Spears Business celebrates U.S. News & World Report top 10 rankings for Best Online Bachelor's in Business, Best Online MBA

Spears Business celebrates U.S. News & World Report top 10 rankings for Best Online Bachelor's in Business, Best Online MBA

Friday, January 23, 2026

Media Contact: Stephen Howard | Director of Marketing & Communications | 405-744-4363 | [email protected]

Oklahoma State University's Spears School of Business maintained its top 10 ranking in the prestigious U.S. News & World Report list of the Best Online Bachelor's in Business Programs and celebrated its first top 10 ranking in the Best Online MBA Programs.

"Earning top 10 rankings in both our online bachelor's and MBA programs is a remarkable achievement for Spears Business," said Dr. Jim Payne, dean of Spears Business. "These rankings reflect years of hard work by our faculty and staff to build exceptional programs that deliver a high-quality business education. I'm incredibly proud of what our team has accomplished and what it means for the students we serve across Oklahoma and beyond."

This marked the second straight year Spears Business earned a top 10 position among the Best Online Bachelor's in Business Programs. OSU tied for No. 9 nationally overall and No. 7 among all public schools in America. This represents the highest ranking among all online programs on the OSU campus and trailed only No. 2 Arizona State University and No. 6 University of Central Florida among Big 12 Conference peers. No other university in the state of Oklahoma ranked among the top 100.

In all, U.S. News & World Report ranked 254 schools on its list of the top online undergraduate business programs.

The rankings coincide with record enrollment numbers for Spears Business, which began the 2025-26 school year with a total of 6,744 undergraduate and graduate students, making it the largest college on the OSU campus. That figure includes the largest freshman class in school history with 1,062 first-year students.

The top 10 ranking is due in large part to the Michael and Anne Greenwood Center for Online Excellence, which offers students access to a high-quality business education regardless of their schedule or location while still maintaining the personal touch that Spears Business is known for.

"Earning a top 10 ranking for the second consecutive year demonstrates the sustained excellence of our undergraduate programs and the people who make them possible," said Dr. Marlys Mason, Spears Business associate dean for undergraduate programs. "This achievement reflects our exceptional faculty who are committed to student success, our dedicated staff who ensure every detail supports that mission, and our students who continue to choose Spears Business in record numbers. The Michael and Anne Greenwood Center for Online Excellence remains essential to delivering the high-quality, accessible business education that our students deserve, no matter where they're located."

For the first time in its history, OSU jumped into the top 10 of U.S. News & World Report's Best Online MBA Programs list, capping a meteoric rise for the Spears Business MBA program. In the last seven years, OSU's online MBA program climbed from No. 40 (2020), No. 32 (2021), No. 28 (2022), No. 27 (2023), No. 16 (2024) and No. 11 (2025) to finally earn No. 10 in 2026.

OSU is one of seven Big 12 Conference schools ranked inside the top 50, but the only MBA program in Oklahoma. The Spears Business MBA came in eighth among public schools nationwide. In all, U.S. News & World Report ranked the top 364 online MBA programs in the country.

OSU also ranked as the No. 8 MBA Program for veterans. This matches the program's 2025 ranking and represents the highest ranking any business program has had in OSU's history.

The MBA at Spears Business continues to see unprecedented growth as the online program has experienced a 149% increase in enrollment since 2020. Today, 465 individuals are taking online MBA classes through OSU.

U.S. News & World Report also ranked the Watson Graduate School of Management at No. 37 in their list of the Best Online Master's in Business Programs.

"The continuous rise of our online MBA in national rankings is a testament to our unwavering commitment to student outcomes and digital classroom innovation," said Dr. Brij Thapa, Vice Dean for Faculty, Research, and Graduate Programs. "This success is a collective achievement by MBA director Dr. Bowler and the Watson Graduate School of Management team. Under the leadership of Dean Jim Payne, we are successfully expanding our reach to a broader audience of working professionals while maintaining the high standards and rigor of our degree."

U.S. News & World Report annually ranks online programs that allow students to complete degrees using online learning technologies. The rankings are based on school surveys and include information such as faculty credentials, graduation rates, instructional best practices and technology, admission data and program reputation among accredited business schools.