One of the distinguishing features of Kelley’s Full-Time program is Me, Inc., which helps students shape their personal brand, dive into career development and be on their way to understanding leadership style.
BLOOMINGTON and INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The Indiana University Kelley School of Business’ Full-Time and Evening MBA programs each moved up in the latest Best Business Schools rankings released by U.S. News & World Report on April 9.
The Full-Time MBA Program based at IU Bloomington moved back into the top 20 after being ranked 22nd last year. In addition to its overall 20th ranking, five MBA specialties – led by a No. 7 ranking for its entrepreneurship program – also were in the top 20. Kelley also was ranked 10th in accounting, 17th in marketing, 18th in production-operations, and 19th in management.
The Evening MBA Program based at IU Indianapolis rose from 15th last year to 13th in 2024.
The Kelley School is just one of two business schools to have its full-time, part-time, and online MBA programs all ranked in U.S. News’ top 20. In February, the media company ranked the school’s Kelley Direct Online MBA program No. 1.
No other business school in Indiana offers a top 20 MBA program, according to U.S. News.
Three quarters of in-residence MBA programs ranked in the top 20 by U.S. News are presented by private universities. Kelley’s Full-Time MBA Program ranks fifth among all public institutions. Among public part-time programs, Kelley’s Evening MBA Program is eighth.
Ash Soni
“These rankings reflect the breadth and depth of a Kelley School education,” said Ash Soni, dean of the Kelley School of Business in Bloomington and Indianapolis and The Sungkyunkwan Professor. “We have world-class faculty, innovative curricula, award-winning career services, and dedicated staff who are committed to providing an exceptional experience for our students. We also have one of the largest alumni groups in the world, and they are engaged and invested in the success of our students at all levels.”
Fifty percent of U.S. News’ rankings formula evaluates MBA programs on their successful placement and earnings outcomes of their graduates.
John D. Hill, faculty chair of the Full-Time MBA Program, clinical associate professor of operations and decision technologies and Grant Thornton Scholar, noted that his program has a proven return on investment. An analysis of graduates’ salary-to-debt ratio in 2023 was better than any other Top 25 program.
“The affordability of our top 20 MBA program is not only a result of Indiana University’s commitment to a responsibly priced, high-quality education, but also a reflection of the significant financial support that the Full-Time MBA program receives from the Kelley School and our extremely engaged alumni network,” Hill said. “Both provide generous scholarship opportunities in order to attract our talented and diverse student body. That same alumni network, alongside our Graduate Career Services office, supports the return on that investment by assisting students in securing strong positions with top companies globally.”
The other half of U.S. News’ rankings methodology is based on a combination of academic metrics about the achievements of entering students and opinions by business schools, corporate recruiters, and company contacts on overall program quality.
More than 94 percent of 2023 graduates of the full-time program received job offers within 90 days of graduation and the base mean salary was $140,486.
The Evening MBA Program continues to be the top ranked part-time MBA in Indiana since it began in 1974. It is designed to be immediately applicable to students with takeaways they can apply long before they graduate. As a part-time program, students attend courses at night and return to work the next day with fresh ideas they can deploy to confront challenges in their organizations
Julie Manning Magid
“The Evening MBA’s recognition as an elite part-time MBA program reflects Kelley Indianapolis’ sustained commitment to meeting the educational needs of working professionals and strengthening the Indianapolis business community,” said Julie Manning Magid, vice dean of the Kelley School of Business Indianapolis. “Our Evening MBA graduates lead innovative organizations that drive prosperity for the city, state and beyond. It is an honor to have the efforts of our faculty, staff, students and alumni nationally recognized for the impact they make in our community and organizations around the country.”
The Evening MBA Program begins with a one-week, intensive experience in which students solve a real business problem for an Indianapolis-based organization. Students collaborated with Indy Pro Volleyball last fall to make recommendations about launch and marketing strategies for the new women’s professional volleyball league. In Dec. 2023, the league announced that Indianapolis would be the 10th city to join the nationwide league.
“Our students work with global companies to solve executive-level problems and offer consulting expertise and strategy opportunities to small and minority-owned businesses,” said Kyle Anderson, faculty chair of the Evening MBA Program and assistant dean for academic programs at Kelley Indianapolis. “We are taking students out of the classroom to help them learn the real implications of their MBA, and we’re making a real impact for Indiana companies, big and small.”
Additionally, although the school does not offer a traditional executive MBA, graduate offerings by Kelley Executive Education Programs were included among U.S. News’ top 25 in its rankings of “Best Executive MBA Programs.” Kelley was ranked 21st.
Kelley Executive Education Programs offers customized corporate degrees and graduate-level non-degree programs and certificates. It has established partnerships with leading organizations such as General Motors, Ingersoll-Rand, GE Appliances and the NFL Players Association.
The fall 2023 Evening MBA cohort was the first to include three IU School of Dentistry students earning simultaneous DDS and MBA degrees to learn business skills, develop their executive leadership ability and prepare to operate their own practices. This option is an expansion of the dual degree options available to students with others including MD/MBA and JD/MBA. This cohort also included the first recipients of a new Scholars Program, which provides funding to those who exemplify the Evening MBA Program’s core values and demonstrate leadership potential.