Career Choices in New York or L.A (Los Angeles, Santa Monica: income, jobs)

[Hairloom1]

For a very long time now I wanted to create a plan how to lead my life. I am a 20 year old marketing student and I'm getting my bachelors next semester.

I have been seeing this guy since 11th grade in high school. And I truly care about him. The issue is I want to go to school in New York City, but he grew up in Southern California. My boyfriend makes a yearly income of 600,000 from his business that he inheritted from his family because they retired last year. He is 21 years old and he wants to go to Business school so he can learn to expand the business in other locations.

I want to go to NYU for my MBA degree. Tuition of course is expensive. But my boyfriend wants to be iin Los Angeles. His parents live in Calabasas and my boyfriend doesn't want me to move to New York obviously, because he needs to take care of the Business in Southern Cali and he doesn't want to be away from me.

One of the reasons why my boyfriend also can't move is because he is going to buy a house in the Pacific Palisades/Santa Monica area. So that is another weigh down on him. And he wants me to move in with him.

The thing is NYU always won me over as more prestige when it came to Stern Business School. My question is:
Is NYU more prestige then UCLA in general extent? My continuing major will be Marketing.

[missionhome]

A UCLA business MBA is going to be better for jobs in CA. A NYU one is better for jobs on the East Coast. If you go to get a job with a UCLA MBA in CA, it is just as good, if not better than NYU because CA residents are familiar with UCLA. It depends on where you see yourself living in the future and trying to get a job in my opinion.

[missionhome]

UCLA and NYU are very comparable in their academic ranking also.

Wall Street Journal
NYU #16
UCLA #19

Business Week
NYU #13
UCLA #14

US News (2009)
NYU#10
UCLA #11

Forbes
NYU #13
UCLA #19

It honestly depends on what school you want to go to and whether you are willing to leave you boyfriend. If you choose to live in Los Angeles, UCLA is an excellent school and you will have no less likely hood of getting a job when compared to a NYU degree.

[Hairloom1]

My boyfriend did say that he'd make me partner after I have gotten my Masters.
If he expands the business and we share the profits.
He would take on the Medical part of the job (That is the business itself) and I would take on the financial.

We would split the income and I would be getting a yearly gross income of maybe 250,000 just on My part.. That's only from the Business by itself. (While my boyfriend would get maybe 55-60% of the other profits) If I worked for the company I would maybe make a begining salary of 90,000. plus the Business income. Which would be around 330,000 gross.

Though my boyfriend would have the main operation over it. Since the Medical field isn't affected by recession per-say. But The numbers are stable enough.

I'll probably go to UCLA, because relationship wise. Long-distance wouldn't work-out. And that this business is already set in-ground and has been functioning for almost two decades as family business. Expanding it to a Corporation type of an ordeal would increase the gross income status.

So UCLA is better choice for California Business Opportunities Thank you missionhome for the info

[missionhome]

^^^^
Also, do you see yourself potentially marrying your boyfriend in the future? Seeming he is willing to get involved with you in business, you must have a serious relationship and he trusts you. I think everything will work out just fine and you will be living in a very very nice part of LA if he makes $600k a year. If you love him (or are at least serious about him/future with him), I think it is a good idea to stay here and go to UCLA.

UCLA is beautiful by the way! It isn't like you are settling for a low life school when you don't go to NYU. UCLA still is one of the most prestigious and best universities in the country. Best of luck.

[Sorcerer68]

Geographic differences can be the undoing of a marriage. Be sure you can agree on a place and once you do, one cannot punish the other on an ongoing basis for not living the other place.

I know this from experience.

UCLA vs NYU all depends which coast you'd like to live on. They are of equal social and educational standing but culturally are thousands of miles apart.

[hsw]

Business 101....w/o a written contract, who knows what economics one might derive from any relationship?

NYU is a fairly unremarkable B-school, largely for those who can't gain admission to a more credible school....

UCLA has a decent alumni network in LA region...and commands similar respect in LA region as NYU might in NYC region...

Realize that, in past 10+yrs, almost no one intelligent in financial industry has bothered going to graduate B-school....they join a financial analyst program at one of the major NYC investment banks post-college; stay a yr or two, and the smartest ones migrate to hedge funds....

Today, any graduate B-school, incl Wharton/Harvard/Stanford, is for the slower kids....

[Hairloom1]

My boyfriend and I, we have been on and off in the past. Sometimes I think he only dates me because of my looks. I hope it can get past the superficial level. I also don't take money from my boyfriend, my family is middle class. I don't want to be the "Trophy girlfriend".

My boyfriend trusts me enough to go into business with him. A few days ago I just turned 20 years old. I told him on my Birthday "If we do decide to go into Business together I want you to claim the companies rights in your name. Because if we ever had a massive falling-out, I would want out of the business. I'm sure I can make it on my own" (No Hard Feelings) That in itself is what triggered him to trust me more in that regard.

The property tax is so expensive for expanding business though especially in Southern California.

I have a question: My boyfriend is buying a house in "Topanga Canyon/Pacific Palisades" area. If I moved in with him. How far is the commute to UCLA in Beverly Hills. If you had to average it. I ask because I rarely go that area.

[ExPit]

My question would be what do your parents say? My observation is that your ties to your boyfriend seem to be complicated by financial considerations.

You should ask yourself two questions. 1. What do I really want to do, what would I do if they weren't paying me at all? And 2.; What decision would I make if my boyfriend were a pauper?

It may seem common to you, these circumstances that to me seem quite rare for people your age, but I assure you that a twenty-one year old guy making 600k a year is anything but ordinary, even in L.A.

Something in you wants to be true to who you are, the other part is inclined to take the safe, easy way out. A good problem to have, most of us of any age would say, but just be careful that you're not selling yourself short. It is the year 2008, but there are still plenty of young women who do, only to find out twenty years later that they have to start all over if they are to have any true sense of themselves. That kind of money only looks magical when you don't have it. If and when you get it, you will find that it did not make you immune to the truly troubling things in life. I wish you the best either way.

[MisterMark]

Originally Posted by Hairloom1

My boyfriend and I, we have been on and off in the past. Sometimes I think he only dates me because of my looks. I hope it can get past the superficial level. I also don't take money from my boyfriend, my family is middle class. I don't want to be the "Trophy girlfriend".

Oh, honey, if you're feeling this way now, pay close attention to what your gut is telling you, and take your time.