Created as the School of Commerce with only 11 students and one faculty member, the University of Tennessee's College of Business Administration originally restricted classes to banking and corporate finance. The college has come a long way from its small beginning, and now offers classes in a laundry list of subjects and programs. In addition to its traditional, executive MBA, professional MBA and physician executive MBA programs, the school offers an aerospace MBA, completed with a combination of residency sessions and distance learning. Moreover, the school's current academic prizes are its supply chain management and operations programs, which earned the No. 10 spot in the 2008 U.S. News & World Report specialty rankings.

UT's traditional MBA program is compressed into 17 months, with core classes focusing on integrated value chain management. Required classes last from the beginning of the curriculum to mid,March, with the rest of the program open for concentrations. Students can specialize in five areas, including finance and logistics, and combine their MBA with a JD or MS in either engineering or sports management.

The school's strong reputation in supply chain management draws recruiters from around the Southeast, and most graduates take jobs with an operations function--44 percent of the class of 2008 did. While still in school, students socialize around campus in Knoxville. Though there is still a lot of on-campus social life: UT hosts a slew of large student organizations and intramural sports, and MBA students can take part in the football madness that takes grip of campus in the fall.