USC / Marshall MBA News

Get the latest MBA news from USC / Marshall.

Published: November 18, 2020

Forté Foundation Report Reveals Women Holding Their Ground in MBA Programs

Women, disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic at work, are poised to be at the forefront of the coming recovery. The Forté Foundation has released a report indicating that, despite conditions that have widened the gender gap in the worldwide economy, enrollment of women in its member schools' MBA programs held its ground. Read more

Published: October 19, 2020

Real Humans of USC Marshall MBA Class of 2022

In this edition of Real Humans: MBA Students, we introduce a handful of new members of USC Marshall’s Trojan network. Based in Southern California, USC Marshall was the first AACSB-accredited business school of the area and boasts deep connections to Los Angeles and the greater SoCal regional community. 217 students matriculated for the Class of 2022. They averaged 28 years of age and 5 years of work experience. Nearly a quarter of the new class earned pre-MBA professional work experience in financial services. Technology was the next most popular industry source at Read more

Published: October 14, 2020

USC Marshall Interview Questions & Report: Round 1 / Adcom / Zoom

As a preface, this is my first and only interview for Round 1 of the Fall 2021 intake. I did two MBA interviews last year and ultimately deferred to this cycle, so I do have some experience. With that said, the interview was friendly as Grace Kim, the director of admissions, is a great interviewer. It is noticeable that she is at least using a mental list of questions if not following a prompt, which makes the interview less conversational, but she did work in a good amount of personal questions as follow-ups to my answers. The interview lasted 39 Read more

Published: September 20, 2020

USC MBA Class Profile: Domestic Diversity in the Marshall Class of 2022

The USC Marshall School of Business full-time MBA Class of 2022 profile is an example of how the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are not always apparent on the surface. While this year’s incoming students numbered 217—nearly identical to the 2019 class size—the student demographics are far different. Here are some key elements of the profile: USC MBA Class Profile: Undergraduate Background Average Undergraduate GPA 3.55 Percent majoring in arts, humanities, social sciences 29% Percent majoring in science, technology, engineering, and math 17% Percent majoring in business 33% USC Marshall Class of Read more

Published: July 8, 2020

USC Marshall Interview Questions & Report: Round 5 / Adcom / Skype

I was interviewed by Elaine. Very similar experience as what has been reported here. She was very nice, and the interview was casual and straightforward. The questions she asked me took about 15 min, then I filled up the remaining time with questions to ask her. I would prepare 5 – 7 questions to save for the end. She was happy to hear that I had connected with current students, so definitely try to do that prior to interviewing. Questions: Tell me about your undergrad/ Why did you choose your undergrad major? Resume walk through. Why MBA? Read more

Published: June 24, 2020

USC Marshall Interview Questions & Report: Round 5 / Adcom / Skype

As others have already written, the interview was very laid-back and casual. Elaine was very kind and started with some small talk, which put me at ease. The questions were exactly as others have already posted, very straight-forward: resume walk-through, why MBA, why Marshall, what are you most proud of?, what do you do in your free time?, do you have any questions for me? The questions she asked only lasted about 15 minutes and the rest of the time was spent with me asking her my questions. It was a very positive experience! Read more

Published: May 13, 2020

MBA Students Host Virtual Game Show to Raise Funds for Doctors Without Borders

Let’s get ready to… fundraaaaaaaise! The MBA Battle Royale, a virtual game show featuring students from leading business schools, will raise funds for Doctors Without Borders this Saturday, May 16th at 8 p.m. EST. Tickets are on sale now for $12, $25, $50 or however much more you’d like to donate—100 percent of proceeds go to Doctors Without Borders. If you purchase a ticket, expect a link and password to the Zoom event shortly before it begins this weekend. Support Your School and Watch the Fun MBA Battle Royale Participation Tracker by LeverEdge Read more

Published: March 16, 2020

U.S. News 2021 Business School Rankings Insights: HBS Sinks While Others Float On

The U.S. News & World Report Best Business Schools rankings are out and there are a few surprises, especially within the top 10. For those of you who have yet to see our announcement of the ranking, the top 25 schools in this year’s edition (with last year’s rankings included for reference) are as follows: School 2021 Rank 2020 Rank Stanford University 1 (tie) 2 University of Pennsylvania (Wharton) 1 (tie) 1 Northwestern University (Kellogg) 3 (tie) 6 University of Chicago (Booth) 3 (tie) 3 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sloan) 5 3 Read more

Published: March 16, 2020

Stanford & Wharton Share the Throne of Best Business School in U.S. News 2021 Rankings

While Wharton held the #1 spot of the Best Business Schools list from U.S. News & World Report last year, it is now joined by Stanford GSB at the top of the 2021 rankings. Northwestern Kellogg shot up three spaces to join Chicago Booth at #3. Then, MIT Sloan rounds out the top 5. Harvard Business School, which usually appears in the top 5 of any b-school ranking, Read more

Published: February 10, 2020

USC Marshall Interview Questions & Report: Round 2 / Adcom / On-Campus

Interviewer: Elaine Padilla Questions: 1. Tell me about your undergrad (I think this was just the ice breaker, because we then chatted about the state I live in) 2. Why did you choose your undergrad major? 3. Walk me through your resume 4. (She was referring to the ECs on my resume) What is the most meaningful EC you’ve done on this list? 5. What are 3 things your peers would say about you? 6. What is your weakness? 7. What type of person are you on a team? Do you step up? Read more

Published: February 9, 2020

Episode 80: Wire Taps—Choosing CMU Tepper, USC or UT McCombs with Scholarships

Tune into another podcast episode of Wire Taps, in which Clear Admit’s admissions experts offer advice on the MBA application and decision-making processes. Graham Richmond and Alex Brown review profiles of prospective MBA applicants as well as an admitted candidate. This week, they dig into three entries from MBA ApplyWire and MBA DecisionWire, including an MBA hopeful who applied to five schools with a 317 GRE. They also advise a prospective applicant who needs to compensate for a low GPA. Read more

Published: December 11, 2019

Real Humans of USC Marshall’s MBA Class of 2021

We head to sunny California for our latest profiles in Real Humans: MBA Students. The University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business boasts both the oldest entrepreneurship program in the U.S. and the first immersive international MBA experience of its kind. They were also the first top-tier MBA program to reach gender parity. Moreover, the USC Trojan brand is a powerful professional asset to both its current students and alumni, making USC Marshall a stand-out choice for MBA education. The 214 members of Read more

Published: December 8, 2019

USC Marshall Interview Questions & Report: Round 1 / Adcom / On-Campus

List of interview questions: Tell me about yourself. What is something I wouldn’t know about you from just reading your application? Why USC? Why LA? What do you hope to gain from the program? What do you hope to gain academically? What would you contribute to the student body? Why an MBA? Why now? What questions do you have? What else? Anything else? What more? What else are you curious about? What else can I help you uncover about the program? Did you receive your admissions decision? Yes. What did you think of the interview? Very casual. Read more

Published: October 27, 2019

Waiting on an MBA Interview Invitation? Tune into Clear Admit’s LiveWire and MBA Chats

Since we know some of you may be waiting anxiously in the next few weeks for MBA interview invitations, we wanted to remind you about two key resources that can help you through this busy—and often stressful—time: MBA LiveWire: Live reports from real candidates throughout the admissions process. Find the profiles of other applicants who applied to your target schools. Get live updates of those who have received an interview invitation or an admissions decision. Sort by school, admissions round, and the status of each entry to find the information you’re looking for. MBA Chats: Chat Read more

Published: July 29, 2019

MBA ApplyWire Spotlight: Needing the Numbers and More

As MBA hopefuls consider their chances at the leading business schools, many are posting to Clear Admit’s ApplyWire, an admissions tool for feedback on candidacy, school choice and more. This week, we shine the spotlight on two candidates. The first has some room for improvement with their academic stats while applying to Berkeley / Haas, Columbia, Michigan / Ross, NYU Stern, UCLA Anderson, USC / Marshall, and Yale SOM. Read on for the details. Resident expert, Alex Brown, took the stage, so to speak: Read more

Published: June 30, 2019

The Online MBA: An Increasingly Competitive Alternative

For busy career professionals who can’t afford to take time off of work or who travel or live away from a world-class university, an Online MBA program is a viable option. The latest programs offer incredible flexibility, rigorous curriculum, and a very comparable experience to an in-person MBA. So, it should be no surprise that the online MBA is growing in popularity exponentially. To better understand the landscape of the online MBA and to follow up on our first piece, The Online MBA: Which Programs Matter?, we reached back out to USC Marshall, UNC Kenan-Flagler, Michigan Ross, Indiana Kelley, and CMU Tepper. They allowed us to pick their collective brains even further to unravel the mystery around the online MBA. Read more

Published: June 24, 2019

Dean Geoff Garrett Says “Farewell” to Wharton for USC Marshall

As you may have heard, the Dean of the Wharton School, Geoff Garrett, is leaving for the USC Marshall School of Business next year. After Penn announced the news, Garrett also reached out to bid farewell to alumni. Penn Announces Garrett’s Departure with High Praise Earlier this month, Penn President Amy Gutmann and Provost Wendell Pritchett released the following statement about Garrett’s departure: “We write to inform you that Dean Geoff Garrett will be leaving Penn at the end of the 2019-20 academic year to become Dean of the USC Marshall School of Business, starting July 1, 2020. Read more

Published: June 17, 2019

MBA DecisionWire Spotlight: If at First You Don’t Succeed, Re-apply!

While many business school hopefuls are just starting their maiden run of MBA applications, there is another group dusting themselves off from last year’s rejections and tackling the admissions process once again: re-applicants. As we’ll see in this post to MBA DecisionWire, this MBA applicant is not the only one who had to re-apply to garner admission. After identifying target programs… …the candidate explained what happened with each program, including U. Chicago Booth, CMU / Tepper, Dartmouth / Tuck, Duke / Fuqua, Michigan / Ross, Northwestern / Kellogg, UVA / Darden: Read more

Published: June 2, 2019

The Online MBA: Which Programs Matter?

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to earn your MBA online? We wanted to take an in-depth look at the advantages of an Online MBA program and what it looks like to complete your graduate business education online—how long it will take, what activities will be available to you, and how it will enhance your career. To that effect, we interviewed the admissions staff at some of the top brick and mortar business schools with leading Online MBA programs: CMU Tepper, Indiana Kelley, Michigan Ross, UNC Kenan-Flagler, and USC Marshall. Here’s what we learned. Read more

Published: May 6, 2019

DecisionWire Spotlight: Georgetown / McDonough or USC / Marshall for Tech

In this MBA DecisionWire Spotlight, which highlights MBA candidates’ choices as shared in Clear Admit’s DecisionWire, we take a closer look at a candidate interested in tech and accepted to Georgetown / McDonough and USC / Marshall. The candidate laid out their situation: Initial comments brought up relative brand strength: Read more

Published: April 5, 2019

One Year Later: MBA Program Gender Parity at USC Marshall

Last fall, USC Marshall became the first top-tier MBA program to reach gender parity with the full-time MBA Class of 2020 having as many women as men. It was a massive 20-point percentage increase from the previous year when women made up just 32 percent of the class. Now that almost a year has gone by, we wanted to reach back out to USC Marshall to see how reaching gender parity has affected this year’s class, the new recruiting season, the business marketplace, and more. To gain insight into what’s happening at the school, we spoke with Evan Bouffides, assistant dean and director of MBA admissions, as well as Mark J. Brostoff, the assistant dean and director of graduate career services. They both offered unique perspectives on the impact of gender parity on USC Marshall. Read more

Published: April 2, 2019

MBA News You Need: Wharton, Dartmouth Tuck, and Yale SOM Discuss Admissions, Harvard Announces Class Day Speaker, and Rotman News

Each week we collect all the MBA news that’s fit to print and provide a quick overview of the latest trending topics from top business schools around the world. Here’s your MBA News You Need digest for the week of April 1, 2019. Read more

Published: March 11, 2019

Wharton Tops the U.S. News 2020 MBA Ranking And More

As reported here this morning, the Wharton School has claimed the number one spot—for the first time on its own—of the U.S. News and World Report 2020 rankings of full-time MBA programs. Before we get to other noteworthy shifts and positions, here’s a quick rundown of this year’s top 10, in order of their 2020 rank (2019 rank in parentheses): Read more

Published: January 21, 2019

Real Humans of USC Marshall’s MBA Class of 2020

Women comprise the majority of students who earn graduate degrees—except when it comes to MBAs. While Forté Foundation reported that women’s enrollment at full-time MBA programs reached 38 percent on average in 2018, the figure hovered closer to 30 percent women on average just a few years ago. The absence of women in MBA programs ricochets out into the boardrooms, as women hold far fewer positions of power within the business world than men. MBA programs have recognized this problem and begun making efforts to change the narrative. Although some programs like Northwestern Kellogg (46 percent), Dartmouth Read more

Published: January 14, 2019

USC Marshall Interview Questions & Report: Round 2 / Adcom / On-campus

The following USC Marshall MBA interview report with questions was submitted to Clear Admit by a Round 2 applicant. Interviewer: Elaine Padilla Tell me about your job. She asked lots of details about my job because I have a non-conventional background: R&D in clinical diagnostics Why MBA / What do you hope to get out of your MBA? Goals Why Marshall Three attributes your coworkers will say about you Something people don’t know about you Hobbies Any questions for me? Read more

USC / Marshall

CLASS SIZE: 199

Women: 35%

MEAN GMAT: 722

MEAN GPA: 3.5

Livewire Decisionwire Interview Reports Essay Topic Analysis MBA Admissions Deadlines View Full Profile

MBA Applywire

January 21, 2025 7:55am ET

Applying: Berkeley / Haas, Duke / Fuqua, Michigan / Ross, Rochester / Simon, SMU Cox, UNC Kenan-Flagler, Washington U. / Olin

Intake Year: 2025

Pre-MBA Career: Data and Business Operations

Post-MBA Target Industry: Consulting, Technology, Investment Banking, Venture Capital, Asset Management, inc. HF, Commercial Banking, Media, Consumer Goods Companies: Bain , BCG , Deloitte , Ernst & Young , Goldman Sachs , JP Morgan Chase , Amazon , Apple , Accell Partners , Charles River , First Round Capital , Goldman Sachs , Goldman Sachs , Walt Disney , PepsiCo , Proctor & Gamble

GRE: 328

GPA: 3.0

Years of Work Experience: 4

Location: Lagos

Post MBA Location: New york

January 21, 2025 6:59am ET

Applying: Berkeley / Haas, Columbia, Harvard Business School, MIT Sloan, Oxford / Saïd, Stanford GSB, U. Washington / Foster, UCLA Anderson

Intake Year: 2025

Pre-MBA Career: Aerospace Engineering

Post-MBA Target Industry: Technology

GRE: 322

GPA: 3.15

Years of Work Experience: 4

Location: Colorado

Post MBA Location: USA

January 21, 2025 2:20am ET

Applying: Columbia, Duke / Fuqua, Harvard Business School, IESE, MIT Sloan, NYU Stern, Rochester / Simon, Stanford GSB

Intake Year: 2025

Pre-MBA Career: Entrepreneur

Post-MBA Target Industry: Consulting, Technology, Investment Banking Companies: Accenture , AT Kearney , Bain , BCG , McKinsey , Bank of America , Deutsche Bank , Goldman Sachs , Morgan Stanley , JP Morgan Chase , Wells Fargo Securities , Amazon , Apple , Facebook , Google , Hewlett Packard , LinkedIn , Microsoft , Oracle , Uber

GRE: 314

GPA: 3

Years of Work Experience: 4

Post MBA Location: New York

January 20, 2025 6:40pm ET

Applying: Dartmouth / Tuck, Duke / Fuqua, Harvard Business School, MIT Sloan, Northwestern / Kellogg, Stanford GSB, UPenn / Wharton

Intake Year: 2025

Pre-MBA Career: McKinsey & Company Consultant

Post-MBA Target Industry: Venture Capital, Media Companies: Other , Other

GMAT: 745

GPA: 3.93

Years of Work Experience: 3.5

Location: Los Angeles, California

January 20, 2025 5:53pm ET

Applying: Babson / Olin, Cornell / Johnson, Duke / Fuqua, Emory / Goizueta, Georgetown / McDonough, Illinois / Gies, Indiana / Kelley, Ohio State / Fisher, UNC Kenan-Flagler, Undecided, UVA / Darden

Intake Year: 2025

Pre-MBA Career: Military

Post-MBA Target Industry: Consulting, Technology, Other Companies: Accenture , Booz Allen Hamilton

GPA: 3.8

Years of Work Experience: 20

Post MBA Location: Florida

Notes:

Currently employed full time with a small defense contractor. I’m attached to a Flight Test squadron to advise and assist the Air Force in flight operations, long range and short range testing, resources, manning, scheduling, and collaborate with outside agencies and vendors.

Looking to stay within the Aero and Defense sector.

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