Poets&Quants Top Business Schools
Tuition & Fees In-State: $128,062*
Tuition & Fees Out-of-State: $225,208*
Average Debt: 20,628
International: 20%
Minority: 27%
First generation college students: 40%
When do students declare their majors: Freshman and Junior Year
Acceptance Rate: 22%
Average SAT: 1,359
HS Class Top Ten: 98%**
*The total cost of the degree over four years, including tuition, room and board, and living expenses for the most recent graduating class
The percentage of students who graduated from high school in the top ten percent of their class is known as **HS Class Top Ten.
*** Please take note that whenever possible, these stats are only provided for the business school major. The university-wide statistics are presented if a school does not track these statistics separately.
Andrea Licata began her college career at the University of California, Irvine in the humanities division on the advice of her guidance counselor in high school. Licata remembers her guidance counselor telling her that she was a good writer. But after enrolling, Licata chose to major in economics, and by the end of her first year, she had realized that the Paul Merage School of Business was where she belonged and had submitted an application. Since then, she’s never looked back.
Licata’s story isn’t unusual at the Merage School. Despite the fact that UC Irvine offers more than 80 different majors, the Merage School receives the most requests for transfers from students of all the majors.
Licata, who is originally from Orange County, California, claims her time at Merage was so rewarding that she is now employed by UC-Irvine as an academic advisor for undergraduate students who are undeclared majors.
When people inquire about her time at Merage, Licata replies, “When they ask about my experience there, I tell them that it’s like being on the fast track to successful careers with extremely driven people.” “However, along the way, there’s a sense of camaraderie from having worked in teams, stayed up late, and planned our careers together.” ”.
A DIVERSE EXPERIENCE AND COMMUNITY, WITH A TECH-FOCUS
Students at the Merage School of Business are trained to be leaders in the digital age. As a result, students not only acquire the knowledge necessary to use the newest technology and the observational skills necessary to foresee trends, but also have the chance to interact with and learn about the global society in a secure environment. What%E2%80%99s more, some 30% of the undergraduate student population at Merage School is made up of underrepresented minorities and diversity remains one of the priorities the school is working on Gaining admission to Merage is not a sleepwalk. More than 11,000 high school students apply each year. This year, more than 2,100 were accepted, for an acceptance rate around 20% Yet, the school continues to prioritize its diversity.
Vannie Luong, a 2015 graduate, notes, “I had international students in almost every class, and we had lots of teamwork projects. Although communication was definitely difficult, the experience helped to prepare us for working with foreign business partners. ”.
Luong, a general management specialist with a minor in international studies, claims that in some cases, her classmates found it challenging to plan social media campaigns because the idea was unfamiliar to them. The native of Santa Ana, California, shared her exposure to social media strategies that are widely used in the San Francisco Bay Area as well as the cultural influences on the marketing landscape in their respective countries with her.
The Merage School curriculum aims to broaden students’ horizons and teach them to continually reevaluate context and approach in their use of technology. Professor VC Choudhary, Associate Dean of Undergraduate Programs at the Paul Merage School of Business, says that the number of students majoring in business administration has grown by over 50% from the year before to almost 1,000
According to Choudhary, “The economy is evolving to become more technology-driven, and we work to prepare students holistically for this.” “Due to the extraordinary demand, our population will probably continue to grow over the next few years.” ”.
BUSINESS ANALYTICS MAKING A PUSH AT MERAGE
Merage currently provides undergraduates with two programs: a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration and a Bachelor of Science in Business Information Management. The Donald Bren School of Information and the Information Business Management program jointly administer an interdisciplinary degree program.
The program teaches students to comprehend and apply theories and concepts on computing, informatics, business fundamentals, and analytical decision-making in an increasingly global and information-centric world.
According to Choudhary, the restricted major only admits 40 students a year and provides them with a foundation in computer science in addition to business classes at the Merage School and analytical classes all over campus.
The Merage School’s Business Administration program requires students to select at least one of seven areas of emphasis to concentrate on. These include organization and management, accounting, finance, marketing, operations, information systems, and health care management.
Students must complete a minimum of ten business electives from among the available emphases, as well as ten business courses for a foundation in fundamental core business competencies.
In order to support the university’s objective of a collaborative learning environment, all upper-level courses mandated team-based projects, according to Luong, who is currently employed as a project coordinator and marketing assistant at UC-Irvine. Some programs even went so far as to permit simulations and experiential learning. ”.
Licata recalls a particularly memorable occasion when she and her classmates were given roles to play in a digitally simulated Mount Everest climb, such as the “adventurer,” “photographer,” and “wildlife detector.”
“In the computer simulation, there was a storm, and we all had different goals.” Most of us died along the way, but we had to use the lessons we had learned to survive,” she admits. We gained knowledge of what would transpire in the real world if we decided to compromise rather than work together and enhance our communication. ”.
LESSONS FROM THE UNITED NATIONS AND FOOD TRUCKS
The Merage leadership has placed a strong emphasis on experiential learning in the curriculum while keeping an eye on the global market. To graduate, students must either take an international business course or take part in the university’s education abroad program. Although challenging, students like Licata claim that the requirement gave them the skills that every businessperson needs.
Licata took an international business law course that culminated in a project where students created business plan proposals to help companies go international. She graduated with a focus in marketing and organizational and management. I gained a lot of knowledge about international laws and obstacles to global expansion, and I can now decide quickly but thoroughly when conducting business internationally, she says.
Many of the Merage faculty’s professors work as professionals in their fields in addition to being educators. This means that students frequently deal with current business issues that their professors encounter in the real world.
Consider William Hernández Requejo, who teaches at the Merage School and serves as executive director of the Center for Global Leadership. Requejo not only instructs the school’s course on international management, but also represents the United Nations in foreign investment negotiations regarding investments in Cuba. Students in his class follow global events, compare historical economic, political, and social conditions, and discuss how historical decisions would differ if they were made today.
Requejo, who has been instructing the course for the past ten years with his experience in strategic alliances and joint ventures, asserts that “we believe that trade engenders peace and the more we trade, the less wars we’ll have.” We’re also planning to send students to places like Prague, Russia, and the Czech Republic so they can observe information firsthand. ”.
Merage aims to have their students involved in the community before they enter the workforce in addition to providing experiential learning opportunities among peers in the classroom. Licata claims that while they were learning about marketing and branding, a professor who had worked with McDonald’s and Kraft Foods instead had them develop marketing analyses and business strategies for neighborhood food trucks.
Licata and her teammates conducted interviews with and observed customers and owners of the Kogi BBQ Taco Truck in groups of seven. The famous food truck with locations in Los Angeles and Orange County claims to have started the Korean Mexican taco movement. Licata’s team spent nearly 15 hours gathering information about the business by observing how customers interacted with Kogi’s products in order to determine what the company did well and what areas needed improvement.
“We noticed they didn’t have enough napkins. It’s a tiny thing, but it can make or break an encounter,” she claims. “We looked at how people ate and the signals their bodies might have been sending out.” We were forced to apply theoretical business principles to actual situations by the experience.
TOP EMPLOYERS INCLUDE PwC, E&Y, AND DELOITTE
Students at the Merage School graduate with skill sets that make them very appealing to employers thanks to their commitment to creating a student body that is globally educated. PwC and Ernst & Young are two of the top ten employers of Merage graduates.
Rouzbeh Soleymani, who graduated from UC-Irvine in 2015, received a six-figure job offer in Tehran as a result of his four years there. Soleymani, an accounting and finance major, participated in three part-time and six full-time internships at Merage. He is currently pursuing a law degree at the UC Irvine School of Law.
Choudhary claims that in order to comprehend business challenges, spot opportunities, and produce value using technology, students must be taught to concentrate on creative and strategic thinking. “It’s about helping them adapt to the changing future. ”.
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Business Administration at UCI | Paul Merage School of Business
FAQ
How hard is it to get into UCI Business Administration?
Having a major in business administration is very challenging. In most cases you would need a GPA of 3. 75 once the prerequisite classes for the major have been satisfactorily completed. It depends on your emphasis with regard to the program itself.
What is the easiest major to get into at UCI?
10 Easiest Majors to Transfer into UC IrvineMAJORMID-RANGE GPAADMIT RATEPhilosophy3. 26 – 3. 7366%Psychology and Social Behavior3. 25 – 3. 7366%Public Health Policy3. 25 – 3. 7071%Anthropology3. 20 – 3. 6466%.
Does UC Irvine have a good business program?
The Merage School has an elite faculty, a sizable alumni network, and close ties to both individuals and businesses. It consistently ranks among the top 10 percent of accredited business schools in the country.