Professional Woman’s Magazine placed San Diego State’s College of Business Administration among “Best of the Best” universities and master’s degree schools for women.
Each year, the magazine’s publisher, DiversityComm, Inc. and four other magazines evaluate businesses and universities. The evaluation process involves looking into outreach and accessibility that is available to the female, black and veteran populations on campuses.
SDSU was named in both the “Top MBA Schools” and the “Top Colleges and Universities” list alongside Cornell University, Harvard University, University of California, Los Angeles and Yale University.
According to the magazine, results from the list are intended to be a resource for job seekers, business owners, students and managers.
College of Business Administration Director of Graduate Programs Nikhil Varaiya said he thinks SDSU is open and easily accessible for women.
Varaiya said the ratio of men to women is nearly 50-50 in his business administration graduate classes. He said gender statistics are recorded every fall semester for all graduate programs in the College of Business Administration and in Fall 2012, 44 percent of graduate students were women.
Finance senior Amber Couch said an entrepreneur class she had last semester had five or six females.
“It doesn’t bother me, it just makes me want to prove them wrong,” Couch said.
Couch currently does accounting work at a family-owned business and said her education continues to impress her employer.
Couch said she sees herself eventually graduating with a master’s degree.
The average age for students in the SDSU Executive MBA program is 40, Varaiya said. He added that since many of the women are married and have children, their career concerns are often different from undergraduate female students.
“As undergraduates they are still not dealing with family issues yet,” Varaiya said.
Nonetheless, Varaiya said he has not noticed any disadvantages among sexes.
Finance senior Myschelle Nguyen said she hopes to attend the SDSU master’s program after graduating with her bachelor’s degree. She was encouraged by Professional Woman’s Magazine’s rankings.
“I really do think these rankings will attract more female students,” Nguyen said.
Varaiya said money should also factor into students’ decisions when deciding where students should go for a master’s degree program.
“You have to ask the question, ‘Do I want to spend $95,000 for a two-year degree? What am I getting for that?’”Varaiya said SDSU’s master’s degree program continuously proves to be very cost-effective, meaning once students graduate from the program, they make enough money in the business world to balance the cost of tuition.
Varaiya stressed also the importance of quality education.
“The end of the day, the question is, ‘Are we providing enough content in the classrooms that when they get out, they are prepared for the marketplace?’” Varaiya said. “That’s what I would like to tell students to think about.”
