Online Business Schools in Virginia (VA)

When it comes to business climate, Virginia cracked the top five on the Forbes 2018 list of Best States for Business, coming in at number four of 50. Virginia also ranked in the top half of other business rankings , coming in at #13 on Chief Executive’s 2019 list of Best and Worst States for Business, and #20 on U.S. News and World Report’s Best States for Business Environment. The reason for the Forbes high ranking of Virginia is due to the fact that it’s the best state for regulatory environment, with strong incentives and business-friendly government policies. Virginia also ranks highly on the Forbes list as a result of a strong labor supply and excellent quality of life.

Key industries in Virginia include military, tobacco, farming, seafood harvesting, and technology. Virginia is the home to headquarters for 21 Fortune 500 companies including Capital One Financial, Universal, Performance Food Group, Genworth Financial, Brink’s, Freddie Mac, NewMarket, Altria Group, CarMax, and Markel. Virginia is also a state venture capitalists have their eyes on, attracting investment at nearly 214 times the national average.

For busy professionals who wish to advance into management or improve their leadership acumen through Universities based out of Virginia, online MBAs can be a flexible and practical choice. Online MBAs offer those who cannot relocate or those with unbreakable time commitments a schedule-flexible way to learn.

Many high-quality and accredited universities offer MBA programs that mirror their on-campus counterparts and deliver degrees that do not specify that they were earned online. Potential MBA students living close to campus can also choose hybrid programs that offer the schedule flexibility of an online program, with on-campus face-to-face networking opportunities.

Keep reading to learn more about online MBA programs offered by accredited universities in the state of Virginia, the esteemed professors teaching in online programs, and options for hybrid on-campus/online programs available in the state.

Featured Online MBA Programs in Virginia

The online MBA offered through the School of Business at VCU offers small cohorts, interactive classes, and networking opportunities. Focused on connection and networking, students in VCU’s online MBA program are required to participate in weekly collaborative video conferences and are also required to participate in three on-campus residency weekends.

Coursework in the 42-credit-hour program includes leading people and organizations, information systems for managers, finance fundamentals, and managerial accounting. Although professional experience is not an application requirement, 18 or more months are preferred. GMAT/GRE scores are required to apply to VCU’s online MBA. GMAT waivers may be available to those who have a 3.0 undergraduate GPA and six or more years of professional work experience.

Location: Richmond, Virginia
Accreditation: Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB)
Estimated Time to Completion: Two years
Estimated Tuition: $39,500 for the program

Ranked the number one online business school in Virginia by Online MBA today, the online MBA offered through the Raymond A. Mason School of Business at William & Mary trains students for contemporary business leadership through interdisciplinary expertise.

Students in the program are required to attend one weekend-long campus residency, which are held twice a year, and students can attend more than one throughout their enrollment. Coursework in the 49-credit-hour program includes global managerial economics, leadership for the 21st century, and a revolutionary leader practicum.

Applicants to William & Mary’s online MBA must have two years of professional working experience to apply. GMAT/GRE scores also are required for admission into the program. GMAT/GRE waivers may be available to those with five years of progressive professional experience and a graduate degree in a quantitative field, a 3.0 undergraduate GPA in the previous four quantitative courses taken (math, statistics, economics, etc.), or scores of 90 percent or higher on MBAmatch.com assessment areas in economics, finance, accounting, and statistics and spreadsheets.

Location: Williamsburg, Virginia
Accreditation: Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB)
Estimated Time to Completion: Two years
Estimated Tuition: $1,300 per credit hour

The online MBA offered through the Davis College of Business and Economics at Radford University prepares graduates for advanced leadership in a global economy in both private and public sectors.

Exactly the same as Radford’s on-campus program, coursework in the 36-credit-hour program includes accounting for decision making and control, operations management, strategic management, and organizational behavior and managerial skills.

GMAT/GRE scores are required to apply to RU’s online MBA program. Waivers may be available to those who can demonstrate five or more years of work experience, including the management of people, projects, and/or budgets. Foundational coursework in economics, accounting, finance, and statistics must be completed before starting RU classes, but students can apply to the program before completion. No work experience is required to apply to RU, and students must have a minimum 2.75 undergraduate GPA.

Location: Radford, Virginia
Accreditation: Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB)
Estimated Time to Completion: Two to six years
Estimated Tuition: $21,316 per year (full-time, out-of-state); $726 per credit-hour (part-time, out-of-state)

The online MBA at LU’s College of Business and Economics is designed to help students accelerate growth in their current jobs or begin new careers in leadership and management.

Those enrolled in the 36-credit-hour program can choose between a general business concentration and a real estate concentration. Coursework in the program includes leadership, group dynamics, and team building, managing data for strategic decision making, managerial economics, and strategic consulting. Students enrolled in LU’s online MBA are required to come to campus for two extended weekends each summer to participate in residency programs.

GMAT/GRE scores are required to apply. GMAT waivers may be available to those who have completed a master’s or doctoral degree, have seven years of bost-bachelor’s work experience demonstrating quantitative or analytical skills, or hold professional certifications with quantitative focus (CPA, CFA, etc.). Students must complete foundational coursework in financial accounting, managerial accounting, finance, management, marketing, statistics, macroeconomics, and microeconomics prior to beginning coursework in the program.

Location: Farmville, Virginia
Accreditation: Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB)
Estimated Time to Completion: 15 months (full-time) to two years (part-time)
Estimated Tuition: $1,148 per credit-hour (out-of-state)

The online MBA at ODU is an accelerated program designed for those with business backgrounds and those with degrees in other disciplines as well. Those enrolled in ODU’s online program can choose add-on certificates to gain expertise in modeling, simulation, and visualization; maritime, ports, and logistics management; public procurement and contract management; and business analytics and big data.

ODU also offers over 50 12-credit-hour graduate certificates and allows for four of the credits from MBA to count toward completion of the certificate. Students with an undergraduate background in business complete a 40-credit-hour program and those with a non-business program are expected to complete 45 credit-hours.

Courses in the 40- to 45-credit-hour program include the essentials of leadership, global macroeconomics, international business issues, and business law and ethics. GMAT/GRE scores are required for admission. GMAT waivers may be available to those holding a terminal degree, those with progressive managerial experience (five or more years) plus a 3.2 undergraduate GPA, or those with military experience (O3 or E7 level or higher) plus a 3.2 GPA.

Location: Norfolk, Virginia
Accreditation: Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB)
Estimated Time to Completion: 21 to 42 months
Estimated Tuition: $595 per credit-hour (out-of-state)

The 100 percent online MBA offered through the faith-based LU School of Business is designed to help graduates grow in current positions or transition into business administration positions.

Students at LU can choose a 36-credit-hour general MBA or a 45-credit-hour MBA specialization in accounting, american legal studies, criminal justice administration, economics, finance, healthcare management, human resources, international business, international legal studies, leadership, marketing, non-profit leadership and management, project management, public administration, public relations, strategic management, strategic media and digital content, or supply chain management and logistics.

Core coursework includes strategic marketing management, legal issues in business, global economic environment, and policy and strategy in global competition. GMAT/GRE scores are not required to apply to LUs online MBA. Applicants must demonstrate a 3.0 GPA or higher and those without prerequisite undergraduate business courses will be denied entrance into the MBA program, but can gain entrance into the MA in executive leadership. Following completion of bridge courses, these students can reapply to the MBA program.

Location: Lynchburg, Virginia
Accreditation: Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP)
Estimated Time to Completion: Two years
Estimated Tuition: $565 per credit-hour (full-time), $615 per credit-hour (part-time)

The 100 percent online MBA offered through the School of Business at VIU is designed to qualify students for diverse career opportunities in management. Students enrolled at VIA can choose among 15 concentrations including accounting, contract management, entrepreneurship, executive MBA, global logistics, healthcare management, hospitality and tourism management, human resource management, international business management, international finance, leadership management, management consulting, marketing management, mass media and public relations, or project management.

Coursework in the 36-credit-hour program includes managerial communication, managerial accounting and finance, organizational behavior and HR management, and business statistics. GMAT/GRE scores are not required to apply to VIU’s online program, but applicants must have a GPA of 2.5 or higher.

Location: Fairfax, Virginia
Accreditation: International Assembly for Collegiate Business Education (IACBE)
Estimated Time to Completion: Two years
Estimated Tuition: $726 per credit-hour

Hybrid MBA Programs in Virginia

Hybrid MBA programs are defined by a mixture of online coursework and on-campus experiences. For those who live nearby to a college campus or are willing to sporadically travel to earn an MBA, hybrid MBA programs can offer a best-of-both-worlds MBA experience. Online coursework provides students the flexibility to fit coursework into existing life schedules, while on-campus experiences provide networking opportunities unique to in-person interaction. The following business schools in Virginia offer hybrid on-campus/online MBA programs:

Professors to Know in Online MBA Programs in Virginia

  • Tatia Granger, PhD - William & Mary - Raymond A. Mason School of Business

    Dr. Tatia Granger is a clinical associate professor of organizational behavior in the Raymond A. Mason School of Business at William & Mary. Her central professional and academic focus is leadership development and enhancing collaboration across silos.

    Dr. Granger has extensive experience working in consulting and coaching, including her own leadership consultancy, Granger Leadership Practice, LLC. She also has over 25 years of experience in higher education, including positions held as vice president of enrollment services at Bennett College for Women, chief of staff for the vice president for financial services at Duke University, and the assistant dean for undergraduate admissions at the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill and the University of Virginia.

    Dr. Granger earned her master’s in education in the social foundations of education in 1993 and her PhD in higher education administration in 1999—both from the University of Virginia. In addition to her two higher degrees, she has a leadership coaching certificate from the Georgetown University School of Continuing Studies.

  • Xiaojin Liu, PhD - Virginia Commonwealth University

    Dr. Xiaojin Liu is an assistant professor of supply chain management and analytics in the School of Business at Virginia Commonwealth University. Dr. Liu’s research interests include innovation and technology for sustainable and responsible operations management, data analytics, psychometrics, empirical and computational methods with statistics, and econometrics.

    Dr. Liu is a published researcher, with works appearing in influential peer-reviewed journals, including Manufacturing & Service Operations Management and the Journal of Operations Management. He earned his master of philosophy in business administration from Hong Kong Polytechnic University in 2011 and his PhD in supply chain and operations from the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota in 2016.

    Notably, he has earned several research fellowships, grants, and awards throughout the course of his academic career, including a $30,500 grant from Wells Fargo Foundation to explore sustainable and responsible design and management of global supply chains.

Becca Brewer, MEd
Becca Brewer, MEd
Writer

Becca Brewer is building a better future on a thriving earth by healing herself into wholeness, divesting from separation, and walking the path of the loving heart. Previously to her journey as an adventurer for a just, meaningful, and regenerative world, Becca was a formally trained sexuality educator with a master of education.

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