Chuantu

As I suspect some west coasters might not know of smaller business schools in the east coast, I'm not too familiar with b-schools in the west. So my question is, which schools in the west coast have strong business, finance, or entrepreneurship programs (doesn't have to have the major per se, just strong foundation in those areas)? Which schools would be considered the Babson College (or Bentley U) of the west coast, a school that has similar opportunities for students to manage part of the college's endowments, strong VC networks, international business, entrepreneurship, and so on?

Suggestions and advice is greatly appreciated!

vinceh

In no particular order...

USC (Marshall)
UC Berkeley (Haas)
Santa Clara
Univ San Diego (not UCSD)
Cal Poly SLO
UC Riverside

bluebayou

They don't exist on the Left Coast.

UC Irvine also has an undergrad biz program now. All(?) of the Cal States offer undergrad biz.

fwiw: you would be foolish to pay OOS rates to attend a California public. Cal-Haas may be worth it, but transferring into Haas as Junior is not assured. Thus, the top private undergrad program is USC.

DrGoogle

Is USC better reputation in the west than Babson from the East?
But USC, Santa Clara.

Chuantu

Thanks for the suggestions! Looks like USC is a big contender here.

All of the schools mentioned so far are in California. Just curious do other west coast business schools in Oregon or Washington really not compare to those in California? Though from my search so far, it seems like Oregon is mostly LACs but maybe I missed one.

bluebayou

for nw, you would have the large publics: Univ of Oregon and Univ of Washington. U-Puget Sound is also worth a look.

But all are full, four-year colleges, with liberal arts offerings. You will not find a biz-only program like Babson in the west. (Personally, I don't understand why anyone would attend such a college, but I believe in liberal arts).

Blckmgc

USC Marshall School is probably your best bet, Trojan networking is legendary and will probably get you great career opportunities right out of college.

Alexandre

Actually, Cal (Haas) is the heavyweight on the West Coast, with USC (Marshall) coming in as a close second.

bluebayou

^^yes, but as I noted above, Cal-Haas is not an auto admit. One has to apply Junior year, and it is highly competitive.

RML

I'm confused with your statement, bluebayou. Are you saying USC-Marshall is worth pursuing and Berkeley-Haas is not? Please elaborate your statement.

RML

OP, in the West Coast, only Berkeley-Haas is considered an ultra-elite undergrad business school. It is head-and-shoulders superior to any business school in that part of the USA. It is a solid top 5 undergrad business school nationally, or largely on par with MIT-Sloan, Michigan-Ross and NYU-Stern. Haas has an excellent placement record at top banks, financial institutions, management consulting firms, etc.. and a few of them even establish their own companies.

bluebayou

From OOS, yes, that is exactly what I am saying. Marshall is a Frosh admit. Cal-Haas is not. So, the question for an OOS'er, is whether the 'better' degree (Haas) is worth the gamble that one won't get a biz degree at all. Of course, Cal-Econ is excellent, but it ain't no business degree, and someone looking at Babson/Bentley -- biz only schools -- would not be advised to spend $100k only to then be able to apply to a biz school after Soph year in college. Marshall is the safer play.

of course, others might disagree.

RML

bluebayou, there is no guarantee that once you got onto the MIT-Sloan program, you can graduate from the program, right? Because the truth is, no school would guarantee graduation, not even Harvard. People change minds along the course of the 4-year program. Shifting courses isn't a peculiar scenario these days. People who got onto the Marchall program shifted out after a year or two too. Not every one who is enrolled as a freshman at Marshall leave Marshall. Not everyone. Maybe not even nearly everyone.

CJaneRead

OP wasn't asking for an ultra-elite undergrad business program, or else s/he would have cited Wharton, not Babson or Bentley.
Granted there aren't any purely business undergrad LACs like those two on the West Coast, but are there any smaller unis or LACs with a strong business or economics program?.
Claremont McKenna College comes to mind.

I am curious about UPS's business school reputation, also Western Washington.

RML

^ I just got bothered by bluebayou's extreme biases towards State U's in general. He probably was thinking that all State U's have the same academic standard, offer the same college experience, have the same faculty caliber, and offers the same opportunities after graduation.