My Decision on Business School (MBA)- Santa Clara, Leavey School of business

This post is supposed to be my private notes. However, I thought this post would help many more out there who are deciding between colleges. The decision of choosing the college is a mix of quantitative, qualitative, personal and emotional analysis. One might get so many conflicting opinions and finally one may be totally confused about the DECISION.

I finally decided to take the admission in the Santa Clara University for the various reasons (commute from office/home, total cost of the program…see more criteria below) Everyone have their own priorities and expectations. Depending on what your goals are, the decision parameters and the end result might differ. However, it is worthwhile to consider all the options available and take a careful decision on the MBA program that’s going to get added for rest of your life.

Following were my considerations when I started to prepare for the GMAT-

• Reputation of the School
• Is this school recognized out side Bay Area ?
• Is this school recognized out side California ?
• Is this school recognized out side USA ?
• Total Cost of the Program
• Is it affordable? Is it Worth ?
• Campus
• Is it necessary to be in Campus ?
• What do you want to do with Campus ?
• Do you have much time to hand around in Campus ?
• Alumni
• Do you have powerful Alumni ?
• Is Alumni active ?
• Can you benefit from Alumni ?
• Industry Connection
• Does the school provide good exposure ?
• Can you get connections from School ?
• Do you get access to best people from Industry ?
• Diversity of Students
• Do you want same mind set of people or different ?
• Do you want to stick to same field of profession even after MBA ?
• Do you respect the opinion of a person in other profession ?
• Faculty
• Do you have a guest faculty or a full-time faculty ?
• Do you get the professors from undergraduate program ?
• Are they well qualified and well experienced in Industry.

Once I had the criteria, it was easy for me to decide. I definitely wanted to join something that i felt “GOOD” and “CONVENIENT”. Following is my general impression on the application process for each University.

Golden Gate University : Had to send the GMAT score, TOEFL waiver essay, 2 Recommendations, 1 Application Essay/Statement of Purpose, Transcripts directly from University and the application fee. It was a very smooth process and i had no issues with the communication or the way they handled the application. They offer an MBA with in 21 months and the tuition fee is relatively less in Golden Gate. I had a personal interview with the director of the program where we discussed my experience, why i want to do my MBA and my future aspirations. All in all, it was a nice experience.

UC Berkley : This needed GMAT score, waived TOEFL, 2 recommendations, 2 long-essays, 3 short-essays, 1 personal interview and the Transcripts sent to them directly once you get admitted. The cost of the program is quite high though if you compare it with SCU of GGU. I was called up the personal interview and it was not that easy.

My overall impression was great and very satisfied with the way they answer the questions/queries about the program.

Santa Clara University : SCU needs GMAT score, waived the TOEFL, 2 paper based recommendations, 2 application essays and the Transcripts sent to them directly. I loved the campus and the class rooms (i took guest student class) and the professors looked very knowledgeable. Students that i talked to gave a very good impression of the program. This program has mostly students from the IT/Software industry. Probably people looking for diversity may not find this as a best choice.

My overall impression was that this is a great school and i had a smooth communication. The admission team is nice and professional.

I consider deciding an MBA program is like decision of marriage. One needs to be very careful with personal expectation and the spouse’s. If your mess up the expectations, you screw up the complete relationship. It takes a lot of effort to analyze and decide what each one of us wants.

My decision is my decision. I want any readers to take my opinions with a grain of salt and use your own discretion. My situation may not be your situation.