I am looking for a budget online MBA program ranked among the top 50 in USA

[LevelUP]

For online MBAs with great prestige relative to cost, also check out Boston University Questrom and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Gies.

I'm currently enrolled at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (Gies) and it's been a great experience so far.

Great to hear!

You should start a thread to share your experience at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (Gies).

[ss20ts]

At 50 years old, why is an MBA in some publication's top 50 list important? Why at 50 are you wanting to spend $35K on an MBA? Your years of experience should go much further than the diploma. If you have 25 years of experience, an MBA is a checkbox. Seems like you'd be better off spending $10K on WGU or Amberton os LSU and putting the other $25K in your retirement!

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Thank you all for the valuable feedback, you all got me re-thinking. I am back to drawing board, to pick a ~$15k MBA with an AACSB accreditation offering one of the below specializations:
1. Leadership or Strategic Leadership
2. Organizational Leadership
3. Project Management
*** Some programs offer good core/elective courses, so General MBA might still be on the cards.

I may be able to take the wife on an EU vacation with the savings LoL!!! ;-)

If you're still on the hunt, Amberton University is an option. And you'd be able spend months in Europe! They have numerous MBA programs with the specializations you mention.

[SophiaPrincess]

Thank you all for the valuable feedback, you all got me re-thinking. I am back to drawing board, to pick a ~$15k MBA with an AACSB accreditation offering one of the below specializations:
1. Leadership or Strategic Leadership
2. Organizational Leadership
3. Project Management
*** Some programs offer good core/elective courses, so General MBA might still be on the cards.

I may be able to take the wife on an EU vacation with the savings LoL!!! ;-)

For prestige, take graduate certificates at Ivy League business schools. Harvard's CORe is cheap and useful. MIT has an inexpensive Supply Chain credential.  The HAU online MBA is regionally accredited and only $3000 for the whole degree. They are not AACSB accredited but I'm not sure you need it.

[SophiaPrincess]

I failed to mention the University of London, home of LBS and LSE, offers an online Global MBA for around $20,000. If you would consider a Masters in Management instead of an MBA, the Harvard Extension School has a highly respected program at a total cost around $40,000. Admissions is based upon earning a 'B' in two rigorous courses.

[FireMedic_Philosopher]

The Gies Business School at UIUC has an online MS in Management that is 30 credits and is less than 15,000. The classes all transfer into the 70 hour MBA if that is a goal.

Otherwise a UIUC masters degree for under 15K with full membership in the alumni association is one hell of a deal and a very nice feather in your cap.

[bjcheung77]

UIUC IMSM is a great option if you can get the 70% scholarship! I wonder if anyone on the board was able to get that, the most I've seen was someone go to the second interview but ultimately wasn't provided a scholarship. Hmm, a top 5 or top 10 institution and a degree for under $4.5K because of a scholarship, it's something I'm looking forward to, maybe next year when I save up some cashflow...

[SophiaPrincess]

My fear with UIUC is that prospective employers won't respect the iMBA or iMSM because all degrees are now online. In contrast, a school like Boston University has an online MBA, at a similar price, but continues to offer a residential MBA. Admittedly, I am out of touch with HR professionals. I'd love to hear from seasoned professionals who have experience with multiple job interviews. In 2025 do applicants for professional positions with online credentials still face bias?

[Kjnova]

I'm a UIUC MSM student currently and will probably go on to do the MBA there, though I'm not sure yet. My MSM graduation should be approx October or however long they take to process it.

If your goal is a top 50 U.S. online (asynchronous) MBA and if cost matters, I would look closely at UIUC.

I'll mention first, somebody referred to it as costing $35,000. It is actually $25,000, or, maybe $26,000 now due to a 3% inflation adjustment. The MSM was $12,500 and may be $13,000 or so now. Specifically, it is $347 per credit hour with most classes being 4 hours (that number may also be up 3% now). I have been paying $2776 per 8-week session for two classes.

The MSM is 9 classes, the MBA is 18 classes. The MSM stacks into the MBA and is 50% of the courses and cost. Don't focus on the credit hours, which are high compared with other schools. Just focus on the number of classes (which may be higher than some, I'm not sure). The MBA is 18 classes, and each class is 4 hours, not 3. So, it is 72 hours, but if they called the classes 3 credit hours instead of 4, it would be 54 hours.

The MSM takes a year if you do two classes a session (one session will be just one class, or you can finish sooner if you do three classes in a session). You have the flexibility to go slower, and somewhat to go faster but you might need permission to take more than two classes at a time.

It is completely online, with a flexible schedule inside each week, but with work that can only be done in a particular week, so it is not self-paced or completely flexible.

Teamwork with classmates is a significant part of the experience. You are matchmade into a team of around 5 students each session. It's different teammates each eight-week session.

UIUC, as an overall university, is tied for #33 in national universities in the current US News & World Report listing. Though, take it for what it's worth. That ranking doesn't have a great reputation for being accurate, but, it is a barometer of how the school is perceived nationally.

The two I would focus on if I wanted "top 50 U.S. university MBA" are UIUC and Boston University. I can't speak to BU as I have not been a student there. I was accepted to a different master's there, though. I chose UIUC mainly because of the MSM, which stacks into the MBA. If you definitely want the MBA and not the MSM, I would consider the two pretty equal, and it will just depend which brand resonates more to you or where you live, and which structure sounds better to you.

Probably my third choice would have been Auburn.

P.S. I would not spend a second worrying about the "online" thing. The UIUC diplomas do not say "online" or put the "i" in "iMBA" or anything like that. Though, they are all online now, so somebody who knows that would know it was online, but it is 2025 and nobody cares, or it might even be a plus for some people due to the innovation of the program.

[FireMedic_Philosopher]

My fear with UIUC is that prospective employers won't respect the iMBA or iMSM because all degrees are now online. In contrast, a school like Boston University has an online MBA, at a similar price, but continues to offer a residential MBA. Admittedly, I am out of touch with HR professionals. I'd love to hear from seasoned professionals who have experience with multiple job interviews. In 2025 do applicants for professional positions with online credentials still face bias?

Gies also offers the degrees in house.

Your diploma will not specify classes were online, however the transcripts will.

[Kjnova]

I think the Gies MBA was moved entirely online a few years ago. Correct me if I'm wrong. Of course, I am in an entirely online bubble either way.

One of my iMSM class teammates this session is a varsity athlete for an Illinois team.

I really would not worry about the "online" thing. If Illinois is willing to put their name on my diploma, they must think the delivery format is fine. So if you trust Illinois as an institution, there is no issue. In general, people worry way too much about degrees being "online." Nearly no degree actually says "online" on the diploma, unless it's actually part of the university name, eg Purdue University Global Campus.