Listen to MBA Career Advice from These USC Marshall MBA Alumni
How does an MBA fit into your career? What are some steps you should take to ensure that your MBA aligns with your career goals? These are the questions that four MBA alumni seek to answer in the two-part Constructing a Career Podcast from the USC Marshall School of Business.
In the first part of the podcast, listeners hear from Doug Montgomery, the VP of customer insight at Warner Brothers, as well as Regina Leung, the founder of Mayflower Health Consulting. They each take the time to talk about pursuing an MBA no matter the stage of your career, providing tips and lessons learned along the way.
The second part talks about how an MBA can and should impact your job strategy. Advice is provided by Ana Maria Stingi Guemáraes, the audit director of MUFG Union Bank, and Grant Ingersoll, the president of Integrated Oncology Network.
All four are graduates of USC’s IBEAR MBA program, which gives them unique insight into using the USC Marshall MBA in your future career. Below are some of the most pertinent points and insight from both podcasts. Continue reading…
Finding the Best Real Estate MBAs in Los Angeles
Over the past few years, MBA programs and courses in real estate have seen continued growth, as both interest and need have become undeniable throughout the country. With property values and real estate often having a tremendous impact on the overall economic health of the nation, educating and placing top talent in this sector can be vital. But how can you turn a valuable MBA into a lucrative career in Los Angeles real estate?
Although a business focus on real estate is nothing new, the idea of MBAs concentrating in the industry as part of their degree has been getting increasingly more popular. It is somewhat difficult to find MBA programs that offer specializations in the field, even though 2017 saw more than $5 billion invested into real estate technology—a massive increase since the Great Recession. Startups like Airbnb and WeWork area also changing the way the real estate industry overlaps with entrepreneurship and technology, making it even more important for a workforce of talented individuals helping to guide the industry going forward.
Los Angeles, long at the center of discussions about urban development and city planning, features some of the country’s most vital real estate business program. Take a look at the three of the best Los Angeles real estate MBA programs below.
Marshall School of Business – USC
USC’s Marshall School of Business allows students in the full-time MBA program specialize their degree in real estate through electives that focus on topics like investment, finance, valuation, law, development, and the economics of real estate markets. This degree will prepare students for a variety of careers in the Los Angeles real estate field, pairing a focus on the unique aspects of the real estate field with the acknowledgement that success in the real estate field relies still relies on fundamentals like management, marketing, strategic planning, and economics.
The USC MBA in real estate is unique in the student’s ability to tailor the curriculum to their own career and educational needs, acknowledging the wide variety of roles within Los Angeles real estate, such as investment and asset management, consulting, valuation, asset management, and more.
Below are just a few Graduate Real Estate courses offered for MBA students at Marshall:
- Mortgage-Backed Securities and Markets. This course, which includes lectures, assignments and a project, looks at residential and commercial mortgages as well as mortgage-backed securities and markets.
- Urban Land Use-Feasibility Studies. This course consists of a team field study analysis of a prospective development site. Students will work together with a client to address issues like design, entity choice, deal structure, land use, economic analysis, and allows teams to interact with industry professionals throughout the process of developing their proposals.
- Real Estate Finance and Investment. This course consists of both cases and lectures, as well as assignments and exams to evaluate student’s understanding of valuation, projects, financing, and investment analysis. Students will also learn to use ARGUS 7.0, one of the top real estate investment software packages used throughout the industry.
Anderson School of Management – UCLA
The real estate MBA focus at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management has consistently been named among the best real estate programs in the country, let alone Los Angeles. The real estate concentration at Anderson trains students to join the industry through a strong education in real estate financing, investing, and entrepreneurial development. The concentration is integrated into the school’s overall MBA program, with the option for many real estate-centered electives, providing both theoretical and practical study in the most important aspects of the industry.
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The Anderson School of Management also recognizes that real estate is not just a matter of business, and encourages MBA students to seek classes in other departments at UCLA, including public policy, urban planning, architecture, engineering, taxation, and law.
Below are some popular electives available to Real Estate MBA students at Anderson:
- Urban Real Estate Financing and Investment. This course helps students to bridge the gap between theory and practice in real estate finance and investment, training students to use finance and economics to uncover insights about real estate markets and investments.
- Entrepreneurial Real Estate Development. This course looks at real estate through the lens of entrepreneurship, helping students identify market opportunity, product definition, and conceptual feasibility through work in an entrepreneurial environment.
- Public Policy Clinic: Land Use, the Environment and Local Government. Acknowledging the interdisciplinary nature of this field, this course will provide students with a solid education in the complicated connections between land use control, state and local government law, and environmental quality
The Paul Merage School of Business – University of California, Irvine
At the Merage School of Business‘ Center for Real Estate, students can earn an MBA Certificate in Real Estate and Urban Development, with a curriculum just as dynamic and diverse as the marketplace itself. The MBA certificate presents students with a holistic approach to real estate, using lessons from past trends and cycles within the industry to help students prepare for a career in this often volatile industry.
Students who have at least two years of study in a Merage MBA program are eligible to pursue this certificate after successful completion of certain prerequisites in real estate. After completing these courses, students can choose from a number of electives connected to the certificate, such as:
- Real Estate Capital Markets
- The Real Estate Development Process
- International Real Estate
- Applied Real Estate Security Analysis and Portfolio Management
- Practicum in Mixed-Use Community Development
Kobe Bryant Speaks at USC Marshall, and More – Los Angeles News
Take a look at some of the biggest news stories of the week from our favorite Los Angeles business schools.
Kobe Bryant, at USC Marshall Event, Shares His Grit and Competitive Edge – USC News Room
The Performance Science Institute, a multidisciplinary center at the USC Marshall School of Business, recently hosted five-time-NBA champion, Los Angeles icon, venture capitalist, and recent Academy Award-winner Kobe Bryant, who spoke to a sold out crown at USC’s Bovard Auditorium. Bryant discussed a number of topics, from his early days of playing basketball to the challenges of changing course from basketball to business. Bryant has become a leader and innovator in the field of business in addition to his basketball success. He established a $100 million venture capital fund in 2013 and debuted Granity Studios, a media and animation studio, after his retirement in 2016.
Bryant speaking at USC / Photo via William Vasta
The event also included the awarding of the Jake Olson Vision Awards, a new scholarship established by USC student leader Jake Olson. The scholarship, which was established as an award for students who have had to overcome adversity to join USC, was awarded to Cailin Stroyke and Isiah Dixon at the start of the event.
To read more about Kobe Bryant and his visit to USC Marshall, click here.
The 29 Most Powerful Business Degrees in the World – Business Insider
A new ranking covered by Business Insider names the Anderson School of Management at UCLA among the most powerful business degrees in the world. Along with the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley and the Stanford Business School, Anderson is one of three schools from California to make the list.
The ranking was compiled by the education company QS, which compiles a list of top business degrees around the world each year. The ranking takes into consideration factors such as an institution’s reputation among employers and in the academic community, in addition to the number of research citations the school gets in published papers within the fields of business and management. The Anderson School of Management dropped two places this year from 16th to the 18th highest ranked business degree in the world. While the list includes several schools from throughout the United States, top schools from the U.K. and Europe—like the London Business School—as well as top schools from Australia also make the list.
Click here to read more about the most powerful business degrees in the world.
Digital Transformation: At a Crossroads – UCI Paul Merage School of Business Newsroom
The Paul Merage School of Business at the University of California, Irvine recently hosted the annual Road to Reinvention conference at the end of March, hosting a number of top speakers within the industry to share their insights on digital innovation. The event was hosted by the Center of Digital Transformation (CDT) at Merage, with the CDT’s founder—professor of information systems and computer science Vijay Gurbaxani—as the keynote speaker.
“We are at a crossroads,” Gurbaxani said in his opening speech. “Technology is extraordinarily powerful and can lead to fantastic things for society and the economy. But, we have to manage the risks. It is incumbent upon every one of us to lead this change responsibly.”
Read more about the insights shared at the 2018 Road to Reinvention conference here.
The Aetna-CVS Merger, Graziadio Name Change and More – Los Angeles News
We’ve rounded up some of the top stories from business schools in the Los Angeles metro this week.
Will the Aetna/CVS Merger Transform American Health Care? – Mihaylo News Room
Xiaoying Xie, finance professor at the Mihaylo College of Business at California State University, Fullerton, weighed in this week on the potential upcoming Aetna-CVS merger. The deal, which was approved by both companies’ shareholders in December 2017, remains to be confirmed by the federal Department of Justice.
A specialist in insurance studies, Professor Xie believes there may be potential benefits to the merger. By combining insurance companies, medical providers and pharmacy services, Xie says, benefits will be passed on to the consumers in the form of convenience and lowered costs. “It may possibly lower the overall health care costs through offering a one-stop solution for minor medical services and helping members manage their chronic diseases more cost-effectively.”
To read more about the merger and Professor Xie’s research, click here.
Fishing for Profits: UCLA Anderson Field Study Team Dives Deep into Galapagos Tuna Supply Chain – UCLA Anderson Blog
MBA students at the UCLA Anderson School of Management recently gave their final presentations as part of the school’s Applied Management Research (AMR) program. AMR is the country’s first ever business school field study program, partnering students with top organizations to solve an important strategic problem. MBA students in the AMR program complete research projects in place of a thesis, and this year that included four Anderson teams partnering with Conservation International, an organization that connects student consultants with local experts and indigenous groups.
This year’s teams were sponsored by the Center for Global Management and included collaboration with Conservation International to develop sustainable solutions and boost economies throughout centers of environmental importance throughout the world.
UCLA ’18 MBA students Daniel Osorio, Traci Kuratomi, Will Berman, and Kevin Oswald (left to right) in the Galapagos / Photo via blogs.anderson.ucla.edu
“Going to the Galapagos Islands provided a wealth of information crucial to the success of this project, which would have been impossible to gather otherwise. At the same time, we greatly enjoyed meeting people in the local community and each of us has been left with memories we will take well beyond the conclusion of this project,” the group said.
Click here to read more about the Applied Management Research and the story of the UCLA Anderson team.
Pepperdine University Announces Business School Name Change – Pepperdine Newsroom
The Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University officially changed its name to the Pepperdine Graziadio Business School, effective late last March. According to dean Deryck J. van Rensburg, the change reflects the school’s future, unifying under one consistent brand while enabling the business school to maintain its connection to Pepperdine.
The renaming of the business school is just one step in a comprehensive strategic plan for the school, which has been laid out in a document called ASPIRE 2025.
“As Pepperdine continues to set standards for progress and innovation, the renaming of the Graziadio School of Business and Management is an exciting part of the momentum that will propel the University into a new era,” said Pepperdine president Andrew K. Benton.
Click here to read more about the renaming and the future of Graziadio.
An Inside Look at UCLA Anderson Impact Week 2018
Five years ago, UCLA Anderson students, professors, and alumni first got together for a week-long conference about creating positive social change. Now, Impact Week is an annual event that features talks and workshops from some of the world’s leading business experts examining what the future will hold, particularly as it relates to having a positive impact.
The goal of the Impact Week conference is to help attendees rethink the role of social impact—it’s not just for non-profit organizations. Instead, attendees will be introduced to many different ways that for-profit businesses can make an impact across industries. To make this possible, the event brings in many top business leaders with experience all over the board. Some of this year’s speaker’s include:
- Cara Chacon, VP of social & environmental responsibility at Patagonia
- Chuck Lee, director of insights at Buzzfeed Entertainment Group
- Darya Allen-Attar, financial advisor at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management
- Les Borsai, founder and CEO of Gridmob
- Jennifer Vaden Barth, program manager, CS education in media at Google
This year’s conference will start on April 9th and run through April 13, and will feature workshops, panels, screenings, network mixers, receptions, and more. Each event held during the week covers a different topic. Taken together they are intended to provide a full overview of social impact. Topics to be covered include:
- Impact Investing
- How Profit is Possible in the Affordable Housing Space
- Impact in Media and Entertainment
- How to Drive Impact Through Design
- Impact on the Blockchain
- Diversity & Inclusion in Tech
Most days, the conference holds an event over lunch from 11:30 a.m. until 12:30 or 1 p.m. The remaining events for each day then typically take place after 5 p.m., so that attendees can join after work. Anyone and everyone is welcome at Impact Week, including MBA students, students from the greater UCLA community, professionals outside of UCLA, and more.
The cost to attend is $20 for the week, plus $5 per event. To learn more about the conference and to purchase your tickets, click here.
This article has been edited and republished with permissions from our sister site, Clear Admit.
Don’t Forget These April MBA Deadline Dates
Don’t be left behind, and get a jump on the MBA application process this April! Here’s your guide to the April MBA deadline dates in some of our top metros.
