Research MBA Programs

I am new to this forum and this is my first post. My question is if a USC or UCLA MBA degree carries the same weight in the Southern California job market as does an MBA degree from Chicago / Northwestern / Columbia / NYU or other top 10 schools? I'm considering both part time and full time programs, with a goal to get a higher paying job upon graduation. Is this possible when doing a fully-employed part time program? I want to be in Southern California long-term.

Qualifications:
- 700 GMAT (48Q/38V); 6.0 AWA
- 3.4 GPA, Business Undergrad from USC
- 3 years work experience, senior associate for two different public accounting firms.
- No extracurriculars during undergrad, minimal after graduation.
- Two good letters of recommendation from my current employer.

I want to focus on finance or management, and get a job outside of public accounting after graduation (maybe in private equity or i-banking). Any comments would be much appreciated...Thanks!

Columbia and NYU may be to New York what USC and UCLA are to SoCal... I'll give you that... but not Chicago or Northwestern. They're in a league of their own.

Sidenote - how is SoCal for private equity and i-banking?

Thanks for your input. I just took the GMAT last weekend with the plan to apply to schools for a fall 2011 start. But then I found out USC, UCLA, Chicago and Northwestern are still accepting applications for their part-time programs for fall 2010. From reading other posts in this forum, I think I have a reasonable chance at each of those programs. Two factors in choosing schools is A.) Job prospects after graduation and B.) Costs. UCLA is significantly cheaper than the others, but would the larger investment in Chicago or Northwestern be more worth it I guess is the bigger question.

Sidenote - There are a number of private equity groups in SoCal and in the bay area, with a number of smaller i-banks too. Although probably not nearly as many as in NY. I think my skills would translate well into the finance field (i do business valuations), but I feel like I'm stuck in public accounting!

Major ones too, KKR is in the bay area! I don't know if they recruit from UCLA and USC.

Also, you have a bunch of very prestigious groups, Goldman has an i-banking office in LA, as does Credit Suisse I believe and UBS.

I'd imagine that they'd recruit from those schools, but not sure.

I think what you've got to do is go on a research cram session and compare the value propositions of each school.

B-school is heavily about the network that you build. If you know you want to stay in SoCal definitely look into the Chicago network there.

In that industry though as a whole a Chicago degrees is more prestigious without a doubt

Also, when doing your research and speaking with the schools' career departments, ask specifically about how these companies recruit career changers, such as yourself, and specifically from your background.

You don't want to fall into the trap of thinking that they recruit from those schools, but finding out they are simply recruiting previous i-banking or PE analysts!

Finance is a very peculiar industry, unfortunately.

Great advice!

I agree building a strong network is one of the most valuable aspects of b-school. (Bruins will hate me for saying this, but) The USC network is very strong in SoCal, maybe the strongest, and has already paid dividends in my professional career. I hope b-school will do much of the same and take my career to the next level.

Any insight on which schools are regarded highest by financial firms?

I'm going to with:

Chicago, HBS, and Wharton - in no particular order

The Trojan network is probably the most obsessive in the country. USC will be seen as gold in SoCal and above many top 10 schools. But there aren't many VC/PE/i-banking jobs. IT all depends on what you want. Do you want to live in SoCal more than these specific jobs? If not, H/S/W and others will work out for you better.

I know that for finance UCLA is king, but I think USC will help you more if you are open to all kinds of finance jobs still.

endr3am wrote:Do you want to live in SoCal more than these specific jobs? If not, H/S/W and others will work out for you better.

I know that for finance UCLA is king, but I think USC will help you more if you are open to all kinds of finance jobs still.

that's the million dollar question...

I guess the first step is to apply to these places first, do some research, get accepted, then decide later. Living in SoCal is probably my #1 priority.

I'm reluctant to apply to USC, since I already have Marshall on my resume and already part of the Trojan network. I think it would be more valuable to expand my network and have a different type of educational experience by going to another school (the Marshall MBA curriculum is very similar to my undergraduate curriculum)

Trojan4Life wrote:I guess the first step is to apply to these places first, do some research, get accepted, then decide later. Living in SoCal is probably my #1 priority.

I'd liek to swap something in this chain of events: First step is to do some research... THEN apply... get accepted.. then decide.

Also, regarding the network... the same people in your network from undergrad won't be the same people in your network from the mba program...and personal relationships go much further than those from an email database.

just some food for thought

I recently got into both USC and UCLA and am trying to make a final decision between the two of them. I'm from NY so I'll be heading out west. I'm leaning towards UCLA though. I think that if you stay in Cali, both schools are pretty comparable. However once you leave Cali, USC's name begins to lose a lot of weight. Especially when you get back to the East coast. I think that UCLA's reputation is just better.

Obviously, there's a lot more that goes into this decision, but thats just my basic opinion.

UCLA and USC networks are not comparable in SoCal. But you are correct that UCLA will carry more weight on the east coast.

I just got accepted to UCLA FEMBA (part time) program for fall 2010. Now I got to decide if I want to complete the Chicago and Northwestern part time applications which are due in a couple of weeks, or just accept with UCLA. I definitely want to stay in SoCal long term.