UCI realistically getting Business Major in 2007

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - GENERAL
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<p>Just FYI, as this may be important to many incoming freshman, the Paul Merage School of Business has submitted the proposal for two Business Majors at UCI for Fall of 2007. The accepted notion by the school is that it will almost certainly be passed through the senate and be available for fall 07.</p>

<p>The two majors will be a business major and a business/ICS major. There will be emphases within the major in areas such as marketing and accounting. In addition, there are rumors of the Social Sciences department creating a Business Econ Major as well. </p>

<p>UCI will become the third UC to received a business major, along with Cal and UCR.</p>

<p>I believe this is a huge deal for UCI. The UCI Career Center is ramping up for it and there are various employers eagerly awaiting this new curriculum. This may also affect many students entering this year, as you can only enter the business major as a Junior, as is the case with school such as Cal and ASU.</p>

<p>Some may ask how is it at UCI can be getting a business major before other UCs?</p>

<p>1) The Associate Dean at Anderson UCLA visited UCI recently to review if UCI would be ready for a business major. Seeing how UCI has implemented a management and accounting minor with ease and having those classes all full to capacity every quarter, he was very impressed by the quality of the students he interviewed at UCI. </p>

<p>2) In addition, UCI has a small MBA program in comparision to Haas and Anderson, resulting in a very low faculty:student ratio. The addition of business majors will increase that ratio, which some may have seen as being too low.</p>

<p>3) The new dean, Andy Policano, came from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, which possessed a very large undergraduate business community, and he wanted the same at UCI. It seems like everything he is doing is succeeding, with the school being named Paul Merage last year with a $30 million donation, and well on his way to the goal of $100 million in donations.</p>

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<p>Sonic One, your post are very interesting, My D is interested in Business and she has to dicide between UCI, UCSD and UCSB. We heard the new Business major in the UCI's welcome, but not in very detail. Thank you for the post.
Can you give more info in the internships and how land the jobs. for Econ, what kind of math -- calc do you take?</p>

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<p>I've heard that UCSB has a pretty decent program for business. But the location of your college also results in where you may be located post graduation. UCI tends to attract many tech and financial companies, where as schools with a communication school attracts more advertising and marketing firms. The big four are close in proximity, financial firms are not too far away, and Irvine is a booming tech community.</p>

<p>Not to mention that So Cal is home to 17 US Headquarters for the auto industry, including Daimler Chrysler, Toyota, Honda, and the like.</p>

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<p>Sonic One - I have some friends looking at colleges now. Sorry, but confused....in your first post, you state that UCB and UCR are the only UC's with Business Majors, but in your second post - you state that UCSB has a decent program for business. Can you clarify?</p>

<p>Thanks in advance.</p>

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<p>Sonic One,
Congratulation on your job offer. Do you know any info on the 3/2 program (3 years BA/ 2Y MBA) in UCI?</p>

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<p>la_demolition, up to now only UCB/UCR has Business Adm majors. Most of other UC like UCSB has Econ (Business - Econ). UCI does not have Business - Econ, just Econ, but it has 2 minors(account/management). Now UCI may have Business major too, after UCB/UCR.</p>

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<p>Thanks ucparent. </p>

<p>Yes Sonic One, it is huge news for UCI. I think Paul Merage was the founder of Hot Pockets and his $30mil donation was probably a significant reason why UCI's mba program zoomed up from #49 to #38.</p>

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<p>you're right. I did say that UCSB does have a decent program. They have classes in accounting and finance to match up with their economics program, as do schools like UCLA.</p>

<p>However, this is not a business major. Schools like UCSB and UCLA try to compensate for the lack of a major by adding relevant classes. UCI will have a full blown major with everything geared towards a career in business, where as UCSB and UCLA have about 75% classes in econ and the rest in business related classes.</p>

<p>Some may say that this business econ major works for students but the truth is having an official business major will have more companies flock to UCI and add more recognition to the campus, as business is the most demanded major out of high school, as quoted by my good friend Dean Policano.</p>

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<p>Regarding the 3-2 program, there are many pros and cons to the program. </p>

<p>First off, I must warn you that it is a VERY competitive program to get into. From what I have seen, students must have extremely high GPAs and GMAT scores to get in, as well as be well rounded as an individual (on campus leadership, possibly sports, etc).</p>

<p>That being said, I personally would not recommend pursuing it. When you enter an MBA program, you want to feel like you can contribute to the program and your fellow classmates. They come from various backgrounds with at least 3-5 years of experience. If you go through with the 3-2 program, you'll find yourself at a disadvantage because you do not bring the same real world experience.</p>

<p>In addition, you may very well price yourself out of the job market because employers are unwilling to pay an MBA grad with zero job experience a six figure income. I've heard this more than once and by many MBA and Career Counselors at UCI.</p>

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<p>and yes, Mr. Merage is the founder of the college student's favorite late night snack. It would only be fair that he give some of our wages back to college kids via a university donation.</p>

<p>I believe the jump in the rankings has to do with many things. </p>

<p>First, the donation definitely allowed for more educational resources at the business school. We have more scholarships to attract higher caliber students, added resources to our educational centers, and of course probably funded some new research.</p>

<p>Second, the admissions were altered this year (and stirred some controversy). UCI only admitted students with a certain GMAT score, thus improving our average GMAT score and our selectivity ranking as well. Some may say this is not the way to go but that was the decision of our final reason.</p>

<p>Third, and I believe most important, the addition of Andy Policano. He has turned the school upside down, adding energy and pep in the step of every MBA student, faculty, and staff. He's gone on a mission to raise $100 million and he's clearly on his way to that goal. All in all, just like a strong CEO with vision and charisma, Andy has added clarity to the goal of the business school, executed on his promises, and have created strong ties with the business community never seen before in the history of the Business School.</p>

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<p>Just wondering, are there any online articles from UCI about adding the undergraduate business major?</p>

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<p>nothing is set in stone so nothing to read about yet. But this is almost public knowledge, since the Dean has spoken openly about it from the start.</p>

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<p>i'm really looking forward to the business majors at irvine, i got in with econ major and am planning to minor in accounting. if the business majors successfully come out, i'm definitely changing majors. and about changing majors, would it be difficult because there is gonna be a lot of people that wanna major in business? or would it be easier for me since i'm gonna be taking prereqs for econ and those classes may be the same as business? also how would the changing majors process look like?</p>

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<p>The system is similar to Michigan and Berkeley's system, where you fulfill certain requirements as prereqs and then apply as a rising junior. I'm sure it will be a very competitive major, as there will a total of 300 majors awarded in all. If the management and accounting minors are any indication of the demand for business, I'd expect those accepted to be in the GPA range of 3.30-3.50 for your first two years (a 3.50 usually puts you in the greek honors level of top 11% of your school).</p>

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<p>This is big news. Any way to cross post this to the UCI discussion thread?</p>

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<p>here is a quote from a UCI Economics major student comment(Apr 18 2006) in studentsreview:
<a href="http://www.studentsreview.com/CA/UCIR_comments.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.studentsreview.com/CA/UCIR_comments.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>"as of last month, the board I sit on for undergrad to grad relations between the business school and UCI has announced that there should be an undergrad business major coming in 2007. Its not official, but that is the word."</p>

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<p>thank you
i called paul merage school of business and asked them about undergrad business major and they said at this point, there is no way to tell whether or not it'll happen because of the numerous amounts of proposals that need to be passed by the senate, but at this point things are looking well.</p>

<p>darn, i really hope there's gonn be a business major.</p>

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<p>If UCI gets the business major, I will cry ;_;</p>

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<p>We will buddy, you'll have to face the music.</p>

<p>Affined: You probably talked to my good friend Burt, the career counselor. He'll give you the diplomatic version but things are indeed looking good.</p>

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<p>MBA without work experience....bad idea. Going to an MBA school without a large alum network...also bad idea.</p>