UC Irvine Introduces New Entrepreneurship Degree
Late last month, the Paul Merage School of Business at the University of California-Irvine has revealed its new Master of Innovation and Entrepreneurship degree. This UC Irvine entrepreneurship Master’s program will officially begin in fall 2019.
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 Best Long Angeles MBA Return on Investment Bets
Return on Investment (ROI) is one of the most important factors a prospective MBA can take into consideration when choosing the right business school.
Of course, the true value of each MBA program may ultimately be something impossible to measure. The kind of connections made through professional networking, the soft skills that students attain which help them navigate through both their personal and professional life—these aren’t things that can be easily quantified. But, thankfully, factors like average salary increase, rate of post-graduate employment and the overall tuition of a program are. And these numbers can help students start to better see an overall picture of what each MBA is worth.
The Best Long Angeles MBA Return on Investment
The Marshall School of Business – USC
The Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California is consistently one of the top ranked MBA programs in the state of California and even throughout the country. Specific ROI aside, these sorts of honors should also be a factor when considering the overall value of the program: for example, Marshall has been named the third best program for “Most Satisfied Business School Graduates” by Forbes and sixth on The Economist’s ranking of “Best Alumni Networks.”
Based on tuition for the 2017-18 school year, the total expense (tuition, fees and living expenses included) to pursue a full-time MBA at Marshall would be $95,881 for the first year and $82,522 for the second, for a total of $178,403.
Now take into consideration the fact that the average salary for graduates of Marshall’s full-time MBA program within three months of graduation is $115,309, and that the large majority of job offers (38 percent) for MBA students came from on-campus recruiting or job postings through the university. The second highest source of employment (21 percent) came from internships held while in the MBA program. Furthermore, a number of top organizations—such as Apple, AT&T, and Walt Disney Studios—hired the graduates of Marshall’s 2016 MBA class. All of these factors boost the overall ROI of Marshall’s program, making it one of the top valued programs in L.A.—even with the high price tag.
Anderson School of Management – UCLA
The Anderson School of Management at UCLA is another program which offers a high ROI when considering the types of opportunities and salaries available to students after graduation. While the tuition cost is certainly high—roughly $194,220 (including fees and living expenses) for the the two years of the program, the benefits to students are undeniable.
A look at the full-time employment report for the most recent MBA class finds that 92.4 percent of students were offered full-time employment within just three months of graduation, with 87.7 percent acceptances. By far (72.2 percent) , students found their employment opportunities through Anderson-facilitated resources, such as internships, on-campus recruiting, or from UCLA Anderson alumni and classmates.
The salaries for graduating Anderson students also reveals a positive trend: the average post-graduate compensation was $118,150, with 70.6 percent of students earning signing bonuses of up to $89,500. The connections sewn by Anderson internships and alumnae also reveal a significant payoff in the types of organizations hiring Anderson alum: companies like NBC Universal, IBM, Barclays, Google, and other major corporations now have Anderson MBA graduates on staff.
The Paul Merage School of Business – University of California, Irvine
The UC Irvine Paul Merage School of Business is one of the top business schools in the Los Angeles metro area, as evidenced by its consistently high rankings from various publications, such as the Financial Times and U.S. News & World Report.
With the program’s recognition for its high lifetime earnings combined with the relatively low cost the degree, it’s no surprise that that the program at UC Irvine produces a high return on investment. The estimated total annual cost of an MBA at Merage ranges from $67,422—$83,967, depending on if you whether or not you are a resident of California and whether or not you will be using campus. This is compared with an average post-graduate salary of $97,808 for the 2017 graduating class. About 50 percent of all students were employed by graduation, and 81 percent held full-time jobs within three months.
Graziado School of Business and Management – Pepperdine University
One of the reasons Pepperdine’s Graziado School of Business boasts such a high return on investment is the many different formats in which students can pursue a full-time degree. With the opportunity to take the full-time MBA over the course of 12, 15, or 20 months, the Graziado MBA typically costs less overall ($74,250 for the 12-month program, $99,000 for all others) and means less time away from a full-time paycheck.
Combine this with the success rate of 82 percent of students accepting job within three months after graduation and a $120,000 starting salary (at highest), and its understandable why Graziado graduates find incredible value in their degree.
Los Angeles News: Black Panther’s Success, UC Irvine Commencement, and More
We’ve rounded up some of the biggest news coming out of Los Angeles business schools this week.
‘Black Panther’ success amplifies findings of UCLA’s Hollywood Diversity Report – UCLA Newsroom
The immense success of Black Panther, the newest entrant into the Marvel cinematic universe, is pushing against the old Hollywood narrative that diverse casts often hinder the financial success of films, according to UCLA Anderson. Less than two weeks after its debut, the film has already grossed $400 million in the U.S. alone, with gross worldwide sales surpassing $727 million.
According to Forbes, the film is approaching the all-time pantheon of financially successful films:
This puts the MCU action drama’s 11-day domestic total at $411.7 million. Yes, it is already past Captain America: Civil War ($408 million in 2016) and Iron Man 3 ($409m in 2013) to be the third-biggest MCU grosser. And it’s pennies away from topping Wonder Woman ($412.5m in 2017). Once it tops Wonder Woman, presumably by the end of this sentence, Black Panther will be the fifth-biggest comic book superhero movie of all time in unadjusted North American grosses, behind only The Dark Knight Rises ($448m in 2012), Avengers: Age of Ultron ($458m in 2015), The Dark Knight ($534m in 2008) and The Avengers ($623m).
UCLA Anderson points out that the Black Panther box office success underscores its Hollywood Diversity Report, which it explains in full below:
UC Irvine’s Paul Merage School of Business Announces Experian North America CEO Craig Boundy as 2018 Distinguished Executive Commencement Speaker – UCI Paul Merage School of Business Newsroom
The Paul Merage School of Business at UC Irvine recently announced that the 2018 Distinguished Executive Commencement Speaker will be Craig Boundy, CEO of Experian North America. Over 670 graduates will be part of the event, including students from Undergraduate, MBA and PhD programs, as well as the first-ever graduating class of the Master of Finance and Master of Science in Business Analytics programs.
Boundy has a long career in business, with experience in marketing services, decision analytics and customer service. Beginning in a role with British Telecommunications, Boundy has moved through the ranks before joining Experian in 2011 and ultimately moving into the CEO role in 2014. “The opportunity to share my experiences and inspiration with the graduates from the Merage School is an honor,” Boundy said. “Our future success lies in our ability to develop agile leaders ho anticipate disruption and capitalize on creating new opportunities in the marketplace. The graduates from the Merage School are those leaders.”
Read more about Boundy and the Merage Commencement Ceremony here.
USC Marshall Online MBA Breaks Top Ten in U.S. News Rankings – U.S. News & World Report
After some considerable changes to the U.S. News & World Report Online MBA ranking, the USC Marshall School of Business online program jumped to the 8th overall spot—four spots higher than last year.
The school’s Vice Dean for Online Education, Sandra Chrystal, Ph.D, said, “We look forward to sustaining the success of the Online MBA program well into the digital future by maintaining our dedication to delivering an innovative, high-touch, advanced business education to accomplished working professionals who need online flexibility to stay on track while earning their degree.”
You can read more about the USC Marshall online program ranking here.
Merage School of Business MBA Earns Praise From The Economist
The UC Irvine’s Merage School of Business received some good news after the school was ranked in latest business school rankings of The Economist. The school placed 39th in the nation, 16th among public schools, and 56th in the world. The Los Angeles metro business school also scored well in categories including 29th in Open New Career Opportunities; 17th in alumnus rating of career services; and 13th in salary increase.
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