The Heart of Entrepreneurship, at the UC San Diego Rady School of Management
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For frequent visitors to Southern California, the seemingly endless list of adorning communities and picturesque landscapes likely come to mind first. But for locals and those in the business community, San Diego isn’t just a beautiful place; it’s also a landmark of entrepreneurship.
Continue reading…Flex Advantage: Finding Which MBA is Right for you at UC San Diego
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On the surface, a part-time MBA decision has obvious benefits. In contrast with full-time MBA degrees, scheduling is often much more flexible, allowing students to complete the program on their own time while continuing their careers outside of the classroom. However, there are more factors that go into the decision-making process before enrolling in business school. How experienced are the faculty? What kinds of experiences can you earn at one school that you cannot at another?
The multiple part-time MBA options at the University of California San Diego Rady School of Management offer consummate answers to these enduring questions. Its FlexWeekend and FlexEvening programs do not fit the traditional part-time MBA billing. Rather, it incorporates elements of the full-time, part-time, and Executive MBA offerings you may find split at many other top-ranked schools, giving students a definitively unique learning opportunity.
5 Questions With the UC San Diego Director of Graduate Recruitment & Admissions
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In our latest installment of the MetroMBA “5 Questions” series, we speak with Jay Bryant, Director of Graduate Recruitment & Admissions at the UC San Diego Rady School of Management. Bryant discusses the exceptional entrepreneurship culture at Rady and San Diego at large, plus what students hoping to join the UC San Diego MBA program should expect.
1. If you had to describe how Rady fosters entrepreneurship to someone who never heard of the school, what would you tell them?
“Rady is a school that was founded on the concept of innovation. It is our foundation—our very DNA! Innovation is the mother of entrepreneurship as I see it. All of our students come in with the passion of bringing new value to the world while the faculty, staff, and administration all foster an environment where the entrepreneurial spirit of our students can grow and practice their entrepreneurial interests in the safe and supportive environment of our school. As I see it, the top five ways in which the Rady School provides a perfect match for those wanting to pursue an entrepreneurially focused education are:
- Every class in our curriculum is designed for a student body driven by innovation and entrepreneurship.
- All of our students come into our program with a desire to be entrepreneurs or managers in the innovation economy. Therefore, students are always surrounded by collaborative and like-minded individuals that create the unique Ready School environment.
- The Lab to Market program—a three-course, capstone experience—gives students the opportunity to take an idea in any industry all the way from the mind of the student to ready to launch. Many of our students do actually launch their projects after graduation.
- The Rady School’s California Institute for Innovation and Development (CIID) allows for students to take part in a number of its initiatives designed to accelerate and promote innovation.
- The local San Diego community knows of the Rady School’s connection to innovation and entrepreneurship and therefore regularly works closely with us on capstone projects, internships, and career opportunities.”
2. Is there any particular kind of company or idea that tends to flourish in the program?
“Our students are trained to be part of the innovation driven economy, therefore, the companies that work most closely with us are those that have to reinvent themselves every year to stay relevant. The two largest sectors hiring our students are technology and bio-technology. In both of these sectors they seek managers who are excited to take on the new initiatives and new markets.”
The three-year Rady Lab to Market program “gives students the opportunity to take an idea in any industry all the way from the mind of the student to ready to launch,” according to Bryant.
3. Is there something about San Diego specifically that tends to bring out the best in entrepreneurs?
“San Diego is consistently ranked among the best cities for startup companies. It is part of the spirit of California in general. Ever since the gold rush, California has been a state focused on the future and the new frontiers. Everywhere you look you find innovations that are coming from California—we literally create the future here in California. Innovation is not just an interest of the Rady School, rather it is in the spirit of the entirety of UC San Diego.”
4. What should hopeful students know about the program that they may not necessarily know until they start?
“I think what surprises students the most is entering into a community where everyone greatly values innovation. Through the admissions process we are searching for the individuals who will really fit the personality and passion of what we do. It is not until the first day of orientation do these selected individuals all wind up in the same place at the same time. Being surrounded by like-minded individuals only makes this passion grow over the course of their study.”
5. Is there any kind of student you want to see more of in the program?
“We believe that innovation comes from every industry. We are an appropriate program for individuals wanting to work at large organizations like Google or Tesla, but we are also appropriate for those wanting to start smaller ventures of their own. We want a well-rounded cohort of students that brings in the best from every industry, level of government, developmental or non-profit organizations, and any other entities where innovation drives their future success.”
To learn more about the UC San Diego Rady School of Management and the UC San Diego MBA, visit the school website.
Real Humans of the Rady School of Management MBA Program
In less than 20 years since opening in 2001, the University of California San Diego Rady School of Management has quickly cemented itself as one of the best up-and-coming business schools in California. Regarded as one of the 100 best business schools in the world by The Economist, with an impeccably strong and celebrated faculty, Rady has nurtured an increasingly excelling MBA class.
The Rady School of Business Class of 2019 MBA sported a gaudy median GMAT score of 670 and an undergraduate GPA of 3.21. These students also joined the program having amassed more than five years of professional work experience, on average, with numerous prospective graduates coming from well-known companies like: Intel Corporation, Loreal, Princeton University, and Scripps Health. As well, about 16 percent of students within the class joined the program having already earned either their Ph.D. or an additional Master’s degree.
Considering San Diego’s strong connection to the United States Armed Forces, it isn’t surprising to hear that many students in the Class of 2019 come directly from the U.S. Army, Navy, and Army. The Rady School of Management, along with many of UC San Diego’s additional graduate schools, show a concerted effort to bring in those with military experience, offering MBA fee waivers, as well help from an extensive network of school alumni that continue to work with the U.S. military.
But the Class of 2019, and the Rady School of Management itself, goes much deeper. With a budding entrepreneurial culture, students are coming in from all over the world to help build groundbreaking startup companies. In fact, more than 40 percent of the MBA Class of 2019 comes from outside the United States, utilizing Rady’s numerous startup resources, like the StartR Accelerator program, mystartupXX Accelerator, and the Rady Venture Club, among others.
To get a greater understanding of what it means to be a Rady MBA, and how the school continues to help develop a rich entrepreneurial foundation, we spoke with several current students, including a consultant from Bangalore, a software developer from Kolkata, and a local equine veterinarian hoping to build a “biotech and medical industry consulting firm in for both the human and veterinary market.”
Read on to see what’s in store for these students at Rady and what life after an MBA may look like.
Rady Social Venture Accelerator Inspires Students to Give Back
Responding to a recent rise in social entrepreneurship, the Rady School of Management at UC San Diego has opened the Social Venture Accelerator, a new business development hub focused on companies that both raise profits and address social issues.
UC San Diego Rady School Alums Help Local Economic Growth
The Rady School of Management is helping San Diego‘s economy—and that’s thanks to startups coming out of its graduating classes.
Since the school’s first MBA class graduated just over 10 years ago, its students and alumni have gone on to start 150 operational companies, according to the school. More than 70 percent of these are still in San Diego, adding $2 billion into the economy both locally and nationally. Overall, 15 percent of Rady graduates operate a successful company.
These startups include a number of industries, including biotech, consumer products, and healthcare, among others. In the first half of 2017, startups raised more than $75 million, a rate that continues to grow throughout the end of 2017.
Rady alum Suman Kanuganti graduated in 2014 and went on to found Aira, a tech company that helps visually impaired people by wearing a device that connects them with remote agents. Another graduate, Silvia Mah, created HeraLabs, a business accelerator made exclusively for women.
“The Rady School’s approach is to support startups from ideation and development to the successful launch and growth of a company,” Rady School Dean Robert S. Sullivan said in the press release.
The Lab to Market course is behind this success. Students learn all about startups and how they get from proposal to realization. This course creates an environment where students get real-world experience. The accelerator programs build on this approach by mentoring these up-and-coming businesses.
Rady might be young compared to other business schools around the country, but it offers lots to its students and their ambitions. Sixteen Nobel Laureates and McArthur Foundation award winners have come out of the school. Someone can obtain an MBA through its full-time program or flexible program.
Then, they can launch their own company confident in Rady’s abilities—and their own.
