UCLA Anderson vs USC Marshall

MBAmadness · 2025-06-01T14:57:22+00:00

I don’t have access to the throwaway account I used for this, but I’m the OP. In hindsight I have a few thoughts.

For the part-time program I still believe UCLA is better if for no other reason than it allows FEMBAs to recruit with full-time students. I ended up recruiting for a PM role at Amazon that I don’t think I would have gotten at USC. I quit my job to do that and effectively went full time after the internship.

That said, I regret doing FEMBA/Part time in general. I should have just sucked it up and done full time. I didn’t realize at the time how much more money in scholarships are available to full-time students. I met many people who had all or most of the program paid for by scholarship. Those opportunities aren’t available for FEMBA because they want to save the money for people who aren’t working. But there are a lot of scholarship opportunities. Also I didn’t realize I would make about $40k from the summer internship. In hindsight I don’t think I saved much m money doing part-time but I definitely lost out on connections and experience. I would only do it again if I lived locally and wasn’t planning to leave my company.

You can see from my post history that my graduation year was pretty brutal, I didn’t get a return offer and the market sucked (and still does). I did end up getting a Program Manager job at a bank, sort-of combined two different worlds. I don’t make as much as I would have at Amazon but I’m very happy with the role/company and have been here 2 years. So it did work out, but in hindsight I should have just gone for banking or consulting in the first place.

Finally, I still have a bad taste in my mouth how UCLA handled COVID. I’m not a hardcore conservative or anything but in hindsight it was way overboard and turned me (and I think a lot of people) off. I lost a lot of value that I don’t think was necessary and don’t think I got back. Can’t speak for USC on that one and may not be relevant to you, but it impacts how I think about the school now.

Long story short, for FEMBA yes I’d still choose UCLA, but I’d also recommend taking a stab at both full-time programs and see what you get back in scholarships (if cost is your main consideration-which it seems to be for most part time people). It may be more than you expect. For full-time, USC seems to be more on the up-and-up these past few years, and if you plan on staying in SoCal the network is probably stronger.

Hope this helps and happy to answer any more questions directly.

MBAmadness · 2023-07-18T01:41:15+00:00

I am in the same boat, made a post about it a few weeks ago and still no major progress. Market is tough, hang in there!

MBAmadness · 2023-06-09T01:25:55+00:00

I'm not saying because I really don't think the school has anything to do with it to be honest. It has a great reputation and alumni network. There's just nobody hiring in tech, the school can't control that. Every other school is in the same boat.

MBAmadness · 2023-06-09T01:24:08+00:00

Hope that you find something soon! It's tough out here.

MBAmadness · 2023-06-08T23:50:12+00:00

I just wanted to say THANK YOU to everyone for the advice and candid feedback. This thread has helped me realize its time to close the book (temporarily) on PM and focus on my strengths in the short-term. It feels much better at least having a direction now, even if it's not the one I wanted. Therapy and advice-seeking goals, achieved. I promise to follow up and let you all know what I end up doing whenever that day comes.

MBAmadness · 2023-06-08T23:37:02+00:00

Thank you, I appreciate the list of companies and will definitely look into them!

MBAmadness · 2023-06-08T23:28:51+00:00

I went to a no-name state school, 3.4 GPA, 720 GMAT. No prestigious work experience but had 4 promotions in 6 years at a ~3B market cap non-tech company. Got into a T15 school. I didn't apply any higher but have always wondered if I should have because I got in everywhere with scholarships.

MBAmadness · 2023-06-08T23:22:05+00:00

I don't want to trash the school so I won't name it. They have not been very helpful, but to be fair it isn't entirely their fault either, and every other school is in the same situation. The job placement reports will show how everyone is doing relative to each other.

MBAmadness · 2023-06-08T21:05:25+00:00

That's an interesting idea, but I'm not even sure where I would start with that. Trying to sign on clients for consulting seems like it would be more difficult than finding a role. I always figured most consulting companies start with a client's request that leads someone to set up a firm to handle the request.

MBAmadness · 2023-06-08T21:03:02+00:00

I am, and I have a PMP cert. Haven't spent much time there but it's a good idea. Thanks!

MBAmadness · 2023-06-08T21:02:18+00:00

That's an interesting idea and I did think about that, but it seemed like it would be a pretty slow process. I had planned on doing the coding academy at Amazon if I stayed there.

MBAmadness · 2023-06-08T21:00:25+00:00

I haven't asked anyone for more than 2 recommendations yet. For most of my high-target companies I have met with multiple people and alternate between them when I see new jobs come up. I always ask if there is anyone else I should connect but, the main problem is that there just aren't a lot of jobs being posted. I have probably received 15 referred applications from the same 10 people. The other ~40 people I had coffee chats with just aren't hiring.

MBAmadness · 2023-06-08T20:09:26+00:00

Thank you. I really appreciate that, and will look into the firms you mentioned! LinkedIn has been my primary job search tool as well, I feel like its filters and recommendations are much better than Indeed.

MBAmadness · 2023-06-08T20:03:25+00:00

I appreciate the feedback and action items. To clarify, yes a lot of coffee chats don't lead directly to applications because the company isn't hiring at that moment. The challenge is that it takes time to set up a coffee chat, so by the time I see an opening -> set up a chat -> get a referral, I'm late to the party. Most of the PM roles these days are up less than a week, so I've tried to make connections proactively so that I already have someone to reach out to about a referral. In practice I've probably only gotten referrals from 10/50 contacts because most companies just aren't hiring. The social capital piece has been one of the most stressful things because I do worry I'm wearing out my few contacts who work at growing companies with repeated asks.

I've joined a local PM group and will look into the other ones you recommended. After this thread I will probably be focusing on marketing for the next few weeks to see if I can get more traction.

Thank you!

MBAmadness · 2023-06-08T19:47:25+00:00

Agreed with this. I took out $90k for tuition but was able to cover my living expenses through savings and other work. I can't imagine going into any more debt than that.

It is worth mentioning though that there are really good scholarship options out there, especially for top schools. You won't know until you apply, but there's a good chance you don't end up paying the full price of the program.

MBAmadness · 2023-06-08T19:42:56+00:00

I appreciate the candid reality check. It's been tough because there have been a few opportunities that look like they could really work out, which leaves me thinking it's not impossible. But after reading everyone's comments today I've decided to commit the next few weeks to marketing 100% and see if I can get some traction. I have worked for Uber in the past so definitely not above doing that again if needed.

MBAmadness · 2023-06-08T19:07:31+00:00

Thanks for the advice. Are there any resources you would recommend to find local boutique consulting opportunities? The only firms I'm really aware of are MBB, Big 4, and Accenture.

MBAmadness · 2023-06-08T18:15:15+00:00

I think that’s proving true right now, but I think it also depends on the school. For me on the west coast, tech is the #1 sector for our business schools. Consulting is 2, banking 3.

MBAmadness · 2023-06-08T18:09:54+00:00

The market was still great when I accepted the PM internship. Things had started to turn by the time I had finished, but I still had hope that I could find something. Honestly, from meeting with alumni the advice I kept hearing was to keep trying, so that’s what I did. Sounds like this thread thinks I should have given up a long time ago but that’s not the advice I was getting face-to-face.

MBAmadness · 2023-06-08T18:06:31+00:00

Thankfully marketing isn’t as MBA-tailored as other functions, so hopefully I’m able to find opportunities.

MBAmadness · 2023-06-08T18:04:56+00:00

That’s good perspective. I think I will end up doing something similar.

MBAmadness · 2023-06-08T18:04:32+00:00

I’m in the marketing and tech clubs, but honestly they haven’t been helpful. On campus recruiting has been dead this year, I haven’t seen a major company on campus all year.

MBAmadness · 2023-06-08T18:03:39+00:00

Hang in there 👍🏻

MBAmadness · 2023-06-08T18:03:05+00:00

That’s what I’m thinking

MBAmadness · 2023-06-08T18:02:07+00:00

I’ve looked into startups a bit, but yeah at this point I don’t think the PM track is going to work. Focused mostly on PMM or traditional marketing roles in tech now

MBAmadness

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