Daughter has been accepted to both programs, both really want her and have given her generous scholarships. USC is an established program whereas UCLA is their first year. UCLA’s business school is more highly ranked than USC. UCLA has designed their program from ground up whereas USC has been adapting classes and using existing classes. Any thoughts? She is having a difficult time deciding.
Both programs have similar core curriculum from what I’m seeing, but UCLA also has a capstone and optional internship it seems. USC’s employment stats seem good although neither gives the 3-6 month employment rate. I’m doing my masters for Business Analytics at UVA (but it’s way less quantitative than these) and I think both are great choices, giving UCLA a small edge. I think it comes down to if the internship and capstone appeal to her or not.
Congratulations for your daughter getting into both programs. It depends on what your daughter wants to do with the MBA. If she wants to do investment banking or finance or anything else outside accounting and tax, UCLA is probably the better way to go.
UCLA’s program is very established and their MBA is very highly regarded (more so in Northern CA than USC). The UCLA program was designed from ground up, probably, because UCLA does not offer an undergraduate business degree (only econ business is offered). In contrast, USC has an established undergraduate business school, including the accounting school. USC has the edge in accounting.
Hello MsBAmom,
What did your daughter end up taking. I am a prospective msba student who got admitted into both the programs and I am still deciding on which one to join. Could you please let me know what your daughter chose and why did she chose it?
Thanks for the help!