Marshall (USC) Class of 2017 Calling all applicants!

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Fight on!

Just wanted to share my experience with my visit to Marshall. First and foremost, coming into this experience, I have been really high on Marshall.

Met with Marshall a few weeks ago, was kind of unimpressed which was really disappointing given everything I'd heard about the school from my many friends who have attended.

The whole experience left me with a bad vibe, their admissions office has been difficult to get a hold of. I'd heard that their admissions staff (as well as careers staff) had experienced a lot of turnover. I'd hoped that it wouldn't have an impact, but it was difficult to schedule a class visit, many emails went unreturned which was a bad first impression. It seems like they're a bit disorganized.

Consequently, eventually I visited the campus. The student guide I had was really cool, but also had some frank thinks to say about the admissions and careers office. Apparently their head career guy quit, kinda looks like some trouble might be on the horizon there.

My one major takeaway was that USC definitely has a swagger. I'm not sure its justified. With big turnover in careers and admissions offices, and dropping in the rankings the last few years and being somewhat disorganized they definitely aren't the top 10 school that they seem to think they seem to act like they are. My information session was more about telling me how great USC was than it was about explaining to me more about the school and how it might fit my career goals. Meanwhile, they can't even respond to emails promptly, so I'm not sure how they justified that stance.

Anyway, the school really seems to be in denial of some issues which were plainly obvious, and did nothing to even acknowledge the declines in rankings, or problems that they have, and consequently did nothing to assuage the concerns people might have.

Anyway, all and all I wanted to love USC and was just let down, I don't even know what to think anymore.

It sure looks like they need to get rid of some people to stop the bleeding and get on solid footing..

Before you can fix a problem you have to admit it exists. I think that's part of the reason why I was so taken aback. One of my friends was quite candid about the issue, he clearly acknowledged that there were some problems there. It appears the school, on the other hand, doesn't think that there is.

Statistics indicate otherwise, with employment at graduation and three months out still the lowest amongst top 30 ranked schools. 2 years ago, only 77% of graduates had jobs three months out, significantly below their peers.

Oh and by the way, their entire admissions office right now is only five people.

Nonetheless, they still seem to think they're hot to trot. Maybe I'm just being a bit critical because it's my job to assess situations, but I couldn't really believe what I was hearing.

When they were asked on the employment issue, they said they have full employment after 6 months. They blamed it on hiring times of some local firms who hire later in the year. I guess not enough students are complaining about it to get the changes needed. That's what I'm thinking, the same dean is still there.

https://www.marshall.usc.edu/mba/admissions/profile According to their website they only had 1648 applicants which is why they only have 5 people but that seems low. I assume the faculty participates in the admissions as well as the dean??

Are there any school reps here on this forum that could answer anything??

The funny thing is, I'm not surprised they "blamed it on everyone else". That's generally the vibe I got when I was there. There was no way it could be Marshall, it had to be everyone else.

General lack of acceptance and accountability that any problems might be their fault.

@rbsx/MikeMBA:

I'm a current first year FTMBA student at USC Marshall. A lot of what you are both saying is 100% true - I will not pretend that there aren't issues here. However, I can tell you the two main reasons why I chose USC Marshall over higher ranked schools - 1) the student body is fantastic and seriously a great group of smart, down to earth people that I didn't find at other business schools, and 2) the PRIME program.

Now that I've been in school for a couple of months, I can tell you that USC Marshall also values public speaking ability. For example, I had to give a presentation within my first week of core courses. Not all schools require this and we even have an entire core course (management communication) dedicated to improving your presentation skills.

I'm actually working on a midterm right now and have to keep this short, but if either of you have any questions at all about the program, please post in this thread and I will answer them all.

Best of luck in the admin process!

Thanks a lot! I appreciate it!

hi to @rbsx/MikeMBA as well:

I'm also a current 1st year at Marshall, and as mflatt23 alluded to, there are several issues right now with the administration, and transparency really isn't one of their fortes. We have voiced our concerns in our student-only town hall meetings but changes are coming slowly but surely. we have a very strong student body that are trying to do the right thing but it may be falling on deaf ears a lot of the times.

The career thing is a tad early for me to tell. For people that want to do consulting, MBB doesn't recruit on campus here, but the second tier firms have presence here and they prep you really hard for it in terms of both casing preparation as well as putting you through case competitions. The hiring about 6 months after really isn't that much of an excuse, as USC funnels a lot of alums to the local businesses because they actually pay better than the biggest hiring companies in SoCal that are not finance or consulting.

If there's one takeaway I think us students bond together more because of how much we have to fend for ourselves. And some people may have swagger but I have found most to be very down to Earth, and people come here because they want to be here.

Hey all, I'm also a first year at Marshall in the full time MBA program. I completely echo what some of my classmates have said about the program. It's a great program that really does have exceptional people, etc. etc.

I wanted to address the employment rate issue quickly. While it's absolutely true that the career office is catching up and filling staffing and coming out of a dark spot, the numbers are misleading. In my opinion (and the reasons I chose Marshall), Marshall's strengths are two fold - 1) The diversity and impressiveness of the student body, and 2) the "Trojan Network".

(Note: as I'm writing this, I realize it may sound like propaganda, but I assure you I'm being 100% genuine)

The Trojan Network is VERY real and is one of the most amazing forces I've ever seen. You don't truly grasp how much alumni and fellow classmates help each other until you dive in. I've had one-on-one's with EXTREMELY impressive executives (3 CEOs of Fortune 500s to date...and I've only been in school 2 months) simply by reaching out and telling them I'm a Marshall student. Everyone does everything they can to help each other out, and that's surprisingly rare in the MBA community.

And the diversity in the student body comes in the form of accomplished and ambitious people from very different backgrounds who want to go into very different industries. Many other schools are very monotonous (80% of the class comes from banking or 75% want to go into consulting). For example, USC is the top placing program for such industries as Entertainment and Real Estate (we're in LA...kinda obvious). These are two industries that do "just-in-time" hiring, which means they don't know when their positions will be open until May (which is graduation). Students don't have a hard time landing these positions when they open up, but it's not as formulaic as finance or consulting where they know a year in advance that there will be xx amount of spots open so they can offer positions the summer prior to graduating.

This obviously brings down the "employment at graduation" figures, but it's not a real lack of employment (if that makes sense?).

Furthermore, we've formed a close bond with our Viterbi school of Engineering and have a lot of entrepreneurial students that graduate and start their own businesses. As such, some of these students don't get counted in the employment stats. Stanford had a similar problem a few years ago.

I'm not trying to make everything at Marshall sound perfect, just wanted to provide some color. Happy to answer any questions or connect if anyone has any concerns. Thanks!

Thanks to all the current students who have been very candid on this forum - this is what we expect from future business leaders!

I was thinking of applying to USC but now I am in dilemma. I have 11 years work exp. as on date and currently leading in-house technology team for big British bank in India.

My post MBA career goal is Strategy Consulting for 2-3 years and then move onto Product Manager role (financial products firm).

I realize that my medium term goal will best be supported by being on the East coast but the more than pleasant weather of California attracts me.
Another factor is the cost and without a scholarship I wouldn't be able to attend USC.

Any current students who can offer more insights please on my career goals and how USC can be helpful in this regard?

Hello folks,

I have submitted my application for R1 and was wondering if anyone has received Interview Invites yet?

Cheers!

Hi!

I submitted my application on Oct 14th, a day before the R1 application deadline. Should I be worried that I haven't gotten an interview invite yet?

Thanks!

Dear applicants,

I am a current first year student at Marshall. I know many of you would have either completed the application for R1 or working on the R2 application.

I was in your shoes last year and I understand the value of advice from a current student.Therefore, if at any time, any one of u require any help, advice, or guidance, please send me a message. I assure you, I will get back to you within few days.

All the best! Fight On!

Hey!

Congratulation on completing your application. You should not panic until Nov 20 if you havent received interview invite; post then, yes, you should a bit.

On submitting my application,I received a thank you note along with this statement

"If you are an international applicant, your "Confidential Statement for Financing Studies at USC" document should also be sent to the above address. Delay in the submission of any required documents may create a significant delay in the processing of your application. "

Did anyone submit this???.If so, what is this document..Please do share

Hey, dnt worry about that message. It's basically asking you to submit the financial proof document that you can fund your education. I too had received the same last year and its not mandatory to submit the same until you receive the admit.

However, I will get back to you on this after re-confirming with the admissions office on Monday, 11/03.

Do let me know if you have any more ques.

Cheers!