In recent years, there has been a growing trend towards offering courses in a more accelerated online learning format. This study investigates students' preferences to better inform faculty on whether learner-to-learner interactions that build social presence should be retained when condensing online courses. While there is research on social presence in online classes, little is known about student perceptions of social presence in online accelerated programs, such as MBA programs. This research utilizes the social presence questions from the Community of Inquiry Framework questionnaire, which was distributed to MBA program directors and leaders at mid-sized universities in the Midwest. The survey results indicated that students perceived high levels of social presence in online accelerated MBA programs surveyed. Furthermore, a moderate, positive correlation was found between high total social presence perception mean total scores and high satisfaction with these programs. The study also revealed little difference in social presence across various demographic characteristics, including gender, age, number of courses taken, hours worked in employment, and hours spent on coursework. This study provides evidence to support that social presence is still an important construct in the design, development, and delivery of online accelerated MBA programs. This study provides valuable evidence for best practices in creating online accelerated courses and programs that foster high levels of social presence and student satisfaction.