Duke (Fuqua) MQM:BA vs UCSD (Rady) MSBA

Disclaimer alert: Most of my advice is general in nature cause I personally did not apply to MSBA programs. Make of it what you can. And hope more people provide responses.

Thank you for sharing these new sets of information. In your case since the effective cost isn't much of a difference I would definitely suggest Duke over UCSD but since you hope to work in bay are post your MSBA it makes the final decision a bit more "it depends".

1)Your choice would depend on how well Duke MQM places on the west coast(a look at their employment report would give you very helpful clues) and comparing it with UCSD employment reports. ( The rise of research triangle around Durham has really been phenomenal with a lot of new offices opening up in that area as has been reflected in the 2021 employment report. I couldn't find the Rady MSBA employment report. Maybe you can request the adcoms for 2021/22 numbers).
An issue you may face with Duke though is their 4 selective tracks with none yet directly focused on product management.(Definitely research it a bit more)
2)Also since you plan to do an MBA a few years down the line the Duke brand would probably carry more weight. Duke is much more recognized brand as compared to UCSD which sometimes gets overshadowed by other UCs.
3) Also another factor would be that cost of living in San Deigo would be much higher than Durham. Also as you pointed out culture wise Duke is hands down a great place to be at.

Congratulations on your admits. Have you found any employment reports? Or talked with current students?

My understanding is that was masters programs the brand may not matter as much and therefore you may not be able to command the premium by attending a more prestigious program which in this case there’s no doubt Fuqua is the stronger brand.

I would be curious about how much on campus recruiting you can expect and also how much on campus recruiting for someone in your professional path. Sometimes having a couple years of work experience takes you out of that new grad group that some of the employers are looking for. Which could be a good thing because you can take a swipe at some of the MBA jobs. You probably won’t recruit for consulting very easily but you can apply to Microsoft and Amazon. They would take people for a product management position. They’ve been expanding their recruiting to masters and even some of the undergrad junior folks for junior product management positions.

As to tech and the opportunities after each of the programs, I feel that a lot of the placement at Randy is regional and local. It’s not that tech companies are seeking out University of San Diego alumni, instead I feel that’s the industry that ends up being willing to pay higher dollars for masters degrees in the industry people end up settling in since San Diego is not quite known for any industry really and most are probably recruiting in the Irvine tech Corredor. I’m sure there’s a fair share of tech in San Diego to but it’s not silicon valley. 😇 Great place to live however.

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