USC vs BU $

You can recruit and get a job anywhere. I think most of the BU graduates are local since it is a regional school so naturally it has its strength around New England. However, nothing is preventing you from getting a job with any of the Bay Area employers. Alums are going to be a bit scarce but it is not like alums will hire you just because you went to the school they did 10 or 20 years ago - they may help a bit with the process or direct you to a good spot or provide advice but nobody will just outright hire you just because you went to school X (this applies even to HBS - just does not feel right to have so much nepotism). So you have to kind of look at your undergrad alum network and that's pretty similar to how the BSchool network works, just less crap and more serious but at the same time, less hand-holding.

Interestingly enough BU and USC look very similar in terms of Average GMAT and Acceptance rates. USC has more mature student body with 5.5 years average work experience and 4.5 for Boston U. However, one part that bugs me is that the Part Time program is 2x the size of the full time. While it seems good on paper, in reality this means, there are a lot of Boston U grads out there looking for jobs and you are competing not only with your classmates, MIT, and HBS for the best spots but also the large population of PT folks for average spots, many of whom work in those companies and are much less qualified (average GMAT is 589!!!!) - That program graduates 2x of the Full Time program and that's the impression New England employers have of Boston U grads.

Marshall is not a Top 10 program by any definition but it has a large alum network in CA that is built on the Trojan spirit and that helps. SoCal is the stomping ground for many alums both BSchool and Undergrad (though these are not equals and undergrad is much more competitive than BSchool). The undergrad has been able to shoot up quite a bit in the last 30 years and the BSchool has ranked in the top 20 (at spot 20) during the 2009/2010 years when many finance-driven schools took a hit and slipped in rankings. I would predict that USC will likely be back within the top 20 in the next 10 years as West Coast lack of BSchools and abundance of money/economy drives more local MBA demand.

I don't know if this helps with your decision.... BU ranked #44 or Marshall at #24. Had this been Haas instead of Marshall, it would be an easy decision. Not so much with 120K for USC. I would really want to attend the admitted students weekend to get the feel for it (don't get too impressed with second years as they tend to be hand-picked); just focus on the other students/applicants/prospects. Some may be in the exact same boat as you. Is that even in the cards this late?