Not everyone has two years to dedicate toward earning an MBA. For some, maybe a year is just a better option. Luckily, Boston has more than enough options for those who would rather trek down the one-year path.
Currently, Boston is the 20th most populous city in the U.S., with its historical roots grounded in advanced academia. It has proven to be a perfect home for students, with a population that skews young. Almost one out of every three residents is between the ages of 20 and 34.
The largest employers might be hospitals like Brigham & Women’s Hospital or Massachusetts General Hospital, but the coastal city’s true jewels are its universities like Harvard and MIT. While most schools in the area offer MBA programs, not all offer options that’ll allow students to graduate with an MBA within one year. Below, we outlined some of the best Boston 1 Year MBA program opportunities.
F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business — Babson College
The F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business isn’t too old; it’s been around since 1947. Students can take its one-year MBA program on its main campus in Wellesley, Massachusetts. It’s about 14 miles away from Boston, so students will still be just a short drive away.
The program takes 12 months, but students can build close bonds with each other in this short period of time. This program’s participants operate as a cohort, but they also get the chance to mingle with some students in the school’s two-year and evening MBA programs. All MBA candidates have the opportunity to participate in Signature Learning Experiences, a hands-on approach to education that prepares students for real-world situations.
Sawyer Business School — Suffolk University
The Sawyer Business School isn’t as old as the university, but that hasn’t stopped it from getting recognized. The school began to offer an MBA in 1948 and never quite began to offer a formal one-year MBA program, but it does offer accelerated ones.
Sawyer has a couple accelerated MBA programs: one for attorneys and for certified public accountants. The way it works is that students enter the program with credits already under their wing. The catch is that students complete a certain number of credits in the business school—but these could have been before chasing an MBA. It all really depends. That’s 37 credits for attorneys; 34 for CPAs.
MBA candidates with an interest in law can also learn a concentration while at the school. Courses include an immersive, travel seminar. As for CPA candidates, their curriculum is nearly identical to the attorney pathway. The only difference is one class required for the attorney curriculum and not the CPA: Corporate Financial Reporting and Control.
Sloan School of Management — MIT
MIT may mostly be known for tech industry and Good Will Hunting scenes, but its Sloan School of Management is frequently ranked as one of the best in the world by esteemed publications like The Economist. While Sloan doesn’t exactly offer a one-year MBA, its MIT Sloan Fellows Program only takes one year—and fellows walk away with an MBA.
The school calls the program a “change-the-world toolkit.” Mid-career managers from around the world are invited to apply for the fellowship. Once accepted, fellows arrive in April and begin their journey together. They take summer courses, fall courses, and some during the spring too. There’s an optional independent activities period where fellows can take part in a four-week term made up of how-to sessions, forums, or tours for 12 credits max.