Online MBA program ranked 17th in prestigious review

Rigorous, competitive and committed are just three words to describe the Beacom School of Business’s Online Masters of Business Administration program (MBA), Dean Venky Venkatachalam said.

The online MBA program has ranked within the top 20 of The Princeton Review’s Top 25 Online MBA programs in the world for the last five consecutive years. The Beacom School of Business ranked 17th this year and is accompanied by institutions such as Indiana University, Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. 

USD is one of the three schools from the Midwest on the list. Venkatachalam said the faculty and staff are well aware of the high honor it is to be among this list.

“We are in the company of very prestigious universities which are big in terms of students and in terms of their financial resources, but we are able to compete shoulder to shoulder with them,” Venkatachalam said. 

Since 2016, the online MBA program has been on The Princeton Review’s rankings and has only made the caliber of the program more apparent.

“[Getting ranked] once, people think it’s a fluke, but five years in a row in the top 20 is an obvious consistency,” Venkatachalam said. 

The program offers five specializations: business analytics, marketing, finance, health services and operations and supply chain management.

Faculty Coordinator Jewel Goodman Shepherd said she attributes the success of the online MBA program to the resilience of its faculty and students.

“We collaborate with university administrators, as well as our [business] school faculty and staff in managing our MBA program. We work hard to stay current, ensure the curriculum aligns with the industry and remain competitive,” Shepherd said.

250-300 students are annually enrolled in the one-year online program. None of the business school faculty are dedicated solely to the online program. Meaning the faculty is not only dedicated to the classroom but their online students as well, Venkatachalam said.

“The faculty goes through very rigorous credentials and must maintain those credentials,” Venkatachalam said. 

The Princeton Review uses a combination of institutional and student survey data that includes career outcomes, technological infrastructure, academic rigor and retention rates.

The Beacom School of Business has been accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business- International since 1949.

“We provide a high quality learning experience with a small budget and that is just one aspect that makes the program unique,” Venkatachalam said. 

Both Venkatachalam and Shepherd said the success of the online MBA program is comparable to the overall dedication to success at the Beacom School of Business.

“The culture of teaching excellence and mentoring student success is what we are committed to,” Venkatachalam said. 

The Beacom School of Business is looking to continue its performance in The Princeton Review Top 25 Online MBA programs in the future, Shepard said.

“We are humbled by this designation and we thank the university, our faculty, staff and students for the roles they play in making our program successful,” Shepherd said. “This ranking is a testament to our commitment to graduate level education.”