USC Marshall School of Business

Dear Friends of Marshall:

Not where I come from.  Growing up in Allahabad, India, I knew that my entire future was determined by one test -- the crucial board exam after high school.  In India, students get one shot at this test.  Do poorly, and you will fail to get into a good college, and graduation from a good college is highly correlated with your earning potential.  As a result, Indian high schools are much more competitive than their counterparts in the United States.  That funnels into more rigorous studies in college business schools. 

Today, there is a global market for talent.  The graduates from those Indian business schools are the competition our American business school students face.  They will graduate having been forged in much more competitive fires than Americans can know. 

How can we at USC Marshall School of Business compete?  In part by growing every year in our intellectual footprint and ambition.  By engaging our students in a dynamic study of the global economy.  By asking all of our graduates to spend time abroad and gain a savvier global mindset. 

And we are succeeding in these goals.  The Marshall reputation is increasing both at home and abroad, and we are establishing ourselves as preeminent in thought leadership.  This very weekend, we are hosting a Global Conference in Taipei.  But the kind of global experiential learning we encourage is expensive.  When we send students to China, Singapore, Africa, Brazil, India, Japan, and Russia -- we are giving them invaluable experience, but an experience that requires increased institutional resources.

[firstname], I hope you'll join me in supporting the global learning that USC Marshall School of Business is pioneering.  We don't want our students to just have one chance at success.

Yours truly,

Shantanu Dutta
Vice Dean, Marshall School of Business