San Francisco State University - College of Business

San Francisco State University’s College of Business offers a contemporary MBA program, right in the middle of the Bay Area’s business community. While SFSU’s main campus is located in a residential neighborhood, the business school has its own building in “the heart of San Francisco’s financial district.” The curriculum is high quality and progressive, and the “flexible schedule and very convenient location” make this school a top choice for San Francisco professionals. “The opportunity to individually tailor an MBA to a specific job market is key,” and many students choose SFSU to participate in the school’s popular “sustainable business emphasis.” In fact, there is a “focus on corporate responsibility and sustainability” throughout the program, which is well aligned with the Bay Area’s forward-thinking business climate.

The faculty takes a varied approach to teaching, with mixed results. “There are some that read directly from slides and others that are extremely engaging. They take book concepts and translate them into real-life situations.” Students admit that, “you need to be a little selective in the professors you choose,” but reassure us that, “if you do your research, there are enough accomplished professors here to get a solid education.” No matter who oversees classes, the curriculum is time consuming, as “courses require a lot of group work, a lot of reading, and several presentations.” However, the rewards are worth the effort, and students benefit from “engaging classroom discussion” in their classes. Always current, SFSU “professors are teaching the latest trends” through contemporary case studies.

Due to “the state of California budget constraints,” the program has experienced some recent limitations. For example, “they aren’t always able to offer elective classes consistently.” Fortunately, “the administration has done an excellent job communicating potentialities and schedule changes to the student body.” In fact, the administration gets high marks all around, and the “program advisers and program coordinator are very easy to talk to and helpful.” Both full-time and part-time students assure us, “If you plan out your schedule right, you won’t really have any trouble getting the classes you need.” And, even as the state raises student tuition and fees, an MBA from San Francisco State still comes at a “fairly low cost” for its quality.

According to SFSU’s happy grad students, “San Francisco is an amazing city to get an MBA in because so many companies are headquartered nearby, especially if you have an interest in entrepreneurship.” On top of that, the school’s close “proximity to Silicon Valley” opens up a world of options in high tech and computing. While there are several top-rated business schools in the greater Bay Area, SFSU students say you can’t write off their strong, yet affordable public program. A current student elaborates, “a lot of students feel that SFSU doesn’t have a name like Stanford or UC Berkeley, but the con- nections are there. We have people who work for Google and Yahoo! and, like myself, at Genentech, who, if you reach out, are connected and can help students.”

Within the business school, students have access to ongoing career workshops and per- sonalized career counseling. There is an annual career fair, as well as ongoing recruiting events at the business school and the main SFSU campus. MBA candidates may also take advantage of the online job boards managed by the University’s Career Center. The mean base salary for last year ’s San Francisco State MBA graduates was about $85,000 annually, with 90 percent of students accepting a position within three months of gradua- tion. Some of the biggest employers of SFSU graduates are Wells Fargo Bank, Genentech, PG&E, Autodesk, and Bank of America.

The student body at SFSU reflects the Bay Area’s interesting local culture, and “because nearly 50 percent of the school’s students are international, the school ranks very high in diversity.” Group projects tend to go well, and “most everyone is laid back,” despite the pressures of business school. Some complain that students who “come straight from undergrad” are “uninterested and inexperienced” when compared to their older coun- terparts, but San Francisco’s MBA candidates are “generally thoughtful, professional, and engaged” throughout the program.

Located downtown, the petite SFSU “campus is brand new and very nice,” and “the sur- rounding area is, of course, awesome.” Not only is the campus convenient for downtown professionals, there are “tons of restaurants and shops around” the neighborhood. On campus, the school augments the curriculum through “interesting events and presen- tations outside regular classes,” and administrators “constantly send out emails about networking events and clubs.” Among the more popular activities, “every Thursday, the social club meets at a bar after night class.” Even so, “there is not a strong community aspect among SFSU students,” as most maintain an active personal and professional life outside of school.