Here’s a scenario:

You enjoy your job but you want to do more with your life. You really want to do an MBA but you simply cannot afford to take two years off from work. What do you do?

It’s simple: you opt for an accelerated MBA program!

We know there’s a belief that one year MBAs are less valuable than two-year ones. But here’s the thing:

A one year MBA is exactly equal to any two year MBA.

Which one you should do depends almost entirely on what your academic background and work experience are. A one year MBA is just an accelerated version of the usual two-year program. The accelerated program normally relies on your existing knowledge of business while the two-year MBA takes the time to teach you the basics before moving further.

A one-year MBA is far more rigorous than the traditional two year MBA in terms of the pace and topics covered. This makes it ideal for anyone who knows their post-MBA goals clearly. You can read more on how to choose between a one-year and a two-year MBA in our post about the topic.

If you’ve decided to go for an accelerated MBA, you are probably finding that they are not very common in the US.

Worry not, we’re here to help!

Here is a list of the top 10 one-year MBA programs in the US:

1. Stern School of Business, New York University
2. Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University
3. SC Johnson School of Technology, Cornell University
4. Goizueta Business School, Emory University
5. Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business, University of Pittsburgh
6. Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California
7. Mendoza College of Business, University of Notre Dame
8. F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College
9. Southern Methodist University (SMU) – Cox School of Business
10. Pepperdine University – Graziadio School of Business and Management

Read on to find out what it takes to get into them!

1. Stern School of Business, New York University

With a power-packed Tech MBA Advisory Board including the heads of Citigroup, Alphabet, and BuzzFeed, the Stern Tech MBA is designed to give you a sharp edge over all competition. The program is created as a crossover between technology and business, capitalizing on one of the greatest needs of the hour, which is a workforce of tech professionals who understand business.

Running from May to May, the course involves multiple hands-on learning experiences across New York City and Silicon Valley. Students have the opportunity to work with any of the companies that are on the in-house Tech MBA Advisory Board. Surely, this is work experience to kill for!

Concentrations: Accounting; Banking; Business Analytics; Corporate Finance; Digital Marketing; Economics; Entertainment, Media & Technology; Entrepreneurship & Innovation; Finance; Financial Instruments & Markets; Financial Systems & Analytics; FinTech; Global Business; Law & Business; Leadership & Change Management; Luxury Marketing; Management; Management of Technology & Operations; Marketing; Product Management; Quantitative Finance; Real Estate; Sustainable Business & Innovation; Strategy; Supply Chain Management & Global Sourcing

2. Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University

Unlike most other one year MBA programs, this is not a two-year course condensed into one. It is designed specifically to be a one-year course. Based on your existing business acumen, it allows you to bypass the core business subjects and jump straight into the deep end.

If you choose not to elect any of the available concentrations, you’ll get an MBA in “General Management”.

Kellogg also provides ‘pathways’ for students who are interested in building expertise in emerging areas and evolving industries. A ‘pathway’ is a sequence of extra courses that are meant to enhance certain skill sets and expertise in certain industries as per demand. 

You can pursue any number of pathways and go as deep as you like into each one. 

Concentrations: Accounting, Economics, Finance, Marketing, Operations, Strategy, and Managing Organizations

3. SC Johnson School of Technology, Cornell University

Cornell is a part of the Ivy League, which speaks for itself. 

The SC Johnson School of Technology offers an optional immersion program that focuses on performance learning. This provides you with hands-on experience under actual business conditions, which is more than what you’ll learn in theory. It can’t hurt to have that on your CV, either!

As a part of this course, you will have opportunities to study with the Evening as well as the two-year MBA batches from the university’s NYC campus. Johnson Cornell also offers a one-year Tech MBA which runs from the New York City campus.

Designed for tech professionals, this program focuses on developing its students’ business skills. If you are a STEM professional, this could be your ticket to a seat at the upper management table!

Concentrations: Consulting, Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Global Management, Sustainable Global Enterprise.

4. Goizueta Business School, Emory University

Goizueta’s one year MBA program was named by Forbes at the top of its list of courses that offer Fewest Years to Payback in 2017.

The school also offers an optional IMPACT program which provides experiential learning opportunities. You get to work with some seriously big and famous companies like The Coca-Cola Company, Mercedes-Benz, Delta Airlines and Carters, Inc.

Besides – in case you missed it – there are over 20 available concentrations to pick from!

Concentrations: Goizueta offers 20 concentrations including Corporate Finance, Decision Analysis, General Marketing, Healthcare Consulting, Investment Banking, and Management Consulting 

5. Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business, University of Pittsburgh

Goizueta’s one year MBA program was named by Forbes at the top of its list of courses that offer Fewest Years to Payback in 2017.

The school also offers an optional IMPACT program which provides experiential learning opportunities. You get to work with some seriously big and famous companies like The Coca-Cola Company, Mercedes-Benz, Delta Airlines and Carters, Inc.

Besides – in case you missed it – there are over 20 available concentrations to pick from!

Concentrations: Goizueta offers 20 concentrations including Corporate Finance, Decision Analysis, General Marketing, Healthcare Consulting, Investment Banking, and Management Consulting 

6. Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California

This is designed to be a mid-career course, which should explain the high average age and work experience.

There are more international than American students in this program. The creators of the course say that it was created to function like a mini United Nations so that students developed a holistic, global perspective. The IBEAR MBA looks to make its students future-ready.

As a student of this course, you’ll have access to Marshall School electives. This means you can create your own concentrations during the course of the program!

7. Mendoza College of Business, University of Notre Dame

You will need to have completed three credit hours of financial accounting and three credit hours of statistics from an accredited university to be eligible for admission into this course.

One of the best parts of this program is its student-to-faculty ratio. It’s literally as low as 3:1! Can you imagine how much personal attention you get because of this? What further sweetens the deal is that 81% of the students receive fellowships.

With all its available concentrations, this sounds to us like quite an interesting program to take up!

Concentrations: Business Analytics, Business Leadership, Consulting, Corporate Finance, Innovation & Entrepreneurship, Investments, Marketing

8. F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College

An interesting fact about this course is that you can get a GMAT waiver. If you get or have a Certificate in Advanced Management (CAM), you’re eligible for a GMAT waiver, meaning you won’t need a GMAT score to get into this course.

Interestingly, you also become eligible for another added benefit: if you are a CAM holder, you may be allowed to apply your CAM credits to the Babson MBA once enrolled. Not many programs offer such GMAT and credit benefits, which makes this quite unique.

What’s even better is that if you opt for this course, you will have access to the same courses, experiential learning, and academic centers that are used by the students of the two-year MBA program.

9. Southern Methodist University (SMU) – Cox School of Business

To be eligible for this course, you’ll need to have an undergraduate degree in business, economics, or any other quantitative field.

Cox allows you to pick a minor subject along with your major, so you have an option to develop your knowledge and skills in two fields instead of one. It’s a great opportunity to study a subject that is related to your major. If you do this, you can find unique insights and applications to this extra knowledge in the real world.

There are a lot of student clubs at Cox, from industry-centric to hobby-based groups. The class tends to be a healthy mix of nationalities and gender, which will give you good exposure, too.

Concentrations: Accounting, Finance (with further specializations in Corporate Finance, Energy Finance and Investments), ITOM: Business Analytics, ITOM: Information & Operations, Management, Marketing (with further specialization in Customer Engagement), Real Estate, Strategy & Entrepreneurship, General Business

10. Pepperdine University – Graziadio School of Business and Management

You will need an undergraduate degree in business to get into the 12-month program. If you don’t have this, you can enroll for the 15-month option. Both programs require a minimum of three years in work experience.

There are many differences between the two programs apart from the concentrations available, too. In the 12 month program, you can take one week to study abroad. The 15-month program takes an entire trimester to study abroad.

The most interesting part of studying at Pepperdine is the SEER Certificate. It is an optional course that stands for “Socially, Environmentally and Ethically Responsible” (SEER) Business Strategy. in a world increasingly interested in climate change and human welfare, this could be a pretty big star on your belt.

Concentrations: Finance and Marketing (12 months); Digital Innovation Systems; Dispute Resolution; Entertainment, Media, and Sports Management; Entrepreneurship; Finance and Marketing (15 months)

Indeed an impressive collection of courses to pick from, wouldn’t you say?

Well, we sure think so. At CrackVerbal, we help thousands of students get into their dream B-schools every year – we know how many would be dying to get into any of these programs. We also know how pressing the competition is and how taxing the application process can be.

That is why we offer MBA Application Services that are designed to take the stress off your shoulders. Whether you’re trying to figure out which B-school you should apply to or fretting over how to prepare for your MBA Admission Interview – CrackVerbal has you covered!

Head over to our MBA Consulting platform to get a better idea of how we can help you. Reach out to us if you are in doubt, we always have something for everyone!

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