California Davis MBA Program Details

About California Davis Full-Time MBA Program

The UC Davis Graduate School of Management offers a two-year, cohort-based full-time MBA in Davis, built around rigorous analytics and hands-on leadership. Students learn in Maurice J. Gallagher Jr. Hall, a purpose-built facility that supports team rooms, case teaching, and recruiter events. The curriculum’s centerpiece is the IMPACT capstone, where teams deliver research-backed solutions for companies, startups, nonprofits, or campus partners. The program is STEM-designated, reflecting depth in quantitative analysis and data-driven decision making. Students draw on Northern California strengths in food and agriculture, health, energy, and technology, and connect through the Mike and Renée Child Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and the Big Bang! competition. Career support begins in the first semester through structured coaching, peer prep, and employer engagement. Class size stays intentionally modest to ensure faculty access and strong peer learning. UC Davis began offering the MBA in 1981, a foundation that continues to shape today’s data-focused, collaborative program.

 

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California Davis MBA Latest Class Profile

 

 

California Davis MBA Latest Placement Details and Employment Report

 

 

List of Primary Recruiters at California Davis

Amazon, Apple, Blue Shield, E&J Gallo, Google, H.M. Clause, Intel, Kaiser, Microsoft, PG&E, Sandia National Labs, Sutter Health, Tesla, Walmart, Varian Medical Systems, Vintage Wine Estates

The employment data above is for the class of 2024.

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How to Make the Most of the California Davis Full-Time MBA Program

Start with a precise first-year plan

Use orientation week to map your core sequence, recruiting windows, and three spring electives that sharpen your edge. Write a two-semester plan that names target roles, industries, and the skills each course will build. Meet your academic advisor early, then refine the plan after your first analytics and finance blocks so spring choices close the gaps you see in team projects and interviews.

Use IMPACT to create portfolio-grade evidence

Select an IMPACT project that matches your path. Volunteer to lead scoping, data collection, and sponsor updates. Keep a clean record of assumptions, methods, and results. Convert the engagement into a concise two-page brief with context, analysis, decision, and measured outcome. Bring that brief to interviews to show real work and clear impact.

Make Gallagher Hall your operating base

Reserve team rooms and run professional rhythms. Hold short stand-ups, focused work blocks, and decision reviews. Rotate the project manager role so each teammate practices scoping, stakeholder updates, and risk logs. After each milestone, run a ten-minute retrospective that names one practice to keep, one to change, and one to try next. The building was designed to support this cadence.

Leverage the STEM designation with intent

Aim for roles where you will own a model, a dashboard, or an experiment plan. In interviews, explain your path from business question to dataset, method, insight, and action. Tie examples to coursework and IMPACT deliverables. This approach strengthens your case for product, operations, finance, and growth roles

Tap the Child Institute and Big Bang! for venture and operator experience

If you are testing a venture idea, use the Child Institute’s programs to pressure-test customer problems and run simple experiments. If you want operator exposure, join a partner startup through institute pipelines and own a meaningful workstream such as pricing tests, funnel analysis, or onboarding flows. Document hypotheses, tests, results, and next steps so you can present a clear learning arc.

Turn Northern California into your applied laboratory

List three regional employers that fit your aims across food and agriculture, health, energy, and technology. Use informational interviews, center programs, and class projects to connect coursework to those firms. Ask for narrow problems you can scope within a term, such as a forecast improvement, an experiment plan, or a cost model. Treat each deliverable like a live engagement with owners and dates.

Build faculty relationships that open doors

Identify two professors whose research or industry ties align with your path. Visit office hours with specific questions on frameworks or datasets. Offer to support a small research task or case refresh. Faculty often know about projects, fellowships, or partner needs before they are posted, and their referrals carry weight.

Work with the Career Development team like a project sponsor

By week two, finalize a recruiter-ready resume, a clear ninety-second pitch, and a target list with contact names. Join peer advising pods for accountability. For consulting roles, keep a three-times-per-week case cadence and track accuracy and pacing. For product roles, practice product sense, metrics, estimation, and roadmaps. For finance roles, rebuild recent earnings models and explain the drivers in plain language.

Choose a focused course stack and a complementary skill pair

For product or analytics paths, combine experimentation, data mining, and design with a communication or storytelling elective. For supply chain or operations, pair network design and planning with analytics or coding to build tools that move forecasts and inventories. For finance, stack valuation, modeling, and capital markets with advanced analytics, then practice translating drivers for nontechnical audiences. Keep the stack coherent so every class reinforces the same story.

Use service and community projects as leadership training

Select a nonprofit, public agency, or campus partner where your skills create visible value. Frame a narrow problem, build a simple model or workflow, and hand off a clear implementation guide. Package the story with context, your role, evidence, and results. Execution under constraints is a strong leadership case.

Cross-register with intention

UC Davis scale is an advantage. Add one targeted course outside the business school that strengthens your toolkit in areas such as agriculture and resource economics, health policy, or data science. Use that class to widen your network and to source a project that demonstrates domain fluency.

Lead in clubs that influence employers

Join two clubs aligned to your recruiting path, such as Consulting, Technology, Finance, or Entrepreneurship, plus one club that expands your community. Volunteer for roles with outside contact, for example employer liaison, trek captain, or case workshop lead. These positions place you in steady conversations with alumni and hiring teams and give you concrete outcomes to cite.

Communicate with clarity and economy

Enroll in at least one speaking or writing course or workshop. In meetings, state the decision, the driver, and the next action in two sentences. In presentations, lead with the recommendation, then show the analysis that supports it. After team sessions, share short notes with owners and dates so momentum stays high.

Design an internship that can convert

On day one, align with your manager on the problem to solve, success metrics, and stakeholders. Schedule three formal check-ins across the summer and deliver an interim readout early enough to adjust course. Close with a final brief that states recommendation, economics, risks, and implementation steps. Ask directly about conversion criteria and timelines so you can focus on the work that matters.

Show your arc in a capstone

Choose a final project that brings together data fluency, market understanding, and leadership. Tie it to a partner who values the output. Publish an executive brief that is easy to scan and present it to faculty, mentors, and invited employers. Make the next step explicit so the work can continue after graduation.

Carry forward the UC Davis habit

The full-time MBA at Davis rewards students who plan carefully, execute cleanly, and reflect often. When you align coursework, IMPACT projects, institutes, clubs, community work, and the career platform around one coherent story, you graduate with practical tools, strong references, and a network that stays active long after the degree.