ADVICE NEEDED!!! Michigan (Ross) Vs. USC (Marshall) EMBA Programs


I've been accepted to the Michigan (Ross) Los Angeles satellite campus as well as USC Marshall. So far I am leaning towards accepting Ross as the LA campus (held at a top notch hotel), students, format (heavy experiential) and class visit were quite impressive.

USC on the other hand is a private school where the network tends to be die-hard loyal and they have connections in entertainment. In getting my degree I hope to open doors into areas like management consulting or into parts of tech where I have not yet worked.

Ross
Pros:
Top-ranked - impressive reputation (not quite M7 but in striking distance by some measures)
Top notch students
Team project - includes a 4-month project working on real-world business solutions
Once a month format - perfect for full-time
Location - the LA satellite is actually more well located than Marshall which is way dowtown (hell coming from the Westside)
Highly recruited by top tech like Google and Amazon

Cons:
Expensive
Satellite campus - you don't get the exact same experience, CA network might not be as strong as USC, some people might confuse this for an online MBA

Marshall
Pros:
Private school with highly dedicated alumni - this could be the most important thing in terms of future employment
Connections in industries such as entertainment (should I ever go that route)
Bi-weekly format - more facetime with class

Cons:
Not as a high a reputation
Campus visit (to part-time NOT exec program) felt like a lot of junior people with little (to zero) industry/leadership experience. Not a fair comparison but it confused me as to who they let in the program.
Bi-weekly format - it could be hard to get this much time off from work

What are your thoughts?

[Edited by EMBALianne on May 29, 2018]

I've been accepted to the Michigan (Ross) Los Angeles satellite campus as well as USC Marshall. So far I am leaning towards accepting Ross as the LA campus (held at a top notch hotel), students, format (heavy experiential) and class visit were quite impressive.

USC on the other hand is a private school where the network tends to be die-hard loyal and they have connections in entertainment. In getting my degree I hope to open doors into areas like management consulting or into parts of tech where I have not yet worked.

Ross
Pros:
Top-ranked - impressive reputation (not quite M7 but in striking distance by some measures)
Top notch students
Team project - includes a 4-month project working on real-world business solutions
Once a month format - perfect for full-time
Location - the LA satellite is actually more well located than Marshall which is way dowtown (hell coming from the Westside)
Highly recruited by top tech like Google and Amazon

Cons:
Expensive
Satellite campus - you don't get the exact same experience, CA network might not be as strong as USC, some people might confuse this for an online MBA

Marshall
Pros:
Private school with highly dedicated alumni - this could be the most important thing in terms of future employment
Connections in industries such as entertainment (should I ever go that route)
Bi-weekly format - more facetime with class

Cons:
Not as a high a reputation
Campus visit (to part-time NOT exec program) felt like a lot of junior people with little (to zero) industry/leadership experience. Not a fair comparison but it confused me as to who they let in the program.
Bi-weekly format - it could be hard to get this much time off from work

What are your thoughts?
quote
Duncan

There's one major pro for the Ross EMBA you didn't mention: the ability to get one free exec ed course of any length every five years. Most Ross open programs are around $10,000 so that's a huge advantage for today's careers where managers need to retool and refocus regularly.

USC certainly has all the benefits you mentioned, but the weakness of the EMBA (it's not even in the top 100 worldwide ranked by the FT) is maybe a feature of its popular part-time MBA. I would not hesitate to pick Ross.

There's one major pro for the Ross EMBA you didn't mention: the ability to get one free exec ed course of any length every five years. Most Ross open programs are around $10,000 so that's a huge advantage for today's careers where managers need to retool and refocus regularly.

USC certainly has all the benefits you mentioned, but the weakness of the EMBA (it's not even in the top 100 worldwide ranked by the FT) is maybe a feature of its popular part-time MBA. I would not hesitate to pick Ross.
quote

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