Business Schools Are Offering One-Year MBAs for Those in a Rush

In a hurry to get your MBA? Some business schools allow students to earn a degree in a year or less—about half the time of a traditional U.S. program. (One-year programs are already popular in Europe.) People who’ve raced through the accelerated programs say they require intense focus and don’t allow time for extras such as internships, but they can be ideal if speed is your thing.

Eman Warraich-Gibson, a 33-year-old social worker in New Jersey, started her online MBA studies through Fitchburg State University in Massachusetts in March 2019 and finished her last course that December, less than nine months later. She managed to pull a 4.0 grade-point average and won the graduate student leadership award, all while working full time as the chief clinical officer of Integrity House, a network of substance abuse treatment centers based in Newark, N.J. She’s also raising two young children and thanks her husband for doing most of the parenting while she studied.