Of the 300 ranked online MBA programs that submitted information about their testing policy to U.S. News in an annual survey, 131 require applicants to submit their scores on either the GMAT or GRE. An additional 24 programs require that applicants submit GMAT and not GRE results. Every program that requires test scores allows applicants to waive testing requirements if they meet certain criteria, such as possessing a particular amount of work experience or a high college GPA.
Still, 145 ranked online MBA programs reported that they require neither a GMAT nor a GRE test score from applicants, and 78 of those programs stated that they don’t even consider test scores when evaluating candidates. Here are the top 11 test-optional online MBA programs.
Pepperdine University (Graziadio) (CA)
- U.S. News online MBA program rank: 52 (tie)
- Acceptance rate (2020-2021): 87%
Florida International University
- U.S. News online MBA program rank: 42 (tie)
- Acceptance rate (2020-2021): 56%
West Virginia University (Chambers)
- U.S. News online MBA program rank: 42 (tie)
- Acceptance rate (2020-2021): 84%
St. John’s University (Tobin) (NY)
- U.S. News online MBA program rank: 37 (tie)
- Acceptance rate (2020-2021): 60%
William & Mary (Mason) (VA)
- U.S. News online MBA program rank: 37 (tie)
- Acceptance rate (2020-2021): 90%
George Washington University (DC)
- U.S. News online MBA program rank: 36
- Acceptance rate (2020-2021): 73%
Babson College (Olin) (MA)
- U.S. News online MBA program rank: 31 (tie)
- Acceptance rate (2020-2021): 90%
North Carolina State University (Poole)
- U.S. News online MBA program rank: 20 (tie)
- Acceptance rate (2020-2021): 58%
Rochester Institute of Technology (Saunders) (NY)
- U.S. News online MBA program rank: 9 (tie)
- Acceptance rate (2020-2021): 43%
University of Florida (Warrington)
- U.S. News online MBA program rank: 5 (tie)
- Acceptance rate (2020-2021): 59%
Arkansas State University
- U.S. News online MBA program rank: 146
- Acceptance rate (2020-2021): 50%
VNIS Education
Source: U.S. News