UC-San Diego

University of California at San Diego

Rady School of Management

Flex Weekend MBA

9500 Gilman Drive

#0553

San Diego, CA 92093

Admissions: 858.-534-0864

Email: mbaadmissions@ucsd.edu

Website: http://rady.ucsd.edu/mba/flex/

Apply Online: https://app.applyyourself.com/?ID=ucsd-gsm

Two interesting facts that speak volumes about this program. Last year, only 31 managers applied to the Rady School of Management’s Flex Weekend program and 100% of them were accepted. The cost of the program: $94,300.

In the same year, 56 managers applied to San Diego State University’s EMBA program and only 63% were accepted. The cost of that degree: $48,960, more than $45,000 cheaper. Yet, the San Diego State program is ranked by BusinessWeek (while the UC-SD program is not) and the San Diego State program cost includes an international trip to Mexico (while the UC-SD program lacks and trips or residencies).

What gives? Typically, the UC Schools are the crown jewels of the American education system. But at least in this market, San Diego State’s program has trumped its local rival in the EMBA game.

As EMBA programs go, this is one of the most plain vanilla ones in the area. Classes meet on alternating Fridays and Saturdays over a rather lengthy 24 months. Students typically take a fairly standard menu of three courses in each of the eight quarters of the program in a class that generally numbers between 25 and 30 students.

There are no residencies. No consulting projects with corporate partners. No international study trip abroad. No executive coaching or career development sessions are baked into the program despite the fact that it costs more than twenty grand than the average EMBA experience. Even the most creative feature of the Rady School’s full-time program–a Lab-to-Market course sequence that helps students develop an idea and then capture its value in the marketplace–has no place in the school’s executive version of the MBA. That’s the exact opposite of the approach taken by the University of Michigan which includes its signature course–a months long multi-disciplinary consulting project with an organization–in both the full-time and executive MBA programs.

Application Deadlines: Feb. 6, April 9, May 21

Latest Up-to-Date Executive MBA Rankings:

2012 Poets&Quants: NR

2011 BusinessWeek: NR

2011 U.S. News & World Report: NR

2010 The Wall Street Journal: NR

2011 Financial Times: NR

Rankings Analysis: The Rady EMBA program is unranked.

Application Fee: $200

2012 Tuition & Fees: $94,300

Average Months of Work Experience: 151

GMAT Required: No. Academic transcripts are reviewed.

Acceptance Rate: 100%

EMBA Enrollment: 46

International: 24%

Female: 14%

Hispanic/Latino: 19%

Asian-American:  6%

Mean Age: 40

Classes Meet: Fridays from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., with dinner and a speaker following a day of classes, and from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays of of alternating weekends. No residencies or international study trips.

Length of Program: 24 months

  • Students work in these functional categories:

    • Consulting: 14%
    • Finance/Accounting 10%
    • General Management : 33%
    • Marketing/Sales: 5%
    • Operations/Logistics: 19%
    • Other: 19%
  • Students work in these industries:

    • Consumer Products: 5%
    • Financial Services: 5%
    • Government: 14%
    • Manufacturing: 5%
    • Petroleum/Energy: 9%
    • Pharmaceutical/Biotechnology/Health Care: 10%
    • Real Estate: 5%
    • Technology: 5%
    • Other: 42%

ALSO SEE: THE BEST LOS ANGELES METRO EXECUTIVE MBA PROGRAMS 

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