January is the month to look behind and review the last year, as well as look ahead to the year to come. This is a great opportunity for professionals to assess where they are in their career and decide if they want to pursue a master's degree. It is time to set goals and start researching prospective programs. For the professional looking to advance into management and leadership roles, an online MBA program is not only a great program to give leaders a solid foundation in management, but it is a program with many specializations to consider, and one that is flexible enough to pursue while still working full-time. To help on the journey of finding the right fit in a program, Online MBA Today has published three new rankings: the Top 10 Ranking of Online MBA programs in Hospitality, the Top 20 Ranking of Online MBA programs in Cybersecurity, and the Top 25 Ranking of Online MBA programs in Sports Management. For more information about other online MBA programs, check out our article on the top MBA specializations and explore our other Online MBA Rankings.
Also this month, US News and World Report published their annual Best Online MBA Programs Ranking. This is a great resource giving a thoroughly researched list of their top Online MBA programs in the country. And finally, we have three articles for Online MBA students and prospective students to consider: Four Ways to Communicate with Professors in Online Courses by US News and World Report, Business Education's Changing Face by Virginia Business, and How Useful Is an MBA for a Marketing Career? by MarketingProfs.
Enjoy the latest news for Online MBAs!
New Ranking
US News & World Report
This month, US News & World Report released its annual online rankings. On January 9th, US News published online rankings for bachelor's programs, as well as graduate programs in the categories of MBA programs; Business, non-MBA; Computer Information Technology; Criminal Justice; Education; Engineering; and Nursing. This year's Online MBA ranking includes data from 282 schools that offer Online MBA programs, almost 30 more from last year. US News and World Report used a consistent methodology from previous years with the following categories and weights: Student engagement (28%), Admissions selectivity (25%), Peer reputation (25%), Faculty credentials and training (11%), and Student services and technology (11%).
The 2018 ranking initially listed Temple University as #1, and Carnegie Mellon University and Indiana University-Bloomington tied for the #2 slot. Since publishing, US News and World Report has dropped Temple University from the #1 slot to an "Unranked" position, stating that Fox School of Business overstated its number of new students who submitted GMAT scores in 2016-17. The rest of the ranking stayed unchanged, with Carnegie Mellon University and Indiana University-Bloomington at the top, but still tied for the #2 slot.
Articles
Four Ways to Communicate with Professors in Online Courses | U.S. News & World Report
One of the roadblocks many potential online MBA students face is the communication aspect of not being physically in a class with your professor. U.S. News & World Report recently published an article, Four Ways to Communicate with Professors in Online Courses, to help students push this particular roadblock out of the way. It's suggestions? Connect to your professors via email, videoconferencing, social media, and, if possible, in-person at events, conferences, required on-campus modules, and the like. While simple suggestions, it's a good reminder that despite maybe feeling isolated, there are easy ways to break through that and get the connection, help, and insight you need to complete your program well.
Business Education's Changing Face | Virginia Business
Virginia Business recently ran an article entitled Business Education's Changing Face, which discusses the gaps that employers see with business-school graduates and the way graduate business schools in Virginia are working to change that. Part of this evolution is that some schools are moving from full-time, on-campus MBA programs to more specialized ones. George Mason no longer offers such a program, but will launch an online MBA next fall, which can be completed in just under three years. As Dean Scot C. Beardsley of the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business said, "Business education, overall, is growing very strongly; it's just that now students have a choice of a lot of different formats."
How Useful Is an MBA for a Marketing Career? | MarketingProfs
An article written by Southern Cross University of MarketingProfs, entitled How Useful is an MBA for a Marketing Career? brings up the eternal question of to get an MBA or not.
It discusses the financial and time commitment to the pursuit, but then goes on to discuss the merits of an MBA and ends in favor, which isn't a surprise, as Southern Cross has an online MBA program. Nevertheless, the article makes important points about an MBA for those interested in marketing careers.
An MBA gives you, according to the article, a "holistic understanding of business," and it discusses the ways marketing and other areas of business are intricately bound together, concluding that the deeper your overall knowledge of business is, the better you'll be able to understand how marketing should align with the needs of your organization.
The second point it makes is that an MBA background helps marketing managers think outside the box, because MBA programs help students develop all types of related-skills, from strategic thinking to effective communication, to problem-solving techniques. This leads to more creative solutions for marketers.
Finally, it discusses the ways marketing is changing, and changing rapidly. Because MBA graduates have been taught how to adapt to evolving environments, those marketers with MBA backgrounds are more flexible and able to adapt.
