Help on selecting business schools in CA

Hi All,

I'm new to the forums and was wondering which schools had the best programs in CA. I'm currently planning to apply for 2017 cycle. I am looking to transition into finance after my MBA program wanted to see if anyone had insight as to the best programs in CA to apply to in terms of hiring rate and employment after graduation. Looking towards analyst positions either in financial services or within tech. Below is my profile.

School: Mid-tier UC school
Major: Economics
GPA: 3.44
GMAT: 580 (Taking Manhattan Prep course (starting May) and retaking the GMAT in August - hoping to get 700+)
Work Experience: 3 years at a Mortgage Bank (1 year in Customer service, previous 2 in Accounting after promotion)
Extracurricular activities: Community Service organization in college (3 years - held a leadership position within) - recently got back into community service volunteering at a Pet Rescue for the past few months.

At the moment, the schools I had in mind were UCLA, USC, UC Berkeley, and UC Irvine. Would anyone have any other MBA programs that would match what I wanted in a MBA program? I was told that applying to 6 schools including 2 safety schools would be the best idea. I was also wondering about Masters of Finance programs within CA. I'm currently looking at Santa Clara University and their MS Finance program. Does anyone have any information regarding their program (or can recommend any other programs) and job prospects during and after the program? I couldn't find anything on their website.

If anyone could help, I would really appreciate it!

 

Just fyi, UC Irvine is a great school but does not match any of the other three schools in recognition or prestige in its business school. Additionally, the atmosphere in Irvine is incredibly suburban and dull...I had many classmates go to UCI and never heard anyone rave about it or be stoked about going there. It has a very strong nerdy asian stereotype.

I grew up in the area--if you're going to go to school for two years I'd recommend elsewhere.

 

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