What Made UC Davis the Right MBA

My mom and aunt both have MBAs. Growing up, I always assumed I would follow in their footsteps at some point—but not just for tradition’s sake.

The real turning point came after a few years working for healthcare nonprofits in Washington D.C. I had reached that familiar three-to-five-year mark when you ask yourself: How do I pivot from stumbling into an industry to an intentional career?

I loved working to improve patient outcomes, but I felt like I was learning by trial and error without a clear plan for professional growth. That’s when the MBA started making sense, not as a credential, but as a strategic accelerator.

Why Collaborative Leadership Led Me to UC Davis

When I decided to pursue my MBA, I focused on West Coast programs. I attended Mount Holyoke College, a small liberal arts college in New England and the first among the historic Seven Sisters. I was drawn to the idea of complementing that close-knit undergraduate experience with the scale of a large public research university.

If you’re going to attend a public university, the University of California system stands apart. It’s arguably the strongest public university system in the world, and UC Davis offered exactly what I was looking for.

What truly sold me on the UC Davis Graduate School of Management was its emphasis on collaborative leadership. In nearly every organization, industry, sector and role, success depends on your ability to influence across levels and work through complexity together; rarely does individual heroism get you across the finish line on time and within budget.

At UC Davis, that philosophy wasn’t aspirational—it was operational. Coursework was team-based. Deliverables required shared accountability. It became clear that you couldn’t finish the program unless you were committed to being a collaborative leader.

The Course That Changed Everything

One class that stands out is Professor Emerita Shannon Anderson’s Strategic Cost Management course. On the surface, it sounded like a traditional cost accounting class, but it’s a regular reference point for me today.

The course asked deep questions like:

• Does your cost structure actually align with your organizational values and strategy?
• If a company claims its people are its differentiator, do its compensation structure and workforce management practices reflect that?
• Could an outsider examine your budget and challenge your narrative?

The class integrated accounting, finance, economics, operations and strategy into one cohesive perspective. Taken in my final year, it crystallized everything the MBA was designed to teach.

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The Real Value: A Toolkit, Not Just Knowledge

My advice to those considering business school: an MBA gives you a toolkit—a library of frameworks you can apply to new problems.

You may face a challenge you’ve never encountered before, but you’ll recognize its structure and know which tool to use. That condensed learning—gaining in one to three years what might otherwise take a decade—is what allows you to make an immediate impact.

The ROI Was Immediate

I completed my Sacramento Part-Time MBA while working at a UC Davis-backed startup, Cognivive, which required balance and discipline. UC Davis understands that reality. Classes are structured for working professionals, faculty are pragmatic and schedules reflect real-world constraints.

The payoff came quickly. While some of that was a shift from the public to the private sector, much of it was the value of a new credential paired with a stronger skill set.

The return on investment wasn’t theoretical—it was tangible.

Learning Beyond the Classroom

During my time at UC Davis, I co-founded the GSM Pride Network, won a national pitch competition, was a teaching assistant for undergraduate courses, served on several school-wide committees and placed in the Big Bang! Business Competition. I later served on the GSM Alumni Association Board of Directors, rolling off my term in 2025. These experiences weren’t about accolades—they were about engagement. 

You get out of an MBA what you put into it. If you stay quiet in class and disengage outside it, the value will feel limited. If you raise your hand, fill gaps and contribute, the experience compounds.

Where I Am Now

Today, I’m the chief of staff at Signify Health, a CVS Health company. I serve as a strategic thought partner to the president/CEO and collaborate with functional leads to plan and deliver critical initiatives that impact millions of health plan members and thousands of colleagues nationwide. That is the UC Davis MBA toolkit at work.

The most powerful thing about that toolkit is its flexibility. Whether you remain in nonprofits, pivot to the private sector, work in government or lead research teams, the frameworks apply. Every sector needs strategy, budgets, influence and organizational alignment.

An MBA isn’t for everyone—but for those willing to put in the work and ready to fast-track their growth, it can be transformational. For me, it was absolutely worth it.