California, Here I Come!

Well, it is official. I am going to UC Irvine's Paul Merage School of Business to complete my MBA. Located in the heart of the O.C., I am eager to see how my life of wearing no-name clothes and driving economical vehicles will mesh in the world where you are only as good as the label on your clothes. Of course I joke, but this will be a definite culture shift and I hope I can find my place there.

As I mentioned earlier, I feel that UCI has a plan to become a top 20 (or top 15) business school. They have a way to go, but I love the big picture and in my brief interactions with Merage I can see the plan moving ahead:
1. Bring in new dean to develop and execute plan;
2. Focus on a niche to specialize in that will be in demand (such as Information Technology);
3. Secure a large endowment in return for naming rights;
4. Use that endowment to upgrade facilities and attract top faculty and students;
5. Aggressively create ties with the corporate community;
6. Put in place an aggressive, applicant responsive recruitment team;
and there are others I am sure. I love the plan and I love the way they are executing it. I think it goes back to my childhood and watching the A-Team. I can hear Hannibal saying, "I love it when a plan comes together." The sentiment has shaped me.

As I mentioned elsewhere, within a week after interviewing me, UCI had accepted me and offered me one of their premier scholarships (this is their normal turnaround speed). I am not sure about other schools, but the way this scholarship is constructed impressed me. The offer included (copied from their email):

"As a Merage Fellow, you will be provided with the following support:

1) A $45,000 scholarship ($22,500 in each of your two years),
2) Top priority for a research or teaching assistantship in the second year;
3) An executive mentor from a leading company in the Orange County community;
4) The opportunity to meet monthly with the Dean and other Merage Fellowship recipients to discuss the strategy for the Merage School and to review your own career objectives; and
5)Guaranteed housing in an on-campus apartment"

The dollars are equal to resident tuition each year. Regular meetings with the Dean is a nice touch and shows that he wants to be in tune with the feelings of the student body (when I visited UCI, I confirmed that these meetings were occurring and had resulted in changes at Merage). The guaranteed housing is also a nice perk because at UCI the on-campus family apartments are up to 33% less expensive than similar apartments off-campus (saving my family up to $500 per month).

This is an exciting, yet scary time, for me and Lindsey. This is a good time in our lives for a change. The scholarship and 2nd year T.A. position means that I will come out my MBA with an acceptable amount of debt (none if Lindsey works or if I can generate some side revenue). Lindsey got her wish to live near the beach in a sun-filled region. Yet, California and the O.C. is a strange land to us. They have an actor as governor, seem completely focused on illegal immigration, don't have universal health care, and like high-end shopping (maybe we won't come out of this debt-free). No matter how worrying it seems, we are committed to crafting a new chapter in our life together and this will make for an eventful story.

The remainder of this blog will be dedicated to our experiences in moving to Irvine, California, living in Irvine, and going to business school. I hope everyone found this information informative. If you have questions leave a comment and I will respond.

In the meantime, I would love to hear from other Merage students and recruits. Leave comments.

Cheers.