Poets&Quants, an online publication that reports on the graduate business education market, has ranked The University of Texas at Dallas Naveen Jindal School of Management No. 3 on its recently released list of the Best Online MBA Programs for 2024. It is the highest ranking on the list to date for the school and the second consecutive year in which JSOM has risen sharply in the rankings.
The education provided by the school is always at the core of rankings, said Lisa Shatz, assistant dean and director of the Jindal School’s MBA programs.
“Our strength has always been the quality of our students and faculty,” she said. The criteria for P&Q’s rankings included three weighted categories – admission standards, academic experience and career outcomes. Two of those relied on survey responses from alumni. They were asked to respond to questions about their academic experience such as whether they would recommend the program to others and whether they were able to apply what they learned in class to their jobs. They also were asked about the format and flexibility of the program, the quality of professors, experiential learning and making connections.
MBA program alumni Riley Samaniego, a senior financial analyst at AMD; and Antoine Rushing, a technical accounting and reporting manager at iHeart Media, Inc.; both agreed the flexibility of the program was one of the reasons they chose it.
Rushing also appreciated the opportunity to add an MS degree or graduate degree to the MBA.
“I was attracted by the flexibility and diversity of the MBA programs offered by the Jindal School,” said Rushing, who graduated in spring 2023 with both an MBA and an MS in Finance. “I appreciated that the school offers programs in different formats because I think it speaks to a culture of inclusivity and a willingness to rethink the way things are done — both of which I value in an educational institution.”
While Samaniego lived in Austin, her parents lived in Richardson, so the MBA program’s option of allowing online students to attend in-person classes and events was a benefit. After graduation in May 2023, having an MBA allowed her to change her career path.
“I was pre-med, but decided it wasn’t for me,” she said. “I took a job until I could decide what I wanted to do. I was in a career transition so I was interested in flexibility. I started during the pandemic and worked online at first, but since my parents live in Richardson, later I was also able to attend in-person sessions and events. Now I work in finance, and I love it. I also loved my time at UTD. The faculty and staff were extremely supportive.”
Dr. Monica Powell, senior associate dean and graduate dean in the Jindal School, said the ranking reflects both the dedication of the Jindal School’s faculty and staff, and the excellence of its students.
“Our faculty and staff are invested in our students’ success,” she said. “In a supportive environment like that, the students have every opportunity to flourish. Of course, they still have to rise to the occasion. Rankings like this one reveal that kind of dynamic is firmly in place at the Jindal School.”
According to Shatz, merging online and in-person modalities is one of the biggest differences in JSOM’s MBA program.
“Other schools keep them separated, and we have never done that,” she said. “In the last few years, we have made an effort to connect the online program with the in-person one, such as with our trip to Ireland, which included eight online students.”
