BusinessPundit 2026 Rankings
#6 Best Online MBA Programs

UW Foster School of Business

University of Washington · Seattle, Washington · Public

“Amazon and Microsoft's favorite MBA class, 120 students at a time.”

Reviewed by David Krug · July 2026
Data anchored to the 2026 U.S. News table, Poets&Quants reporting, and school-published class profiles

UW Foster School of Business
86.4
Very goodBP Score
$120,000Tuition, total
710Avg. GMAT
35%Acceptance rate
88%Placed at 3 months
$155,000Median base salary

Scorecard

Four pillars, weighted into the BP Score
Career outcomes 87
Return on investment 91
Academic rigor 82
Student experience 88

Our review

Foster’s full-time MBA enrolls about 120 students a mile from Amazon’s headquarters and a bridge away from Microsoft, and the outcomes read exactly as you’d expect: technology employers took over half of accepted offers in the school’s 2025 employment report, the highest tech share of any ranked program. Product-management placement per capita embarrasses schools three times the size.

The numbers hold up beyond the sector mix — 88% of seekers with offers at three months beat most of the top ten in 2025, and median base pay of $155,000 stretches far when in-state tuition totals around $84,000. Seattle’s cost of living is the quiet tax.

Limits are the mirror of the strengths. A 120-person class means a short on-campus recruiting list; consulting and finance hiring is regional at best; and the evening MBA, while strong locally, lacks the national brand of the Chicago or Bay Area part-time franchises.

What impressed us

  • Tech density. 52% of 2025 offers, tops in the ranking.
  • Small-class access. 120 students share the recruiter pipeline.
  • Resident price. About $84,000 total for Washingtonians.

What gave us pause

  • One-industry exposure. A tech hiring freeze hits Foster hardest.
  • Short employer list. Beyond the Northwest, you're self-sourcing.

The verdict

The best tech-placement machine per student in the country, at a public-school price. If Amazon, Microsoft, or Seattle startups are the goal, Foster outperforms schools ranked far above it; for anything else, the map gets thin fast.

86.4

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