Leavey School of Business Gets More for Our Graduates

The rankings report, published this week by Fortune Education, names leading MBA programs with a significant number of graduates employed at tech giants Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, and Facebook.¹

Graduates from Santa Clara University's MBA program, which is rated #1 nationally for Career Outcomes by Poets&Quants,² earn 46% more each year than the median salary for MBA graduates.^3,4

Read on to explore the three central reasons behind these remarkable accolades for the Leavey School of Business.

We’re ranked #3 in Best Online MBA Programs in the nation.⁵

The ultimate goal of our curriculum is to help our students become Silicon Valley Professionals: leaders with the skills and tenacity to make change happen in their careers and for their companies, along with the compassion and ethics to make a positive impact in their communities.

We’ve woven a technology focus throughout the program, as most Leavey students work in Silicon Valley or in tech hubs such as Los Angeles and San Diego, where they can immediately apply their coursework. Our dynamic curriculum features online concentrations in Leading Innovative Organizations, Marketing, Finance, and Data Science and Business Analytics. Two additional concentrations feature elective coursework catered to Silicon Valley companies that are eager to attain graduates with knowledge of data analytics.

Fortunately, our robust selection of electives does not stop at tech. It extends to include a more niche variety—such as food innovation—to which Online MBA students would not typically have access.

Santa Clara University is a fixture in Silicon Valley, with more than 24,000 of our business school alumni finding new roles in this tech-focused region’s companies. 111 of our MBA alumni are employed at Google, which is the leading tech recruiter for the program.⁶

A further source of distinction lies in the fact that most of our faculty are based nearby and do consulting work with firms in the Bay Area and Silicon Valley. Our small class sizes enable Online MBA students to benefit from these valuable faculty connections because all faculty members who teach the on-campus MBA programs also teach the Online MBA program.

As a student in our Online MBA program, you’ll build a vibrant professional network that spans Silicon Valley and the Bay Area and extends beyond them. You’ll expand your career possibilities through relationships with classmates and alumni at major companies such as Google, Apple, GoPro, and Tesla.

Last summer, veteran global operations executive and business school leader Ed Grier joined Santa Clara University as the dean of the Leavey School of Business. He came to us from Virginia Commonwealth University, where he served as dean of the School of Business.

He joined VCU in 2010, after a successful 29-year career with Walt Disney Company, where he served in a variety of roles worldwide, including tenure as president of the $2 billion, 20,000-employee Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, CA.

Dean Grier’s executive leadership style emphasizes big thinking and productive collaboration. He's building on Santa Clara University’s national reputation for teaching, research, and innovative business education programs. He plans to strengthen relationships, continue to raise national visibility, and generate new revenue streams for the long-term vitality of the School, all within the framework of Santa Clara’s Jesuit mission and values.

In a profile⁷ published in March by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), Dean Grier said, “Born and raised in Atlanta during the Civil Rights movement in the U.S., I grew up believing that education was the central ‘battleground in the freedom struggle.’ A prize so powerful, parents risked their lives and resources to ensure their children had access.

During much of my childhood, it was inconceivable that someone like me, a first-generation college student, would become a senior executive of a Fortune 500 multinational entertainment giant. Yet I did. I joined the Walt Disney Company in 1981 as a senior auditor at Walt Disney World in Florida. Over the next 29 years, I held positions with the company in Florida, France, and Japan, before eventually becoming president of Disneyland Resort in California. My career success demonstrates the power of education to set in motion future possibilities that are unimaginable in the present.”

Founded in 1851, Santa Clara University resides at the center of Silicon Valley—the world’s most innovative and entrepreneurial region. The four online advanced-degree programs in SCU’s top-ranked Leavey School of Business prioritize effective leadership and ethical business practices, and offer ground-breaking courses taught by industry-expert faculty.

• Online MBA
• Online MS in Business Analytics (MSBA)
• Online MS in Finance and Analytics (MSFA)
• Online MS in Marketing

Each of the four online graduate degree programs offers a full list of career support services, access to our powerful professional network with ties to nearby Silicon Valley, and a leading-edge curriculum designed to help all of our students reach their full potential.

To learn more and start your Silicon Valley career ascent, reach out to one of our Admissions Advisors today.