San Francisco’s Top 3 Economics MBA Programs

When it comes to learning about economics, what better place than Silicon Valley?

San Francisco holds a number of schools that offer an MBA with a focus on economics. The Bay Area is not just a place of lax tech bros though. It’s a place booming with culture and treasures like the Golden Gate Bridge and the Pacific Coast Highway. The beach isn’t too far, either.

But if you are looking for a place to build a resume, San Francisco is it: It ranks among the nation’s best performing cities. San Francisco is also second among cities in the U.S. for GDP growth associated with tech firms.

While many schools in the area hold prestigious MBA programs, here are the top three for where to obtain an economics MBA.

Haas School of Business – UC Berkeley

The Hass School of Business at UC Berkeley has been around for nearly 30 years, since 1989. The Berkeley name itself holds a sense of prestige, but the Haas School even more so. It’s the oldest business school at a public institution. That’s something.

As for its MBA programs, the Haas School offers a full-time, Executive, and a part-time MBA, for which students can take classes in the evening or on weekends. The full-time MBA takes two years and includes a variety of focus areas students can do via electives. One area of focus is economic analysis and policy.

This focus gives candidates that economic edge needed to make it in the field. This focus starts from a student’s first year though the electives tend to become more dominant in the second year. The courses make up 60 percent of the curriculum. Some of these electives use a macroeconomic lens to look at the global economy. Others look at the housing and urban economy from the viewpoint of investors and real estate developers.

Recruiters have come to Haas from healthcare, internet, and solar companies. The program takes just 275 students a year. Those interested in the Haas School of Business must apply by Sept. 21.

Stanford University Graduate School of Business

The Stanford University Graduate School of Business came about after former U.S. President Herbert Hoover, a Stanford alum, helped created the business school in 1925. About 800 students are enrolled in the program at a given time. Sometimes, the program could hold half that size. The Class of 2018 enrollment featured more than 417 students.

The noted university offers a single, full-time MBA program. The business school ensures its curriculum is flexible to fit every student’s needs. By the end of their first quarter, students develop a personalized plan for their foundational courses. That way, they get the basics down before moving onto establish their focus with their experience and goals in mind.

For those interested in economics, Stanford offers two types of expertise: political economics and managerial economics. Here, students can learn about financial crises, contemporary economic policy, managing global political risk, and many more topics.

F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business – Babson College San Francisco

The F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College’s San Francisco campus opened not too long ago, in 2011. It offers a unique blended learning program. Not all students can manage the time to come into a classroom. This program is flexible and blends online classes with in-person classes every seven weeks on Fridays and Saturdays.

Core classes get into the nitty gritty all business students need: financial reporting, managing talent, strategy, and others. But students also get the opportunity to take a series of Signature Learning Experiences that take students outside the classroom and into a hands-on learning environment.

Course topics vary from a myriad of things—and economics is among them. The core courses include one on managerial economics and another on how to apply data to economics. The school also gives economics classes about game theory, trade, globalization, and health economics.

regions: San Francisco

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