Online MBAs offer students the flexibility to study when and where they want. That's part of what makes them so appealing to working professionals.

By pursuing an online MBA, students can often balance a full-time job with an education, squeezing in time to study and complete assignments even after a day in the office. Business remains the most popular graduate discipline that online students pursue, according to a 2016 survey conducted by Aslanian Market Research and the Learning House.

An analysis of data submitted to U.S. News by schools in an annual survey offers a glimpse at the average student in a ranked online MBA program who enrolled between July 2015 and June 2016.

According to these data, the average age of online MBA students who started a program during that period was 33 years old – older than the average of 27 for those who began an on-campus, full-time MBA program in fall 2016.

And, among the 124 ranked online programs that provided employment data to U.S. News, an average of 91 percent were also working full time when they enrolled.

"The online platform allows students to still achieve everything that they want to in their work life, still hold down family and life obligations and tackle the MBA," says William Rieth, director of graduate enrollment at the Temple University Fox School of Business.

Online MBA students who enrolled during the 2015-2016 school year primarily paid for their own education. Still, slightly more than one-third of them on average had an employer pay either some or all of their tuition, U.S. News data show.

(Jordan Friedman/USN&WR)

"Companies are willing to invest in these students who go back for their MBA because they're able to relate the content directly back to what they're working on in their organizations," Rieth says.

Not only do MBA students hold jobs while earning their degrees, but on average, 89 percent of those who enrolled in ranked programs in 2015-2016 already had prior work experience – an average of eight years' worth. To compare, the average for full-time MBA students who started in fall 2016 was a little more than four years, U.S. News data show.

The opportunity to interact and network virtually and through on-campus residencies with online classmates who have so much experience in different fields is part of what makes an online MBA program rewarding, experts and students say.



(Jordan Friedman/USN&WR)

"It is invaluable, especially when we do a lot of group work in these sessions, that the more experience you have, the more real life examples you can bring – not only just from case studies you read but also your own examples and the companies you've worked with," says 41-year-old Monika Chandra, a student in the online MBA program at the University of Maryland Smith School of Business.

Chandra, who has worked primarily in health care finance and operations for more than 15 years, says it's also interesting hearing from students who are just a few years into their careers and can offer alternative perspectives to those in managerial roles.

On average, a large majority of online MBA degree students aren't veterans or in the military. Active and former service members comprised just 9.4 percent of students who were enrolled in ranked programs in 2015-2016.



(Jordan Friedman/USN&WR)

Still, that proportion is significantly higher at some schools. At Southwestern College in California, half of enrolled online MBA students for 2015-2016 were veterans or in the military, according to U.S. News data. And at Smith, that figure was nearly one-fifth.

"People with military experience tend to move around a lot more, and the online MBA program does not require that you be in one place for the entire duration of the program," says Michael Faulkender, associate dean of master's programs at Smith.

Experts say earning an MBA is likely to lead to a salary increase – and that includes for online students. It's important to note, however, that just 11 schools submitted data to U.S. on both incoming students' salaries in 2015-2016 and those for graduates three months after getting their degree.

On average, online MBA students who started between July 2015 and June 2016 earned a salary of $79,352, U.S. News data show. For those who graduated in that time frame, the average salary was $96,974. That's a 22.2 percent difference between the averages.



(Jordan Friedman/USN&WR)

Finding better career opportunities is the goal of many online MBA students. Chandra, the Smith student, says her goal was not only to explore business career paths outside of finance but also to perhaps move into a higher-up role at a mid-sized to large company.

In addition to the financial change, Rieth recommends that students also recognize the other benefits of pursuing an MBA, whether online or on campus.

"Do you feel more confident coming out of the MBA? Do you feel like you can approach your leaders within your organization and pitch ideas?" he says.