How Selective Are the Top Online MBA Programs?
In our annual ranking of the best Online MBA programs in the U.S., we weigh Admission Standards as a full third of a school’s final score. Why? Because a high-quality cohort creates a better learning environment for everyone—and the more thoroughly applicants are evaluated upfront, the stronger the overall class experience.
A big chunk of a school’s Admissions score—15 out of 100 points—comes from its acceptance rate: the percentage of applicants who actually get in. Though we adjusted this metric down by five points from last year’s methodology to better reflect cohort quality, it remains a key indicator of a program’s rigor. (Check out the full 2025 ranking methodology here.)
Unsurprisingly, the most selective schools tend to rank among the highest—with a few exceptions.
The Hardest (and Easiest) Online MBA Programs to Get Into
As part of our annual OMBA ranking, we asked schools to share their acceptance rates for the most recent academic year—in this case, 2023-2024 for our 2025 ranking.
The Jack Welch Management Institute (No. 8 overall) was the toughest to crack, accepting just 27% of applicants—down from 30% last year. Close behind was Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business (tied for No. 2), with a 28% acceptance rate (unchanged from last year). Meanwhile, our top-ranked program—the University of Texas at Dallas’s Naveen Jindal School of Management—admitted 46% of applicants.
Below, we’ve listed the programs with the lowest and highest acceptance rates in our latest ranking. The lower the rate, the tougher the admissions process.
Lowest Acceptance Rates Among Ranked OMBAs
| 2025 Rank | School | 2023-2024 Acceptance Rate |
|---|---|---|
| 8 | Jack Welch Management Institute | 27.00% |
| 2 | Indiana University (Kelley) | 28.00% |
| 1 | University of Texas at Dallas (Jindal) | 46.00% |
| 6 | University of Southern California (Marshall) | 47.00% |
| 16 | Bryant University | 52.71% |
| 49 | Rogers State University | 53.00% |
| 14 | University of North Carolina (Kenan-Flagler) | 56.00% |
| 2 | University of Michigan (Ross) | 57.00% |
| 34 | San Jose State University (Lucas) | 59.00% |
On the flip side, Fairfield University’s Dolan School of Business (No. 23) was the least selective, accepting 100% of applicants. Ohio University (99.46%) and SUNY Oswego (97%) weren’t far behind.
In fact, 14 programs had acceptance rates of 90% or higher, while another 15 schools admitted 80% or more of applicants.
Highest Acceptance Rates Among Ranked OMBAs
| 2025 Rank | School | 2023-2024 Acceptance Rate |
|---|---|---|
| 52 | George Mason University (Costello) | 90.20% |
| 12 | Santa Clara University (Leavey) | 90.97% |
| 15 | UMass Amherst (Isenberg) | 91.00% |
| 33 | University of Connecticut | 92.00% |
| 56 | Seattle University (Albers) | 92.00% |
| 36 | Bowling Green State University (Schmidthorst) | 93.00% |
| 43 | UMass Lowell (Manning) | 94.00% |
| 9 | Hofstra University (Zarb) | 95.00% |
| 48 | Drexel University (LeBow) | 95.00% |
| 47 | University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (Rollins) | 95.20% |
| 28 | Villanova University | 95.80% |
| 51 | SUNY Oswego | 97.00% |
| 44 | Ohio University | 99.46% |
| 23 | Fairfield University (Dolan) | 100.00% |
Are Online MBAs Becoming Less Selective?
During the pandemic, many schools relaxed admissions standards to counter economic uncertainty, shaky job markets, and enrollment concerns.
Looking back, it made sense—nobody knew what was coming. Unsurprisingly, acceptance rates surged in full-time MBA programs for the 2019 and 2020 intakes, and online programs (already more lenient than their full-time counterparts) followed suit.
What’s surprising is that nearly five years later, acceptance rates haven’t bounced back in top U.S. online MBA programs. According to our 2025 ranking data, the average acceptance rate is still 6% higher than pre-pandemic levels.
For our 2020 OMBA ranking, schools reported acceptance rates for the 2019-2020 academic year (mostly covering fall 2019, just before COVID hit). Back then, the average was 70.63%. By 2021, it had risen to 73%.
This year’s average? 6.24% higher than pre-pandemic. In short, online MBAs are, on average, easier to get into—at least among ranked schools.
Some caveats: We ranked 57 schools this year vs. 35 in 2020, making direct comparisons tricky.
Notable exceptions:
- Rogers State University saw a 40.7% drop, from 93.7% (2019-2020) to 53% (2023-2024).
- Indiana Kelley’s rate fell 37.9%, from 65.9% to 28% in the same period.
Of the 57 schools in our 2025 ranking:
- 20 reported lower acceptance rates vs. five years ago (harder to get in).
- 28 had higher rates (easier to get in).
- 7 were new to the ranking (no prior data).
Admission Rates Dropped at 30 Schools Since Last Year
If we zoom in on year-over-year changes, the trend seems to be reversing.
30 schools saw lower acceptance rates this year vs. last—with 15 of those dropping 7% or more.
The biggest decline? Rogers State (No. 49), down 22%. Next were Rice University’s Jones School (No. 5) (-14.71%) and Michigan Ross (tied No. 2) (-14%).
Meanwhile, 15 schools reported higher acceptance rates—down from 27 last year and 25 the year before.
The sharpest increase? University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s Rollins College (No. 47), up 40.5% (from 54.7% to 95.2%).
Below, we break down how acceptance rates have shifted across all 57 ranked schools over the past five years.