<p>He thinks he might want to live in norcal after college. yes.</p>
<p>I certainly would like to. Any nice places you know around San Francisco? How's the real estate situation there?</p>
<p>Lot's of nice places around SF. VERY expensive to live there although generally the jobs pay more, but yeah, housing costs are very high.</p>
<p>Wine industry employment could lead you to Napa and the surrounding areas. These are some of the most beautiful places to live. The wine industry is also expanding greatly into the foothill and gold rush areas of nor cal. Check out places like Plymouth and Apple Hill.</p>
<p>If you really are serious about viticulture than the best UC would be Davis. As far as I know they're the only UC even with the program and it would be closer to most norcal wineries. If not Davis I know that Fresno State has a good program and I think Cal Poly SLO does too but you'd have to do some research, I'm not exactly sure. I think Fresno State even has a winery on campus or something.</p>
<p>But do you want to do the chemistry of wine making and all that or just "work in the industry"? Cause most of the wineries are in the central valley and napa valley, not really bay area so if you wanted to work in the wine industry, I would guess that there aren't as many jobs in the bay area per se. Idunno does Davis have some kind of program, possibly minor, in wine business management or something, voiceofreason? If they did that might be really good for you.</p>
<p>I think if you are serious about getting to the top you need to know the industry inside and out. A major in Viticulture and Enology will ensure you understand the full scientific process of winemaking. Work in the industry after graduation will give you actual experience to learn more. Then an MBA degree will prepare you to run a business in the wine industry. There are no short cuts and this is the best route to take for almost any business hopeful. This is exactly why most MBA programs do not want people with undergrad business degrees. They are looking for a degree in a related or even different area of interest and then real world work experience in a field where the grad school student wants to eventually become a business leader. In my opinion this is the best route not necessarily the easiest one dude.</p>
<p>VoiceofReason is a bit off base. If you decide to go for an MBA, it might set you apart if you have a non-biz degree. But its not like MBA programs DO NOT want applicants with undergrad biz degrees at al. </p>
<p>This is going off-post, but if you do want to get an MBA, schools look at a variety of things, like grades, GMAT, work experience leadership, volunteer, etc.. (Military experience is especially looked highly upon at schools like Harvard, where a significant portion of their student body is one of the 3 M's - Military or Mormon or McKinsey consultant.)</p>
<p>According to VoiceofReason, if you had great GMAT, great grades and great work experience with an undergrad in business, the MBA programs will pass you over. This is just not true. </p>
<p>UCD does have a great wine program, but sounds like you have time. An alternative, is to do a year abroad in wine-making region outside of the US. Germany, France are two examples....but not sure what school are there and if they offer courses in wine-making.</p>
<p>la<em>demolition is a bit off base. My source was the dean of admissions for the MBA School at one of the UC's here in California for 25 years. (Retired 1 year ago) He was also instrumental in setting up the MBA School there. la</em>demolition do a little more research and you will see that I am correct. For the record I said "most schools prefer," I did not state that unilaterally anyone who has a business degree will not get into an MBA program. What I am saying is that the MBA programs do vastly prefer other degrees combined with work experience. (GMAT's, gpa and other stuff as well) Look into it dude.</p>
<p>I also have a very close friend in the wine industry. (Runs a top winery in Napa Valley region) I asked him and he said definitely if you want to secure a top position in the wine industry the most preferred degree is Viticulture and Enology. The MBA would be less of a requirement, but the jobs are competitive and it would be a huge advantage, especially if you hope to run a wine making business. Additionally knowledge of food pairings, catering experience and even a certificate as a sommelier would be a nice advantage. His opinion is that UCD is the finest school in the country for Viticulture and Enology.</p>
<p>UCD is in the process of moving the wine making school to its brand new building just east of the Mondavi Center. (Just west of the Mondavi Center is the new UCD hotel) There will be large numbers of grape vines planted next to the school to assist in the learning process, and UCD plans have its own wine label. This new school site will collaborate well with the very popular food science, and top ranked plant biology programs. UCD recently began to market its own olive oil.</p>
<p>Being French, I'm sure the OP knows what a sommelier is, but I thought I would provide a link for anyone who is interesed and wants to know more:
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sommelier%5B/url%5D">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sommelier</a></p>
<p>Here is another link on becoming a sommelier:
<a href="http://www.mastersommeliers.org/courses%5B/url%5D">http://www.mastersommeliers.org/courses</a></p>
<p>I said I wanted to take a class lol, not major in it.</p>
<p>"wine industry is one of the businesses I'm considering"</p>
<p>guess I was confused by this comment, good luck to you dude.</p>
<p>Yeah, it was confusing. What I meant is that I'm considering in investing in it, not becoming a sommelier or anything. It'd be more like an import/export thing.</p>
<p>my bad. I assumed you wanted to run a winery, thus the interest in business. importing and exporting is a whole different thing. the bay area would be a good place to do that. ucd has so many contacts with winerys so it is a perfect choice for you. good luck.</p>
<p>thanks. I got 3 years to become a very solid student... should be ok.</p>