Indiana University Kelley School of Business tops U.S. News Online MBA rankings for 10th time in 13 years
Since U.S. News began ranking online degree programs in 2013, this is the 10th time that Kelly Direct Online MBA has been ranked No. 1 in the rankings, breaking the previous record of nine times. Stretched. Indiana Kelly has been ranked first in the last four years, never finishing lower than third.
Indiana Kelley’s online MBA program is accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), the gold standard for business school accreditation. Along with U.S. News, other industry rankings produced by organizations such as Fortune also rank online MBA schools at the top.
The recently published US News and World Report Online MBA Ranking evaluates 355 different online MBAs and ranks their performance in five categories. Peer assessment. student excellence. Teacher qualifications and training. and student services and technology. In 2025, Kelly achieved an overall score of 100/100.
Additionally, the Kenan-Flagler School of Business at the University of North Carolina and the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University swapped positions in 2024, taking second and third place, respectively. The University of Florida’s Warrington College of Business and the University of Washington’s Foster School of Business tied for fourth place.
The only new entrant to this year’s top 10, the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, rose 10 spots to No. 6.
The Indiana University Kelley School of Business was originally founded in 1920 as Indiana University’s School of Commerce and Finance, and with a $23 million gift, the Indiana University Kelley School of Business was named in 1997 after alumnus and Steak and Shake Chairman E.W. Kelley. It has been renamed.
The school established an online MBA in 1999 (one of the first business schools to do so), but it is highly selective and has a low acceptance rate (29%). The school is praised for its flexible schedules, personalized attention, and online programs taught by the same faculty as the physical school.
