Cost per Cred­it: $1088
• Pro­gram Website

17. North­west­ern University

• Loca­tion: Evanston, IL
• Total Stu­dent Pop­u­la­tion: 8,700
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 6 to 1
• Degrees Offered: One but less than two years cer­tifi­cate, Bach­e­lor’s degree, Post­bac­calau­re­ate cer­tifi­cate, Mas­ter’s degree, Post-mas­ter’s cer­tifi­cate, Doc­tor’s degree — research/scholarship, Doc­tor’s degree-pro­fes­sion­al practice
• Accred­i­ta­tion: High­er Learn­ing Com­mis­sion as well as numer­ous oth­er accred­it­ing bodies.

North­west­ern Uni­ver­si­ty in Evanston, Illi­nois is a medi­um-sized, pri­vate uni­ver­si­ty known for research. With a cam­pus in Doha, Qatar North­west­ern under­stands our glob­al world and incor­po­rates this into their edu­ca­tion­al phi­los­o­phy and ped­a­gogy. Stu­dents have over 100 choic­es to engage in var­i­ous aspects of inter­na­tion­al learning. 

The MBA at North­west­ern can be tak­en as a full-time or part-time pro­gram. With the same North­west­ern tenac­i­ty for research, The Kel­logg School of Busi­ness MBA pro­gram approach is the same as the University’s research-dri­ven for excel­lence. It starts with their phi­los­o­phy to edu­cate busi­ness lead­ers in a broad-based, glob­al per­spec­tive rather than a nar­row and spe­cial­ized focus. This helps any busi­ness per­son under­stand their orga­ni­za­tion and the inter­con­nect­ed world they serve. Kel­logg excels at this through four inter­dis­ci­pli­nary ini­tia­tives: Archi­tec­tures of Col­lab­o­ra­tion Ini­tia­tive, Inno­va­tion & Entre­pre­neur­ship Ini­tia­tive, Mar­kets & Cus­tomers Ini­tia­tive, and Pub­lic-Pri­vate Inter­face Ini­tia­tive. One exam­ple of the NU approach is their inter­na­tion­al oppor­tu­ni­ties. You can study abroad at any one of 37 part­ner schools in 20 coun­tries for five or ten weeks. With this phi­los­o­phy, you learn all the knowl­edge and skills for suc­cess in the busi­ness world and grad­u­ate with an MBA in one or two years. 

• Cost per Cred­it: $6950
• Pro­gram Website

18. Uni­ver­si­ty of Iowa

• Loca­tion: Iowa City, IA
• Total Stu­dent Pop­u­la­tion: 24,503
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 16 to 1
• Degrees Offered: Bach­e­lor’s degree, Post­bac­calau­re­ate cer­tifi­cate, Mas­ter’s degree, Post-mas­ter’s cer­tifi­cate, Doc­tor’s degree — research/scholarship, Doc­tor’s degree-pro­fes­sion­al practice
• Accred­i­ta­tion: High­er Learn­ing Com­mis­sion as well as numer­ous oth­er accred­it­ing bodies.

Since 1899, the Uni­ver­si­ty of Iowa has been a leader in research and uni­ver­si­ty edu­ca­tion. An Asso­ci­a­tion of Amer­i­can Uni­ver­si­ty mem­ber since 1909, UI’s research is well-fund­ed and exten­sive. The Uni­ver­si­ty is home to an impres­sive med­ical cen­ter, spends over $500 mil­lion in research, and almost a quar­ter of under­grad­u­ates engage in research of some kind. The most pop­u­lar majors are Busi­ness, Mar­ket­ing, Fit­ness Stud­ies, Engi­neer­ing, and Communication.

UI is the #1 most afford­able school for an MBA on our top 20—an incred­i­ble $665 per cred­it. With a price that’s nice, the school has a strong ROI and accents that with qual­i­ty instruc­tion. Fac­ul­ty at the Tip­pie Col­lege of Busi­ness (accred­it­ed by the AACSB since 1923) have pro­pelled the MBA pro­gram to be ranked #22 by U.S. News and World Report. In addi­tion to their on-cam­pus degree, UI is open­ing up a brand new online MBA in August of 2019. The pro­gram will fea­ture all the same rig­or; core class­es in finance and mar­ket­ing to man­age­ment and data ana­lyt­ics with elec­tives as well. The Online MBA is a stream­lined two-year pro­gram for work­ing adults. There are three start dates, and notably, no pre­req­ui­sites for the 45-cred­it program. =

• Cost per Cred­it: $665
• Pro­gram Website

19. Uni­ver­si­ty of Mary­land, Col­lege Park

• Loca­tion: Col­lege Park, MD
• Total Stu­dent Pop­u­la­tion: 29,868
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 18 to 1
• Degrees Offered: Two but less than four years cer­tifi­cate, Bach­e­lor’s degree, Post­bac­calau­re­ate cer­tifi­cate, Mas­ter’s degree, Post-mas­ter’s cer­tifi­cate, Doc­tor’s degree — research/scholarship, Doc­tor’s degree-pro­fes­sion­al practice
• Accred­i­ta­tion: Mid­dle States Com­mis­sion on High­er Edu­ca­tion as well as numer­ous oth­er accred­it­ing bodies.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Mary­land, Col­lege Park is the flag­ship of the UM Sys­tem. As a large, pub­lic research uni­ver­si­ty, UM pro­vides an incred­i­ble num­ber of choic­es in every area of uni­ver­si­ty life from aca­d­e­m­ic pro­grams to clubs and sports. Anoth­er dis­tinc­tion of UM is their loca­tion. Being just out­side our nation’s cap­i­tal gives stu­dents unpar­al­leled aca­d­e­m­ic and extracur­ric­u­lar oppor­tu­ni­ties through such trea­sures as the Library of Con­gress and Smith­son­ian Institute.

UM’s Robert H.Smith School of Busi­ness offers an online MBA that is flex­i­ble, depend­able, and afford­able. The 24-month degree is deliv­ered through one of the best cur­rent tech­nolo­gies for online learn­ing and is almost com­plete­ly asyn­chro­nous. The online MBA comes with five con­cen­tra­tions: Account­ing, Finance, Infor­ma­tion Sys­tems, and Busi­ness Ana­lyt­ics, Mar­ket­ing, or Sup­ply Chain Man­age­ment. With the same rig­or as on-cam­pus degrees, you learn lead­er­ship, com­mu­ni­ca­tion, and ana­lyt­i­cal skills to excel in our com­pet­i­tive busi­ness world. UM’s School of Busi­ness is ranked #2 by for “Career Ser­vices” by Bloomberg Busi­ness­week, and their fac­ul­ty ranked among the best by Finan­cial Times. Admis­sion require­ments include a resume, two years work expe­ri­ence, a let­ter of rec­om­men­da­tion, one essay, GMAT/ GRE, and a GPA over 3.0 is recommended.

• Cost per Cred­it: $1617
• Pro­gram Website

20. Boston College

• Loca­tion: Chest­nut Hill, MA
• Total Stu­dent Pop­u­la­tion: 14,628
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 13 to 1
• Degrees Offered: Less than one year cer­tifi­cate, Bach­e­lor’s degree, Post­bac­calau­re­ate cer­tifi­cate, Mas­ter’s degree, Post-mas­ter’s cer­tifi­cate, Doc­tor’s degree — research/scholarship, Doc­tor’s degree-pro­fes­sion­al practice
• Accred­i­ta­tion: New Eng­land Com­mis­sion of High­er Edu­ca­tion as well as numer­ous oth­er accred­it­ing bodies.

Found­ed in 1863 as a Jesuit Catholic Col­lege, Boston Col­lege is locat­ed in Boston’s his­toric Southend. The School oper­ates through nine schools and col­leges, includ­ing the Car­roll School of Management.

Car­roll School of Man­age­ment at Boston Col­lege offers a part-time MBA pro­gram, geared towards expe­ri­enced pro­fes­sion­als. Work­ing at their own pace, stu­dents choose from more than 150 elec­tives and a wide-range of hands-on learn­ing expe­ri­ences. These options allow stu­dents to tai­lor the degree to fit their spe­cif­ic goals and inter­ests. Classe are offered through evening, online, and hybrid options. Hybrid cours­es com­bine online con­tent with on-cam­pus class­es. Class­es aver­age 107 stu­dents per class. Stu­dents have an aver­age of five years of work expe­ri­ence, ensur­ing that you are sur­round­ed by oth­er pro­fes­sion­als in the field. The pro­gram can be com­plet­ed in two, three, or four years. It is worth not­ing that stu­dents must com­plete 20 hours of com­mu­ni­ty ser­vice to grad­u­ate with a Car­roll MBA. Geared towards the work­ing pro­fes­sion­al, those with eli­gi­ble course­work or pro­fes­sion­al cer­ti­fi­ca­tions may be able to waive cours­es, mak­ing the path to the fin­ish line just a lit­tle bit short­er. The MBA pro­gram is ranked #25 by U.S. News and World Report.

• Cost per Cred­it: $1744
• Pro­gram Website