Looking at possible (very probable!) relocation to the west coast. Could anybody shed some light on some good MBA programs in Cali (or even Nevada or WA). Thanks!
UCLA (Anderson?) is supposed to be a good program and of course, Stanford, is top notch.
Don’t know much about any others.
Yeah, I was just going to confess my ignorance by saying “the only one I really know of is Stanford” Anybody with other good programs that aren’t necessarily the ones that everybody knows about?
Every year a few business magazines rank the top MBA programs in the U.S. While the top 10 rarely change (at least in the 18 years I’ve been following the rankings), there has been quite a bit of movement in the following 20 schools. Stanford, UC Berkeley, UCLA, and USC are in the top 30, and ASU, UC Irvine, Washington and some others are in the top 50.
Here is one of the rankings: http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/04/#top30
Of course, what you want to get out of a MBA program will determine the level of program (ranging from basic programs i.e. U. of Phoenix to advanced education in these top schools)
How about Thunderbird? We have a student tri club and we are located in metro Phoenix, which has one of the best tri environments in the US.
Any idea what you want to do afterward? Different schools have different focuses. If you want to work in finance, I wouldn’t recommend UCLA or USC. Both Haas (Berkeley) and Stanford do a much better job placing people in investment banking and other finance jobs. If you are interested in working in the film industry, try UCLA or USC. If you want to work in venture capital or private equity, go to Stanford (and only Stanford) on the west coast. I am at Columbia Business School now and it’s a great school for some things, but absolutely horrible for others. PM me if you have any specific questions about Columbia, UCLA or USC (have friends at both west coast schools.
Good luck.
Ah thanks Craigster,
That’s what I was looking for. Furthermore, if anybody has any inside info on good programs with good internship opportunities that would be helpful too.
Thanks Matt,
Actually, my strengths lie in Marketing and HR (wierd combo I know). I double majored in my undergrad. Even though my primary duty in my current position has to do with Marketing (advertising, market research, direct promotions, etc) I still stay in touch with the HR side by conducting interviews and training sales staff.
I would really like to focus on some of the aspects of business that i’ve spent a few years away from (finance namely). I will PM you when I have a chance to dig in further on the schools you mentioned. Thanks!
AndrewPhx,
Thanks and the tri club would definitely be a great bonus (not to mention watching the high flying Suns live for the next few years!). It’s just that my sweetie has landed a sweet job in NorCal. So being as close to that area as possible is ideal.
…if you can afford it and you can get in, is there any other answer from Stanford Biz School ? Palo Alto is also great if you are triathlete: great riding to the west in the Santa Cruz mtns and fantastic running and great pools/masters programs.
fuck stanford. what a dump, seriously. No place to go but Haas (Berkeley), especially since you’ll have one of the best collegiate teams in the country to train with. hope to see you here.
UC Davis has been getting great ranks recently, although I’m not sure in what concentrations. Also a few smaller schools like Santa Clara and USF are very well respected if you are planning on staying in the SF Bay Area. Like other small local schools the degree carries less weight if you return back East.
Don’t know how good your grades are, but if they aren’t near perfect these could be good options.
I think any decision needs to be heavily influenced by where you want to live after graduation. Except for institutions with brand recognition (eg. Harvard), proximity to your desired job is pretty important. If you’re looking at the bay area, you’d be better served going to USF than USC in my opinion, because you can more easily network with the people you want to work with. Of course, Stanford or Cal are no-brainers if given the opportunity.
Tom
I’ve got to reply to the dirty golden bear and his post…did my MBA at Stanford and trained with the tri team while there…We thumped those dirty golden bears at Nationals both years when I was there (and destroyed them at the challenge for charity athletic weekend as a side note)…Both the MBA program (first rate all the way) and the tri team (professional coaching, some of the best riding in the country, and training in a world class pool) couldn’t have been better. You probably won’t have any problem getting into Haas, but if you can get into Stanford-it’s a no brainer:)
Stan
i’ll point you to last years results:
http://www.tucsonracing.com/Old_Results/NCTres04.htm
in all seriousness, Bean is a great coach, and they have a very active club too, i don’t think you can go wrong at either school, or for that mater anywhere in the bay area for triathlon training, which is obviously important.
I’ll point you to the two years before that (when I was actually there):
http://www.usna.edu/Triathlon/result%20files/national03.htm#Team%20Overall
http://www.besttimescct.com/results/Collegetri.txt
Bean is an awesome coach, but I agree that you can’t go wrong either place…I almost went to Berkeley…twice:)
Stan (as in Stanford:)
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