Full-Time MBA | Career Impact
When it comes to your career, you are our number one priority. Whether you are looking to change careers, advance in your current role or bring a new business idea to life, the Merage School Career Center will help you get there.
Our Career Center’s unique personalized approach to career planning prepares you with the tools to not only land your ideal job, but to make the right decisions throughout the lifetime of your career.
Alumni Success Stories
Community connection has always been important to Pacific Life Strategy Consultant Germaine Chen MBA ’16.
After receiving her undergraduate degree in business from Cal State Long Beach, Chen took finance positions at local technology companies– Broadcom and Western Digital– to remain close to home.
“I was in corporate finance, and every month was the same and every quarter was the same. I just knew that I wanted to make a switch,” she said.
Read more.With families spending more time at home together during the coronavirus pandemic than ever before, classic card and board games have emerged as a comforting activity in many households.
As brand manager at Mattel, Inc. for UNO, one of the most iconic card games, Bill Krieger MBA ’17 has a front-row seat on the roller coaster that is business in the COVID-19 era.
Lucy Okamuro MBA ’18, grew up in the English countryside, far away from the hustle and bustle of the business world.
“I grew up about three hours outside of London,” Okamuro said. “The closest city was Bristol. There was a lot of land out there, and it was more rural, with farms and apple orchards.”
At age 11, her family left the picturesque scenes of the country and started a new life in Orange County.
Because her father had a career in sales management, Okamuro was familiar with the business and intrapreneurial world.
In his office on Microsoft’s Redmond, Washington, campus, Arturo San Vicente MBA ’18, feels a world away from the agricultural community where he grew up in Navojoa, Mexico.
“I felt like most innovations were coming out of the U.S. and everyone else was just following,” he says. “I wanted to be at the forefront and be part of the innovation.”
San Vicente is at the leading edge now. As a business development manager for Microsoft, he manages 120 sellers in 50 countries focused on helping K-12 teachers and students use the company’s suite of software.
Brandon Scott MBA ’16 came to The UCI Paul Merage School of Business looking to pivot away from the finance world.
“Most of my experience before the Merage School had been in investment banking. Part of the reason why I came to California, and to UCI specifically, was to get into technology and to focus on entrepreneurship,” said Scott.
Garrett Shafer MBA ’19 spent five years working in biotech labs, making good use of his neuroscience degree, before he found himself on the outside looking in.
“I wanted to get into the front office of biotech,” Shafer says. “Since graduating from the Merage School, I know I’m having a significant impact on the strategic direction of high market cap life sciences companies.”
When he embarked on his business school journey, Shafer envisioned himself going into biotech product marketing, but by staying open to the opportunities he encountered at The Paul Merage School of Business, he ended up in another sector where he could truly shine.
Career Preparation You Can Count On
Science-Based, Self-Awareness Led Discovery—Merage School Career Management Model
- $106K Mean Annual Base Salary
- 91% job placement rate 3 months post-graduation
- 117% Average salary increase pre-MBA to 3 years post graduation