Thursday, January 8, 2015

NC State Online MBA ranked #9 by US News

What a way to start the year -- US News announced yesterday that NC State's online Jenkins MBA program ranked #9 in the US.  This is the first top ten ranking for any platform of our MBA program. A year ago the online MBA program was ranked #36.

NC State's overall score was based on four components: student services and technology (#13), student engagement (#13), admissions selectivity (#16), faculty credentials and training (#69) and peer reputation (no rank reported).

What were some of the secrets to our success?  Our student retention and graduation rates have been near 100%, so that definitely gave us a leg up on the student engagement score.  As is the case with our full-time and Professional Evening platforms, our online student credentials are quite high, especially in terms of work experience.  The faculty score is a bit of a head-scratcher -- I have a hard time believing NC State and UNC-Chapel Hill (#120 on faculty credentials) are really behind Gardner-Webb and the University of the Cumberlands on this dimension.

Kudos as well to UNC-Chapel Hill for being tied with Indiana and Temple for #1.  Both of our programs have come a long way in just three years (we both started in 2012).  North Carolina residents have two outstanding choices.  Compare the programs, compare the costs, and decide which best fits your needs!

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