The 5 Biggest Surprises in Online MBA Programs

Discover the 5 biggest surprises in online MBA programs. Learn how virtual learning fosters real-world skills, deep interaction, and strong networking opportunities.

The 5 Biggest Surprises of Online MBA Programs

The online MBA is one of the fastest-growing, most flexible, and most affordable degrees available to business graduates. In fact, in the US, more MBA students are now studying in online MBA options than in traditional full-time on-campus MBA programs. Perhaps now is the time to seriously consider taking this important step. Read our advice and news on the online MBA below.

For the Class of 2021, it had been a long time. Most hadn't been back in a classroom for ten years or more. Back then, they were busy scribbling lecture notes and cramming for tests. In some cases, they were just there to get a grade and make it to break. After all, they'd learn everything they needed to know on the job, right?

A few years ago, these graduates returned to school. And school had completely changed. For one, they were doing their MBA online, where the lecture hall had become a digital screen. For another, they weren't carefree twentysomethings anymore. They had jobs and families, debts and demands. Forget slacking off, these students returned to business school for very specific reasons. Man, was that a surprise! Sometimes surprises are the best part of school.

"Today's virtual live meeting technologies changed my initial impressions of online learning," explains Lucy Nguyen, a USC Marshall graduate who joined Amazon after graduation. "My group logs into class at the same time twice a week. This way, we experience live discussions even though we are located all over the world. Our diverse experiences and the wide range of industries represented add additional depth to our discussions and learning. In addition, I was able to connect with my classmates and alumni abroad through informal virtual events and USC-sponsored events."

"Many teachers offered weekly virtual office hours for all students who had questions," he writes. "This allowed us to read materials and watch lectures in our free time. At the same time, we could focus on core questions during office hours, so students could interact with the professor and other students weekly... Almost every class had some kind of weekly discussion assignment where we posted our analyses or opinions on a topic... It's one thing to learn from a professor, but learning from the analyses or unique perspectives of other students created unique connections and learning experiences among students."

Indeed, many MBAs felt they were a central part of the program. This was also true for Robert Anthony Woblesky, a Senior Product Manager at Adobe, who completed his MBA this spring at Santa Clara University's Leavey School. Although he never met faculty and classmates in person, he was impressed by how engaged they were despite the distance between them.

What other surprises await future online MBA students? Each year, P&Q recognizes more than 50 of the "Best & Brightest" Online MBAs from more than two dozen top business schools. As part of the nomination process, we ask graduates to share the "most surprising aspects of an online learning environment."