Q. US NEWS上 Marshall的就業率挺低的,只有81%, 可否能解釋一下，是不是因為加州華人太多,同質性太高競爭反而激烈了?

Post date: Apr 20, 2009 8:18:35 AM

A. I think it has more to do with California and its laid-back culture.

I think the perception that California is an Asian state is quite off base. California is a state with roughly 34 million people, but only ~13% are Asian. This is higher than the US average, but the perception that Asians are everywhere in the state is not true.

I think a few reasons may explain why job numbers are down for USC and perhaps all California biz schools is due to the economic organization of the state.

1) traditional recruiters of MBAs (banks & other financial institutions) have a limited presence in California.

2) The greater LA economy is highly entrepreneurial and is characterized by many small to medium sized businesses, meaning they do not have a need or have the money to hire top MBAs.

3) Many large companies in California are tech companies, meaning positions for MBAs are limited since tech companies are still largely driven by technologists.

4) The few tech companies that do actively hire MBAs in California, such as Google, eBay, Yahoo, etc. have few openings. Even though these are valuable companies, employee-wise they are still fairly small. Also, the openings available at these companies are highly competitive and attract the best MBA graduates from America.

5) The laid back culture in California encourages individuality. So relative to the schools on the US East Coast, California schools are less competitive and there isn't this pressure to be as driven.

6) California also has a more entrepreneurial culture. So if a graduate doesn't find exactly what he wants, he may opt to start something on his own.