MBA Advisor: Online MBA Programs That Deliver Great Career Outcomes

Friday, October 12, 2018

Online MBA Programs That Deliver Great Career Outcomes - Poets&Quants

You cany pretty much divide the people who pursue MBA degrees into two categories: career switchers and career enhancers. The former want the most popular business credential on their resume to help switch industries, discplines or geographies. The latter simply want to accelerate their existing careers, in the short term with their current employer and potentially in the long-term with another company.

Career switchers are almost always better getting a two-year MBA experience that allows for a summer internship, a tryout of sorts, that is often essential to reinvent your professional self. Those residential programs have a parade of world class employers coming to cmpus to recruit students. An online degree, on the other hand, is more suited to the career enhancer, someone who wants increased responsibility, more money, or the basic skills learned in an MBA to make you more effective at work.

So which online MBA programs best deliver on the promise of enhancing one’s career? Here are the top ten based on alumni responses to a series of career-related questions:

Top Ten Online MBA Programs Of 2019 For Career Outcomes

USC Marshall School of Business, $99,692
Hofstra University Zarb College of Business, $63,435
University of Texas-Dallas Jindal School of Management, $94,261
Auburn University Harbert College of Business, $34,125
Lehigh University College of Business & Economics, $42,300
University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School, $124,345
Northeastern University D’Amore-McKim School of Business
Indiana University Kelley School of Business, $67,830
Jack Welch Management Institute
Carnegie Mellon Tepper School of Business, $132,000

What metrics were used to come up with our ranking on career outcomes? We used the answers to key questions posed to alumni of the programs in the past two years. More than 1,200 graduates completed the surveys. For just this portion of our overall ranking of the best online MBA programs, we put roughly a 36% weight on the percentage of alums who said they reached their primary goal for entering the online MBA program.

That question allows a graduate to define success for him or herself. Some students may just want to gain more confidence with the business basics. Others might want to gain a promotion or a pay raise or even use the online experience to transition into a new job. Also weighted about 36% was the average of two questions regarding a school-provided career coach or mentor, along with their assessment of the career services function at their school. Next, we put a 27% weight on the percentage of students who said they received a salary raise or a promotion as a result of the program.

We’re also providing all that data and more so you can parse the results in a way that is more important to you. You can take the data to create your own customized ranking or simply use the questions we are asking to benchmark other programs in your consideration set.

Did you receive a promotion at work as a direct result of your online MBA experience?

Did you get a pay raise at work as a direct result of your online MBA experience?

Did you change jobs as a result of the online MBA program?

Did you accomplish your primary reason for obtaining your online MBA degree?

Did you accomplish your secondary reason for obtaining an online MBA degree?

How would you appraise the effectiveness of the program’s career advising effort?

Rate your level of satisfaction with your career coach or mentor in the online MBA program.