Mastering Online Business School: Top Tips for Earning Your Business Degree Remotely

Key Infor­ma­tion:

• Online busi­ness edu­ca­tion is grow­ing rapid­ly, offer­ing flex­i­ble, acces­si­ble, and career-focused degree options at every level.
• Stu­dents suc­ceed by set­ting SMART goals, build­ing strong study rou­tines, and mas­ter­ing essen­tial busi­ness tech tools.
• Active engage­ment with instruc­tors, class­mates, and pro­fes­sion­al net­works is key to avoid­ing iso­la­tion and unlock­ing career opportunities.
• Apply­ing busi­ness con­cepts in real-world set­tings and build­ing a pro­fes­sion­al port­fo­lio enhances both learn­ing and job readiness.

Online busi­ness school is boom­ing — and it reflects the fact that busi­ness is the most pop­u­lar degree. Indeed, online busi­ness edu­ca­tion is flex­i­ble, acces­si­ble, and career-focused like nev­er before.

No won­der then that more stu­dents are earn­ing their busi­ness degrees remote­ly. Tra­di­tion­al and non-tra­di­tion­al stu­dents find online learn­ing works to their advantage.

Are you an online busi­ness stu­dent? If you are, read on because we’ll share effec­tive online busi­ness degree tips. We’ll cov­er a wide range, too, from pro­duc­tiv­i­ty to net­work­ing to career advancement.

Relat­ed:

• Top Schol­ar­ships for Busi­ness and Busi­ness Admin­is­tra­tion Students
• Accel­er­at­ed Busi­ness Degrees for Entrepreneurs
• Busi­ness Degree Pro­grams and Career Paths
• Essen­tial Tech Skills for Online Learners
• Nav­i­gat­ing Dig­i­tal Plat­forms: Essen­tial Tech Skills for Online Learners

Understand the Online Business School Landscape

This is fore­most among our online busi­ness degree tips for many rea­sons. You can make cost-and-ben­e­fit com­par­isons between pro­grams if you under­stand the land­scape. As such, you’ll be able to make an informed deci­sion — or bet­ter yet, make the right pro­gram choice.

Post-2020 Remote Business Education Trends

The COVID-19 pan­dem­ic, with its lock­downs, spurred the growth of online learn­ing. Busi­ness edu­ca­tion was among the fields that saw the high­est increase in enrollment.

Here are more notable trends in remote busi­ness edu­ca­tion after 2020.

• Online MBA pro­grams enroll more stu­dents than full-time, in-per­son MBA programs.
• Busi­ness cer­tifi­cates and micro­cre­den­tials became more popular..
• Data analy­sis, arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence, and dig­i­tal skills were increas­ing­ly includ­ed in curricula.

Flexibility and Diversity of Programs

There’s also the fact that pro­grams are more flex­i­ble and diverse in their offer­ings. You can choose from:

• Syn­chro­nous pro­grams that fea­ture real-time inter­ac­tions and live vir­tu­al classes.
• Asyn­chro­nous pro­grams allow stu­dents to com­plete cours­es at their own pace.

You can also choose from dif­fer­ent degree lev­els, as follows:

• Bach­e­lor of Busi­ness Admin­is­tra­tion (BBA)
• Mas­ter of Busi­ness Admin­is­tra­tion (MBA)
• Doc­tor of Busi­ness Admin­is­tra­tion (DBA)

But remote learn­ing for busi­ness stu­dents has its chal­lenges, too. Yes, online pro­grams offer flex­i­bil­i­ty and con­ve­nience. But if you want to suc­ceed, you must be dis­ci­plined, moti­vat­ed, and engaged.

Set Clear Academic and Career Goals

If you’re won­der­ing how to suc­ceed in online busi­ness school, set­ting SMART goals is the first step. Goals mat­ter because these:

• Keep you focused on what you want to achieve in your studies.
• Enable you to align your course­work with your busi­ness specialization.

Use SMART goals to guide progress.

The SMART goal-set­ting frame­work is as follows.

• Spe­cif­ic. Define your goals in spe­cif­ic terms.
• Mea­sur­able. Track your progress based on your goals.
• Achiev­able. Set real­is­tic expec­ta­tions based on your resources and time.
• Rel­e­vant. Be sure that your goals, career aspi­ra­tions, and spe­cial­iza­tion align.
• Time-bound. Set clear dead­lines for your goals. 

Your SMART goal can be:

“Sub­mit all my assign­ments at least two days before the week­ly dead­line this semes­ter to main­tain my 3.5 GPA.”

Align your courses with your long-term business goals.

Choose major, core, and elec­tive cours­es that sup­port your goals. These can be in entre­pre­neur­ship, pro­mo­tion, or switch­ing fields, among others.

Use goal-tracking apps.

You can break your goals into more man­age­able tasks and visu­al­ize them. Trel­lo, Goalset­ter, and Notion are great for this purpose.

Build a Strong Study Routine

Did you know that more study time cor­re­lates with bet­ter test scores and grades? This is par­tic­u­lar­ly true for stu­dents who are strug­gling or try­ing to catch up. But more study time can result in dimin­ish­ing returns, too — burnout is a real consequence.

So, what’s the ide­al study time? The rule of thumb is 2–3 hours of study per cred­it per week. If you’re a full-time stu­dent (i.e., 15 cred­its), 30–45 hours per week study­ing out­side of class is ideal.

Here are the best study tips for online busi­ness majors to achieve the ide­al study time.

Create a consistent schedule.

Even if you have asyn­chro­nous class­es, a con­sis­tent study sched­ule is a must. Show up to your study time every time.

Use time-blocking techniques or the Pomodoro.

Time man­age­ment for online busi­ness stu­dents is cru­cial, espe­cial­ly for work­ing pro­fes­sion­als. But time block­ing tech­niques and the Pomodoro method enable focused work sessions.

Plan around your peak energy hours and work/family obligations.

You must iden­ti­fy when you are most alert and ener­getic. Then, study dur­ing those times.

Use a digital calendar to manage due dates and team projects.

Google Cal­en­dar, Out­look, and Trel­lo are best for stay­ing on top of your obligations.

Include time for reviewing business case studies, watching lectures, and note review.

Sched­ule time for these equal­ly impor­tant activ­i­ties, too.

Master Business Tech Tools

Being com­pe­tent in the use of busi­ness tech tools is a must among online MBA suc­cess strate­gies. Your pro­duc­tiv­i­ty and prac­ti­cal skills will be bet­ter for it.

Learning Management Systems

Mas­ter the LMS used by your busi­ness pro­gram first. Can­vas and Black­board are the most pop­u­lar. Attend the ori­en­ta­tion ses­sion and watch tuto­r­i­al videos.

Productivity Tools

Be famil­iar, if not a mas­ter, of these pop­u­lar tools, too.

• Slack
• Zoom
• Microsoft Teams
• Trel­lo

Con­sis­tent use means more skills and fea­tures learned.

Business Tools

Excel, Google Work­space, and data ana­lyt­ics plat­forms are par for the course. You’ll find these tools are also used in real-world busi­ness settings.

You must also remem­ber to:

• Learn how to col­lab­o­rate in shared doc­u­ments and build pre­sen­ta­tions. Being able to sub­mit video pitch­es is also a must.
• Take short LinkedIn Learn­ing cours­es and YouTube tutorials.

Mas­ter­ing these tools demands an active approach, so do it.

Engage Actively with Instructors and Classmates

This is among the best pieces of vir­tu­al busi­ness school advice you can get, too. Build­ing your online net­work mat­ters because it:

• Improves your dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ca­tion skills
• Opens oppor­tu­ni­ties for intern­ships, men­tor­ship, and job leads

Here’s what you can do for active engage­ment as an online student.

Participate in forums, group chats, and virtual office hours.

Being an active par­tic­i­pant means learn­ing from oth­ers and shar­ing your knowl­edge, too.

Treat professors like professional contacts.

Ask ques­tions, seek feed­back, and build rap­port with your professors.

Bonus: Fol­low class­mates and pro­fes­sors on LinkedIn for networking.

Find or start a virtual study group or accountability partner.

You’re more like­ly to stay on track when you’re study­ing with others.

Don’t let iso­la­tion become a hin­drance to your suc­cess as an online student.

Stay Motivated and Avoid Burnout

Earn­ing a busi­ness degree remote­ly has its unique chal­lenges. Since you’re not engaged in in-per­son inter­ac­tions, moti­va­tion is an issue. Bal­anc­ing your per­son­al, aca­d­e­m­ic, and work com­mit­ments can be a chal­lenge, too.

For­tu­nate­ly, you can over­come these chal­lenges by keep­ing these tips in mind.

Acknowledge the challenges.

Zoom fatigue, iso­la­tion, and screen burnout are com­mon. Rec­og­nize and accept them for who they are, and take the nec­es­sary steps.

Stay on track.

• Adopt a reward sys­tem for com­plet­ing tasks.
• Use visu­al progress track­ers, such as check­lists or calendars.
• Write in a jour­nal to keep track of your suc­cess and lessons.

Prioritize self-care.

• Aim for 6–8 hours of qual­i­ty sleep every night.
• Exer­cise at least 30 min­utes each day, even if it is only brisk walking.
• Take social breaks at reg­u­lar intervals.

Build in time for hobbies or decompressing between modules.

You’re more than your grades. So, take time for your hob­bies and oth­er decom­pres­sion activities.

Apply What You Learn in Real Time

Online busi­ness pro­gram pro­duc­tiv­i­ty isn’t only about your grades. How you apply what you learned mat­ters as well.

Business degrees are practical—use that to your advantage.

Apply the lessons you’ve learned in your online class­es in the real world.

Apply financial, marketing, or strategy principles to your current job or side hustle.

For exam­ple, use SWOT to eval­u­ate deci­sions relat­ed to your side business.

Keep a “real-world application” notebook or digital file for concepts to implement.

You’ll then have a ref­er­ence doc­u­ment for your future projects and interviews.

Build a professional portfolio with class projects, presentations, and business plans.

Your pro­fes­sion­al port­fo­lio can be your com­pet­i­tive edge in the job market.

Use Online Business Resources and Communities

Online busi­ness stu­dents have a wealth of resources and com­mu­ni­ties available.

Explore digital extras.

The best include:

• Har­vard Busi­ness Review
• Bloomberg for Students
• Cours­era or edX for busi­ness micro-courses

Join online business student communities and forums.

You’ll find sup­port­ive com­mu­ni­ties in:

• Red­dit
• LinkedIn groups
• Dis­cord servers

Tap into your school’s virtual career center and alumni network.

You’ll have access to resume reviews, mock inter­views, and job boards, among others.

Bonus: Sub­scribe to busi­ness newslet­ters or pod­casts for ongo­ing learning.

Final Advice: Mastering Online Business School

Nobody said that mas­ter­ing online busi­ness edu­ca­tion will be easy. But if you apply your­self to it, you can do it. Here are the key strate­gies to remem­ber in your journey.

• Adopt a con­sis­tent study rou­tine. Max­i­mize your time through effec­tive time management.
• Be com­pe­tent in using busi­ness tech­nol­o­gy plat­forms (e.g., LMS, Zoom, and Slack).
• Engage with your peers and pro­fes­sors through class dis­cus­sions, forums, and study groups. 
• Stay on track by set­ting clear goals, reward­ing your­self, and tak­ing care of yourself.
• Apply what you learned in class in your job and oth­er real-world settings.

In the end, earn­ing a busi­ness degree isn’t eas­i­er — it’s just dif­fer­ent. With the right mind­set and a clear plan, you can mas­ter online busi­ness education.