Hi guys,

I'm an office worker in Japan and going to get MBA in California for 2 years from fall 2016.
But I haven't decided a business school to apply yet...
Could anyone advise me which is the best business school I will go?
If possible, please kindly list up the business schools as much as possible which matches the below conditions.

The priority is as follows;
1. Accredited by AACSB
2. Relatively low tuition fee (such as CSU, not private universities)
3. Good access to major cities (SD, LA, SF, SJ...)
4. Both full time and part time is OK

My background and current abilities are as follows;
- 8 years working experience (international work at construction company and commercial bank)
- Undergraduate GPA above 3.3
- TOEFL 80
- GMAT 500 (I know it is need to be improved.)

In addition to the above question, I would like to know the adequate web site or person which can check my application documents, such as resume, essay and recommendation letter which I drafted.
If you know anything about this, please, please kindly let me know.

Sorry for the many questions... but your kind support would be highly appreciated.
Many thanks in advance!

[Edited by anub on Dec 30, 2015]

Unless you are already a resident, part-time programs will probably not be available to you. This is because for a student visa, you generally need to study for a certain number of hours per week, a requirement that is usually not met by part-time programs.

In terms of your tuition restrictions, what is your budget?

In general, for international students who want to work in the US after graduation, a ranked MBA program gives the most post-graduation options. Of course at a ranked school like UCLA, which is a public university, by the way, is over $100k.

The sweet spot for budget-minded students tends to be the lesser known schools, like USD, which made the FT rankings this year. I'd assume that the tuition for this school would be going up in the future. UCSD - Rady is also worth looking at.

If you're not that interested in securing employment in the US after graduation, the accredited CSU schools offer some great values. CSU Long Beach is a solid choice, as is CSU San Bernardino or Fullerton.

Yes, you would need to work on your GMAT for a lot of these schools. In terms of who you should contact, I'm sure that you can find that out with a bit of your own research.

Thanks, maury.

I'm not a resident of California, so I have no choice but to take a full-time course.

The budget is preferably less than about $20,000 per year.
I have to return to my company after graduation, it means I will not change my job for the time being.

I also think CSU is worth going.
Is there any data about which college require higher or lower GMAT score to applicants?
Does the requirement of score (GMAT, GPA...) differ among colleges of CSU?

OK, I will research the website or person to contact by myself. Thank you for the kind advice.

Maury must have been talking about being a US resident. If you need to get a student visa, then you probably wouldn't be able to pursue a part-time option. However, if you were a US resident but just from another state this would not be a problem.

I am not a US resident either but I would like to do my MBA in California. Which of the public universities is the best option? I am on a budget.

Depending on their goals, UCLA or UC Berkley will be the best public university choice for most MBA applicants in California.

While UCLA is indeed a public university, Anderson, its business school, is privately-funded:

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/06/30/uclas-full-time-mba-program-turns-down-state-funding

*edit: not that I think that this detracts from the quality of the program. It's still a great school!

That is a very long story, but the Anderson school is a state school which is why there is a lower MBA tuition for Californians. The full-time MBA aims to operate without state subsidies, but the staff, building etc are all state.

Thanks guys. I was wondering if there are lower budget public MBA programs in California. In my country, public universities are much more affordable than private universities.

You get what you pay for. You can have one of the best MBAs, or you can have one of the cheapest ones. It depends on the goals you have.

Unless you are already a resident, part-time programs will probably not be available to you. This is because for a student visa, you generally need to study for a certain number of hours per week, a requirement that is usually not met by part-time programs.

In terms of your tuition restrictions, what is your budget?

In general, for international students who want to work in the US after graduation, a ranked MBA program gives the most post-graduation options. Of course at a ranked school like UCLA, which is a public university, by the way, is over $100k.

The sweet spot for budget-minded students tends to be the lesser known schools, like USD, which made the FT rankings this year. I'd assume that the tuition for this school would be going up in the future. UCSD - Rady is also worth looking at.

If you're not that interested in securing employment in the US after graduation, the accredited CSU schools offer some great values. CSU Long Beach is a solid choice, as is CSU San Bernardino or Fullerton.

Yes, you would need to work on your GMAT for a lot of these schools. In terms of who you should contact, I'm sure that you can find that out with a bit of your own research.

Is there any ranking among California State Universities?

Is there any ranking among California State Universities?

Is there any ranking among California State Universities?

Not really. Reputation-wise, the universities are all pretty much on the same level, with the older ones (San Jose, San Francisco, etc.) perhaps having a bit more visibility than the newer ones.

But of the 20+ schools in the system, not all offer MBA programs that have meaningful accreditation. These do though:

CSU Long Beach
CSU San Bernardino
CSU Los Angeles
CSU Fullerton
CSU Sacramento
CSU East Bay
CSU Fresno
CSU Northridge
CSU Chico
CSU Stanislaus
CSU Bakersfield

As far as comparing these with each other, it's really hard to say. Most are aimed at local professionals and offer part-time and distance learning programs rather than the full-time options more popular with international students.

Long Beach comes up a lot in this forum but I believe that's because it's one of the few accredited CSUs that offers a daytime, full-time program that it specifically markets to international students.

Thankyou.

Startclass has a ranking for Long Beach(82), San Bernardino(94),Northridge(147), Eastbay(149), Sacramento(163),Fullerton(186), Bakersfield(189), Los angeles(216), and Chico(260).

Interestingly, University of San fransisco school of management ranks only 219.

Sounds fairly reasonable. However, I'd caution that a lot of these would be apples-to-oranges comparisons, if only because a lot of these schools tend to be aimed at locals.

I'm not sure how those Startclass rankings work but I am not sure they take into account all factors. I've read elsewhere that Masagung grads make in the neighborhood of $80k, which would be competitive compared to the CSU's.

I too agree on your point that how much can we rely on startclass rankings, though it gives us a general idea.

Start class averages all the other rankings. It is the best tool of its type.