US News & World Report ranks NC State Jenkins Professional Online MBA No. 15

U.S. News & World Report ranked NC State’s Jenkins Professional Online MBA program No. 15 nationwide in its 2016 Best Online MBA Programs ranking released today. NC State places in the top 7 percent of US News & World Report-ranked online MBA programs.

This is the second top ranking for the Jenkins MBA in recent months. Bloomberg Businessweek’s October 2015 ranking of full-time MBA programs placed NC State among the top 30 in the United States.

The Best Online MBA Programs ranking methodology remains unchanged from 2015 and is based on a combination of student engagement (28 percent), admissions selectivity (25 percent), peer reputation (25 percent), faculty credentials and training (11 percent) and student services and technology (11 percent). This marks US News & World Report’s fifth annual ranking of online graduate management programs and the second year ranking MBA programs independently of other graduate management courses of study.

“Online MBA education is still in early stages of development, and we are excited to be ranked among some of the nation’s most innovative programs. In many ways, the rankings are a reflection of the tremendous upward movement we’re seeing within the Jenkins MBA program,” said Ira Weiss, dean and Stephen P. Zelnak Jr. Chair at the Poole College of Management.

“In the past year, we have seen a 77 percent growth in completed applications for the Professional Online MBA program. We have increased not only our total MBA student enrollment but also our student quality, in terms of admissions standards,” said Weiss.

Steve Allen, associate dean for graduate programs and research at Poole College of Management, believes NC State has a unique opportunity to design and deliver quality MBA program options that meet the working professional’s competing priorities.

“Many of our online MBA students live and work with an hour drive of the Research Triangle Park area. These students are able to take advantage of our customized MBA option, which provides all students enrolled in our Professional Evening or Online MBA programs the ability to select their preferred combination of face-to-face and online courses, class locations and time to completion to fit their busy lives,” said Allen.

“In addition to growing our online MBA enrollment, we have added new professional staff to support the future of the program. We think the best is yet to come,” said Allen.

The complete rankings information and accompanying profile data can be found at www.usnews.com/online.

The NC State Jenkins MBA program is currently accepting applications for the Professional Online MBA program starting in fall 2016. For more information, visit http://www.mba.ncsu.edu. The NC State Jenkins MBA is available in three formats: full-time, professional evening and professional online.

Media Contact:

Anna Rzewnicki, director of Communications, 919.513.4478 or anna_rzewnicki@ncsu.edu.