maythreeone
i was waitlisted for the part time program. this is the forum for the part time program.
anyone have thoughts on USC MBA.PM vs UCI FEMBA? trying to think objectively and not just at rankings.
I know people who have gone through the USC MBA.PM program and the UCI FEMBA program. Both are excellent programs.
A lot of people go to through the UCI FEMBA program since it's in the OC and they don't want to go all the way up to USC or UCLA. They also have some people who come all the way up from SD. It's a full service program, you really don't have to worry about anything, just run through the program. The network is very good, however, it's small. If you're like my friend, who created a startup with his group in the end, then it could really pay off. Everyone I know who has gone or is going through the program has loved it and it has changed their lives. The only things that I had trouble with was the fact that the new Dean is known for his online MBA program implementation (and that scares me because no top program has an online MBA program) and the global program restricts you to China.
USC on the other hand is pretty different. It's not a full service program and you have to do a lot of administrative stuff on your own. It's more competitive, however, still not at the level of UCLA. The network is huge, with 70k coming from Marshall and 230k for USC. The Trojan network is something pretty amazing (Top ten business schools in the world, ranked by “potential to network” - #8 USC). The globe program is great, you can choose from three different locations. I've spoken with people at my workplace as well as others and they say there are two factions, USC and UCLA. UCI just isn't that well known. QS global rankings summed it up best by calling USC an emerging global school and UCI as an elite regional school.
I must say though, after going to both info sessions, USC had a LOT more interested people than UCI. If I were wait listed at USC, I'd just go to UCI, they're close enough that it's not worth it to let UCI slip through your fingers. Both are top 50 schools. (I feel that I must also add a note regarding the US News Rankings. For Part-time programs, USC stayed the same at 11 when UCI fell to 45, from 31 the previous year...)