The Top Healthcare MBA Programs in California
The California healthcare industry is booming. The industry employs more than 1.4 million people across ambulatory settings, hospitals, and residential care facilities. And as the population continues to age, there’s no doubt that the healthcare industry will continue to expand.
So, it should come as no surprise that an MBA in healthcare is becoming a more popular track for future business leaders. With the industry estimated to be worth $2.26 trillion, there are many opportunities across the board. The key is to choose the right healthcare MBA.
Here are our top six California Healthcare MBA programs:
How To Break Into the International Business World in San Diego
Known for its beautiful beaches, perfect weather, and being the home to Comic-Con, San Diego is the ideal destination for those seeking serious studies and fun in the sun. Located a mere 100 miles south of the entertainment capital of the world, San Diego is surrounded by some North America’s busiest ports, and due to its location directly on the border with Tijuana, Mexico, large portions of its population and workforce cross the border daily. Aside from being an economic powerhouse, Southern California’s diverse landscape and international visibility make it one of the premier tourist industries on the planet. The advantages of this region are innumerable, especially compared to the rest of the country. Natural Splendor aside, San Diego Also boasts a booming biotech industry and is located in the richest state in the nation. If California was its own country, it would have the sixth largest economy in the world just between the U.K. and France.
San Diego’s multicultural environment and bustling trade economy make it an excellent place to earn an MBA with a career focus in international business. Below, we’ve laid out four of our favorite SD schools to earn the degree.
Our Favorite San Diego International MBA Programs
California International Business University (CIBU)
The California International Business University offers an ideal San Diego international MBA. In addition to the San Diego campus, CIBU has campuses in China, Vietnam, Myanmar, and Denmark, it’s home country. From the time the school was started, its mission was to provide students with a unique international education that would ensure that they entered the business world with a well-rounded perspective upon graduation. Since the school has only 300 students, it is an excellent option for students seeking more individualized attention.
Fermanian School of Business – Point Loma Nazarene University
San Diego’s Fermanian School of Business offers 10-day international trips to cities in Europe, Asia, and South America. These trips are open to all MBA students, in order to help MBAs gain a global perspective, and an understanding of the business practices and ethics in cultures around the world. Fermanian is also ideal for students looking to pursue their MBA in a values-focused environment, as the school integrates Christian principles into their curriculum and culture.
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: What Are The Highest Paid MBA Salaries in San Diego?
Fowler College of Business Administration – SDSU
MBA students looking for an education tailored to international business would be wise to look at the San Diego State University Fowler College of Business Administration’s International Business Specialization. Students in this program are groomed to take on significant roles with multinational enterprises, nonprofits, and government agencies. This specialization offers electives such as international business finance, international marketing, and global supply chain management.
University of San Diego School of Business Administration
The International MBA (IMBA) at the University of San Diego’s School of Business Administration is an 11-month program that includes a site visit to Madrid, as well as an international consulting project that will involve working with companies in Asia, Latin America, or Europe. Students will spend one summer in Madrid before returning to the San Diego campus. Eventually, all students will complete an international consulting project that will give them the opportunity to problem-solve on a global scale.
What Are The Highest Paid MBA Salaries in San Diego?
If you’re looking to take in the California sun but avoid the fast-paced and high-priced centers of Silicon Valley or Los Angeles, heading southward to San Diego may be the perfect place for an up-and-coming business professional. Recently named the eighth best big city to live in the U.S., based on livability, education, health, and a strong local economy, San Diego is increasingly becoming the perfect spot for business students looking to advance their education and start a career. Not only is San Diego the perfect spot for those breaking into well-established fields within business, but it has also been ranked by Forbes as the best city to start a new business in the U.S. Demonstrating heavy concentrations in areas that predict high growth combined with adaptability to new business methods and tech make San Diego the perfect place for young entrepreneurs to put their education to work.
Of course, a city can really only top the list for business students if it can offer quality educations and high-value degrees. In a state with a notoriously high cost of living, students thinking about pursuing a degree in San Diego will want to be sure their investment is worth it.
Thankfully, San Diego offers a number of quality business schools with graduates that are able to quickly turn their degree into a high salary and promising career. Let’s take a closer look at the business schools with the highest post-graduate salaries for MBAs in San Diego.
Rady School of Management – UC San Diego
According to the Rady School of Management at UC San Diego Class of 2017 Employment Report for full-time MBA graduates, the overall salary average for MBA students was $84,335, with a majority of graduates finding jobs in San Diego’s ever-emerging technology industry. Tech-based companies actively hiring recent Rady MBAs include Amazon, HP, IBM, and San Diego’s own Qualcomm Technologies, Inc, among others.
Not only are the post-MBA salaries high for Rady graduates, but so is the likelihood that graduates will secure a job. About 82 percent of graduates had secured a job within just three months of graduating, and 10 percent started their very own company—reflective of San Diego’s entrepreneurial environment.
University of San Diego School of Business Administration
The average salary for graduates from The University of San Diego School of Business Administration is $72,363, with a true range of salaries anywhere from $50,000 to $100,000 per year. Within just three months after graduation from the School of Business, 83 percent of MBA students would find employment, covering a wide range of industries from technology (40 percent) to consulting (20 percent) and consumer products (20 percent). Top companies such as Amazon, Deloitte, Intel, and Hewlett Packard have hired USD MBA graduates.
Fowler College of Business Administration – SDSU
The Fowler College of Business at San Diego State University also boasts some of the highest MBA salaries in San Diego. More than two-thirds of graduates from the full-time MBA program at Fowler would find jobs or promotions within three months after earning their MBA, with an average salary of $61,467. Graduates were spread through a number of industries and professional functions, the most significant percentage working in business development/sales and within the Technology/IT/Information Systems fields. Following graduation, Fowler students found jobs with some of the country’s top brands, such as The Gap Inc., GEICO, HSBC Group, and PepsiCo Inc.
For prospective MBA students looking to get paid out west, you can check out our overview of the highest paid MBA salaries in Los Angeles and San Francisco as well.
Part-Time MBA Battle: Los Angeles vs. San Diego
When someone decides to pursue an MBA, there are a lot of decisions to make. From choosing between full-time and part-time programs and deciding on the perfect city in which to launch your business career, there are a lot of factors to take into consideration.
For prospective MBA students who want to maintain the momentum of their career—rather than take a break for the degree—and earn all the benefits and job growth of an MBA while preserving flexibility, a part-time MBA program may be perfect. But even when you’ve settled on the type of degree you’d like to receive, choosing where to pursue that degree can be a challenge.
It’s well-known that the Golden State has a number of business centers—even outside of the famous Silicon Valley and San Francisco—and can be the perfect place for someone to earn a degree or start their business career. With excellent part-time MBA programs in business hubs like San Diego and Los Angeles, it can be difficult for students to figure out the city and program that is perfect for them.
San Diego
Although San Francisco is well known around the world as a hub for startups, it was ultimately San Diego that took the top spot on Forbes‘ list of the “Best Cities to Start a Business.” Rated the fifth-best business community in the country, San Diego’s community of entrepreneurs has been growing exponentially in recent years.
Some businesses may be concerned about San Diego’s high real estate prices or high taxes for businesses. Yet, with a comparatively low cost of living—in contrast to New York or San Francisco—the benefits for a business (especially a new one) in San Diego may far outweigh any concerns.
There are three main part-time MBA programs in San Diego: the Rady School of Management at UC San Diego; the California School of Management & Leadership at Alliant University; and the Fowler College of Business Administration at SDSU.
Rady’s part-time MBA, better known as the Flex MBA, is the top-rated part-time program in the metro area. Students can complete the program on two distinct paths: the FlexWeekend track or the FlexEvening track. FlexEvening students attend classes on two nights per week over the course of 30 months, while FlexWeekend students attend classes on Fridays and Saturdays on alternative weekends. Unlike the FlexEvening option, however, this FlexWeekend path can be completed in 24 months, while still offering flexibility around professional work schedules.
At the California School of Management & Leadership, the MBA program requires students to take a full course load but offers the schedule and flexibility of a part-time program. Providing a strong foundation in business, leadership, and analytical skills, Alliant’s program can be taken either on campus in San Diego or completely online. The courses are entirely offered in the evening and all scheduling is done in consideration of working professionals. Even with the incredibly flexible schedule, however, students will take a full course load of two courses per eight-week term and therefore can still complete their degree in just two years. The program also allows students a number of concentrations to further focus their education.
At the Fowler College of Business, the part-time MBA requires students to complete 15 classes (or 45 units) total, but allows students three-to-four years to complete their degree, rather than just one or two. Classes are typically offered during evening hours and allow students to continue in full-time jobs. The program requires 15-21 units of core courses as part of the degree, but also permits students to use their additional elective credits to focus in a concentration such as international business, accounting and more.
Los Angeles
While it might seem like the film industry dominates the LA metro, it is also a vibrant and growing city for business, tech, and entrepreneurship. Between the diversity of the city, which brings together people from around the world, and a population bursting with creativity, it can be a perfect place for people to show off their talents, and that just might be in marketing, sales, or getting a new company off the ground. Many of the most successful companies in the country have had their start in Los Angeles, such as CitySearch (sold to Ticketmaster for $260 million) or LowerMyBills (sold to Experian for $330).
Several part-time MBA programs in Los Angeles include:
- Peter F. Drucker and Masatoshi Ito Graduate School of Management – Claremont Graduate University
- Graziadio School of Business and Management – Pepperdine University
- Marshall School of Business – USC
The Drucker and Masatoshi Ito Graduate School of Management offers a part-time MBA program for working professionals which takes roughly two and a half years to complete and includes two sessions over the summer. The part-time program is similar to full-time, offering classes that provide a strong business foundation such as Quantitative Methods and Marketing Management or Managerial Accounting. Students can still be active in the workforce while earning their degree, but if they have time away from their jobs they can also pursue study abroad in countries like China, New Zealand, or the Czech Republic.
The Graziado School at Pepperdine’s part-time MBA is available to students either on-campus, online, or a combination of the two. The program can also be pursued at any of Pepperdine’s four campus locations in the Los Angeles metro area. The program consists of 52 semester units with the opportunity to specialize electives in areas such as Dispute Resolution or Organizational Change.
The part-time MBA at USC’s Marshall School of Business allows students to take classes only in the evenings and weekends, and can be completed in 33 months. The credits are evenly split between elective and core courses with the option of almost 100 elective courses offered ever year. After 12-months of core courses, all part-time students will also take PM.GLOBE, a semester-long macroeconomics class which also includes a 10-day international trip.
SDSU Sports MBA Hits a Home Run with SportBusiness International
The Sports MBA at San Diego State University Fowler College of Business Administration was recently ranked as one of the best programs in the world—fourth overall to be exact. SDSU received its new ranking thanks to SportBusiness International, which is one of the leading classification systems for postgraduate sports management courses. Continue reading…
Your Guide to the Best Marketing MBA Programs in San Diego
The San Diego metro is home to some of the country’s best weather and finest defense, tourism, international trade and research/manufacturing sectors. But “The Plymouth of the West” is also gaining notoriety as a rapidly growing digital marketing hub. Continue reading…
