Audience question: UC Davis Working Professional MBA program

I remember two years ago when I started looking for information about part-time MBA programs in the SF bay area I was totally overwhelmed. There are a lot of schools in the area and I had no idea which ones were good. I didn’t even understand the difference between a UC school and a private school!

It took a lot of research to figure out how California’s higher education system works, which schools in the SF area are well-known, the management focus of each school, admission requirements, tuition amounts, class sizes, demographics, etc. I think I spent more time researching schools and programs than I did applying for them!

I knew I wanted a part-time MBA. The idea of taking two or three years off and going back to school was nice, but the reality of paying for it sucked. Stanford will set you back several hundred thousand dollars!

The top three part-time MBA schools in the SF area are UC Berkeley (top-tier school, UC public school system, nationally ranked, hard to get into, expensive, school every weekend), UC Davis (second-tier school, UC public school system, nationally ranked, hard to get into, expensive, school every second weekend), and Santa Clara University (second-tier school, private Jesuit school, nationally ranked, unknown difficulty of entrance).

I decided to go to UC Davis based on the class schedule. Classes every single weekend for a three-year program would be impossible with my job. I needed the flexibility of scheduling travel that spanned more than one week. The Davis Working-Professional MBA program is based in a business park in San Ramon, 35 minutes east of downtown SF.

I’m now in my third quarter at UC Davis and love it.

A member of the audience (I didn’t know I had an audience!) sent in a few questions:

1. My biggest concern, how is the student quality? Is the crowd pretty diversified in terms of people from various professions in the program or typical high tech professionals? I was considering Santa Clara but wasn’t impressed at all with their student quality.

The student quality is good and the diversity is high. Our cohort has 70 people. 15 are from high-tech companies like Cisco, BAE, National Semi, Salesforce.com. Other companies represented include Chevron (they have their HQ in San Ramon), some banking institutions, some healthcare institutions, and a lot of smaller companies.

Students come in a range of ages, races, and backgrounds. I would say most are in their late 20s or early 30s. Our class is 25% female. There are probably equal numbers of Caucasian and Indian students, with Asians rounding out the group. I’m guessing that about 40-50% are married. Less than half of those have kids.

I don’t know how many students have prior Masters degrees. Maybe 10-15%. Everyone was employed when we started, some are now looking for new jobs.

2. With a remote MBA program, you see any disadvantages in being away from the main campus? Easy access to professors, facilities?

I was worried about this as well, but the reality of the part-time MBA program is totally different from a full-time program. Believe me: you wouldn’t benefit at all from having class on campus (assuming the campus was closer). A part-time MBA is so much work! You’re not going to have ANY free time for any extra-curricular activity.

When I did my M.A.Sc. full-time at Carleton University in Ottawa, I really liked being on campus. I lived on campus. I knew all the Profs, chilled with all the other grad and post-doc students, ate at the cafeterias and worked out at the campus gym. I occasionally left campus, but not very much. It worked for me then, but I couldn’t imagine trying to attend a real campus while working.

Listen, when you go to class you’re going to be speeding because a morning meeting ran late. You’re going to get there, do the non-essential reading while you scarf down lunch/dinner, and as soon as class is over you’re going home. Maybe, if you’re one of the cool kids, you’ll get an adult beverage with friends before you speed home. There’s no time to hang out. There’s no time to talk to profs. There’s no time to hit the gym or go to the library or walk in the park.

The Profs at UC Davis WP-MBA come to the campus. They teach. They have an office hour. They go home. They’re all available through email (and some by cellphone), but you’re not going to need them much. Maybe it’ll be different in upper-year courses, but there’s so much instruction provided in course notes, books, textpaks, and course websites that you’ll have everything you need already.

3. Is there a strong emphasis on the case study approach? I heard the teaching/professors are excellent.

The professors are very good. I’ve been giving them (and their courses) grades on this blog. They all try very hard and care about teaching us the information.

We do case studies, but I wouldn’t say it’s a strong approach. There’s a lot of reading, a lot of homework, lots of assignments, and some of those assignments happen to be case studies. That said, I have two case study assignments due this week.

4. Are there lot of networking events/clubs in the bay area program or most of it is on the main campus?

There are two or three student clubs at the San Ramon location. Marketing and Finance, plus maybe one or two more. I don’t know anyone who is involved. I just don’t have time to do anything in a club. When I did my M.A.Sc. degree I was a member of the student government, I taught two engineering courses, I mentored younger students. I miss it, but it’s hard enough to balance a life, work, and school. Adding anything else to the mix would be difficult.

5. Anything else you like/dislike about the program in general?

I’m loving it. I’ve met some amazing friends – we’re going to Vegas in a few weeks and camping in Tahoe this summer. I’m learning an awful lot about topics I thought I already knew. I’m really looking forward to the upper-year courses. It’s expensive and really time-consuming, but the experience is well worth it, and the school is very good.

Thanks for writing. Readers, let me know if you have any questions!