UCSD - Rady (half tuition) vs UCLA - Anderson (no $)

Question

Hi GMATclubbers

kingfalcon · Answer

Pick a few firms at which you'd be excited to work coming out of school; do they recruit at Rady? With few exceptions, I'd be willing to bet they recruit at UCLA. Honestly, this is going to be an incredibly personal decision for you given the factor of your fiancee's plans to obtain her PhD at UCSD. UCLA would likely be the better decision for your career, both in the short-term and long-term, but it may not be better for your relationship and therefore your life.

I'm sure you knew marriage would involve compromises when you decided on it. Now you just need to determine whether this particular sacrifice is worth it. Not an easy decision by any means

!

onsomniac · Answer

thanks for the insight! Everyone, I would love to hear your insights as well.

MacFauz · Answer

Were these the only two schools you applied to?.. As far as reputation is concerned, this seems like a huge leap from UCLA to UCSD... I am no expert but to be honest, I had to google UCSD to find out what it stood for... But as kingfalcon has pointed out, since you also have a lot of personal factors to consider, the choice is really up to you.... All other factors aside, MBA at UCLA vs MBA at UCSD, MBA at UCLA wins hands down...

aerien · Answer

I agree with kingfalcon. Look at the recruiting at both schools to see what firms interest you. Rady has a decent analytics recruiting, especially in the bio tech/medical areas, but overall UCLA would also recruit very well there and will likely give you more options later on down the road in terms of alumni outreach and switching jobs/careers.

CobraKai · Answer

Look at the bright side: it's not like you're going to be on opposite sides of the country. As someone who's spent a lot of time in Southern California, I agree, La Jolla is freaking nice, but not nice enough to pass up on an Anderson MBA (Westwood is pretty awesome too!). Yes living apart is less than ideal, but with UCLA's no class on Fridays, you'll be able to head down the I-5 to La Jolla for early starts to your weekend. I visited my brother fairly often when he was at Anderson, and if he had time on the weekends to host my lame ass, then I'm guessing you'll have some freedom on the weekends.

Then there's the experience. Chances are your Anderson classmates are a diverse group of individuals who have accomplished a lot to this point and will enhance your B-school experience. A school like Rady that enrolls about 60 students in the incoming class can't hope to expose you to as many new people as Anderson, and to me, that's a big part of going full-time for an MBA.

Last point: B-school only lasts 21 months, and you'll only be on campus for 18 months once you factor in the internship. That's a very short period of time when you think about it. Plus, and I'm half-kidding about this, half-not, you wouldn't want to resent your fiancee later in life for being the reason you didn't go to Anderson, and it also wouldn't be fair to her if you brought it up in the heat of an argument.

Congrats on the admits! Best of luck with your decision.

onsomniac · Answer

wow, great insight everyone.. thanks for taking the time to write out your 2 cents, i really appreciate it. keep them coming!

ISSOKireloaded · Answer

Agree with both responses above when it comes to looking for what you want to do post MBA and whether firms that you would like to be part of recruit from Rady.
Like CobraKai said, the exposure to new experiences, quality of student pool and education are definitely things you should consider. Also don't forget you will be able to create a far superior network at UCLA.
I would definitely consider putting aside short term windfalls to look at how much better you will be situated with an MBA from a school that seems to be shooting up the ranking boards lately.
And congrats on your admits :-)

crackHSW · Answer

Let me throw my 2 cents to it. There is very less probability that UCSD would be able to get you to places other than San Diego. UCLA is a bigger brand overall and should be able to get you where UCSD would get you definitely. Also I think the positions you would get out of UCLA could be higher up in the management in the same firms. For example Qualcomm could hire both at UCLA and UCSD but you might end up in product development v.s a less coveted role (Product management etc) from UCSD. I know that you would be away from your fiancee for almost 18-20 months , but if you are able to somehow balance that through weekend visits - I would say UCLA would be the perfect choice. I would also suggest to look at this aspect - Do you want to be a top performer at an average school or a average performer at a top school. Your network would be far more superior at UCLA than at UCSD.

onsomniac · Answer

Thanks for the responses everyone! Again, these replies have been great insight and I appreciate it.

Agentfish36 · Answer

As someone from the midwest who briefly lived in CA, UCLA is going to have national name value. UCSD is a lot more regional. If it were another top 50 program, it would probably be closer, but as you arent sure long term what you want to do, UCLA probably gives you more options. Also, assuming your fiance isnt taking on a ton of debt, you should be able to pay off the loans from the better school faster.

UCSD - Rady (half tuition) vs UCLA - Anderson (no $)

Given the circumstances below, which school?

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