EMBA City Guide: San Francisco

San Francisco is a city famed for its hilly landscape, excellent restaurants, bohemian locals and its cool, foggy, climate, as well as its high quality of life and laidback atmosphere. Although it is a major US city, it does not have the expensive living costs associated with New York and Los Angeles – one of many reasons that students flock to the coastal city to attend colleges in San Francisco.

Silicon Valley lies in the southern San Francisco Bay Area and is a hub of opportunity for EMBAs – though the city itself has also established itself as a technology hub in recent years. Google, Apple, Facebook and IBM are just some of the companies with headquarters or a significant presence in the area. Recent findings suggest that many business students are now seeking careers in tech rather than finance. If that sounds like you, maybe an EMBA in San Francisco could be a good fit.

San Francisco is number eight on the Global Financial Centres Index, compiled by Z/Yen. Fortune 500 employers operating in the city include McKesson, Wells Fargo, PG&E, Gap, URS Corporation, and Charles Schwab.

Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania

Wharton runs a residency EMBA inSan Francisco on its campus which takes place over long weekends. Students stay at the Le Meridien hotel and study, eat and attend lectures as part of a team. All weekend residencies and the food cost incurred on these residences are paid in the tuition fee lump sum, and the school takes care of all logistics related to hotel reservation – so nothing left for you to do but get stuck in to your EMBA studies.

The school itself is located in the historic Hills Brothers Plaza. The facilities are modern and technologically advanced, featuring Cisco Telepresence classrooms which allow for a connected experience between the colleges in San Francisco and Philadelphia.. 

The Wharton executive program is unique in that it offers an MBA equivalent degree but in an executive format, with both sets of students following the same curriculum.

University of San Francisco

University of San Francisco EMBA classes are taught on a consecutive Thursday, Friday and Saturday one weekend per month for a total of 20 months. Lectures take place at the University of San Francisco’s downtown campus, at the heart of San Francisco’s business district.

The EMBA in San Francisco  is designed for professionals who have at least eight years of working experience and two-three years’ experience in a management position. The program structure is theoretical and knowledge based. Business acumen plays an integral part of the learning experience in an environment where a global outlook and academic mindset is encouraged in the classroom.

Anybody interested in this course is encouraged to attend one of the popular experience days run regularly by the faculty. These see prospective applicants attend a day of lectures, eat lunch with current students enrolled on the course and pose their own questions to staff and students in an informal and relaxed setting.

Berkley-Haas

The Berkley-Haas EMBA is a 19-month campus based program. Students will gain the same MBA degree as full-time MBA participants but will learn in an environment that is specifically tailored to fit in with an EMBA candidate’s professional needs. Students stay at the same hotel during class blocks so that they can form strong bonds.

25% of the executive MBA program at Berkley-Haas is experiential, with immersion trips taking place once a term, allowing students to gain authentic leadership experience and on-the-ground insights. Past immersion weeks have taken place in Silicon Valley, with students meeting with founders, CEOs and VCs that have influenced the world of business over the years.

EMBA participants are encouraged to question the status quo and think outside the box while they study. The school’s Lester Center for Entrepreneurship is an internationally recognized research and innovation hub for those of an entrepreneurial bent.

San Francisco State University 

The San Francisco State Business School accepts people onto the course even if they are from nontraditional EMBA backgrounds – applicants are encouraged to apply to the program regardless of their undergraduate degree.

All classes are taught in the heart of San Francisco’s business district at the university’s downtown campus. Cohorts are encouraged to form a tight, supportive network, representing a broad cross section of the business world. The EMBA in San Francisco classes meet fairly regularly, with classes taking place every other weekend on Fridays and Saturdays.

The curriculum balances theoretical and applied learning through class visits, case studies of actual businesses, monthly thought leadership speakers, and group work. Because of the university’s strong ties with tech companies in Silicon Valley and the Bay Area, past alumni have gone onto work for Apple, Genetech and Microsoft.