The MBA Student Voice

First Quarter at Anderson and Loving It!

I think the last blog post I wrote was shortly after classes began, and when I look back over my Outlook calendar at what I’ve been up to in the interim, the hiatus makes sense. Even before school when I was working full-time, traveling several times a month, and training for races, I don’t recall feeling this busy. Maybe it seems so hectic because I am constantly changing my focus from academics, to company presentations, to resume and cover letter work, to fulfilling my duties as a First Year Director for three clubs, to a million other things, every day. Or maybe it’s just that even after my 10-12 hour days on campus, I still have homework to do!

In any event, midterms wrapped up on Thursday. Getting back into intense studying mode nine years out of college, for classes I never would have voluntarily picked if I knew I was getting a grade in them, made this quite the experience. If you’re like me, the following looks more like gibberish than the Significance Test for Proportions, but that was something on the Statistics midterm.

I actually wrote this equation in my spare time.

Similarly, you Econ majors might recognize the following as the Cobb-Douglas Principle, but Cobb to me is a salad, not something I am prepared to use to analyze a regression like I (sort of) did last Tuesday.

Cobb-Douglas Principle; Not Pictured: Avocados, bacon, any shred of logic.

But in between all this hard work there has been some fun. There are social activities scheduled many nights of the week, such as Lit Club (Wednesday nights), Anderson Afternoons (every Thursday after classes, free beer on campus!), and football games & tailgates (UCLA beat Cal (Berkeley) in the Homecoming game this weekend!).

Go Bruins!

Two of the highlights have been the 80s Party and the Halloween Party. I’m not sure if it’s an Anderson thing, or a business school thing, but when costumes are involved, people really go all out!

This is a situation where a picture is worth a thousand words.

Photo Journal - Brazilian Paradise - Florianopolis

If Sãu Paulo is the New York of Brazil and Rio de Janeiro the Miami of Brazil, then Florianopolis must be the Hawaii of Brazil.  Since moving to LA from Oahu, HI, I haven't felt any place that feels so much like Hawaii.  Florianapolois sits on the Southeast coast of Brazil and is a relatively small island with a large surfer community, gorgeous beaches, and a bustling downtown.  If I hadn't known better, I would've thought I was back on Oahu.  

 In this blog post I will be providing a photo journal of my time in Florianopolis.

We started our journey by travelling 12 hours by bus from Sãu Paulo to Florianopolis.  While the trip was long, the busses here are surprisingly comfortable, and we took the trip over night so we could sleep most of the way.  

My travel companions (two fellow MBAs from Pepperdine) and I headed to Joaquina Beach.  There we found a huge, gorgeous beach with surfers and plenty of beach goers.

On the North side of the beach we found waves crashing against very impressive rocks. 

As the day went on the beach filled with beachgoers that came in the busses.

The following day we decided to go on a hike to a waterfall that we'd heard about.  We went with our roommate in the hostel, Tomas, from Argentina, who was staying in the same room as us at the hostel we were staying at.  Florianopolis has a large lake in the middle of it and we had to take boat to get there.

One things that was very cool was that there were houses built along the lake that you could only get to by boat.

We finally landed at our dock and headed for the waterfall.

After a brief hike, we found the waterfall we'd heard about, and while it was pretty, we were honestly expecting a longer journey.

There was not question we were in the jungle and we even saw some frienly creatures on our hike.

This big guy was crossing a road and sadly was run over by a car shortly after taking this picture.  It was easily the size of my hand. 

This is the lake in the middle of the island, Lagoa de Conceicão

The next day I headed to Mole Beach, a local surf spot, adjacent to a 'clothing optional' beach.

You know it's a surfing town when there's a statue of a surfer in the middle of the town

That afternoon I headed to Iglesas beach on the North side of the island with a few friends I made at the hostel.

The next day we travelled to downtown Florianopolis.

From here you can see Favelas in the hills behind the city.

Even the city center has evidence that we're still in a tropical region of the world.

Follow the yellow brick road?

We found a large market where it looked like you could find almost any kind fresh food, fish, souveneirs, fruits and vegetables, and more?

ALMA Invites YOU to TAILGATE with us!

The Anderson Latino Management Association (ALMA) invites YOU to TAILGATE with us for the UCLA vs. Arizona State football game!  Come and re-connect with your fellow alumni and current Anderson students while we party at the Rose Bowl!  ALMA, the Anderson African American Alumni Association, the Latino Management Student Association, and the African American Students in Management will gather with their significant others, and family and friends as our Bruins take on Arizona State. Come and share in the fun!

When:  Saturday, November 5th, 2011.  Game time is still TBD, but the tailgate starts 4 hours before kickoff.  For more information or to RSVP, contact Mat Lopez (mathew.lopez@nbcuni.com).

Lost in Translation - An MBA Studying Abroad

"Why did you decide to study abroad?" and "Why did you choose Sau Paulo?"  These are the two questions that I was asked the most before I left to study abroad and since I've arrived in Sãu Paulo.  As such, I thought it would be an appropriate place for me to begin my posts on studying abroad.

"Why did you decide to study abroad?"

Not to be cryptic, but that question is actually answered with another question that I asked MBA Alums when looking at different MBA programs.  My question was, "If you could change one thing that you did while getting your MBA, what would it be?"  That question almost invariably got two responses; "I would have studied abroad" and "I would have taken more finance classes."  I took both of those responsese seriously and when the opportunity presented itself to apply for the study abroad program at UCLA Anderson, I decided that it wasn't an opportunity that I could pass up.  The one thing that weighed most heavily on my mind was, How many opportunities would I have to spend 3 months in a foreign country, where I'm not otherwise preoccupied with a hectic work schedule?  Before committing to the study abroad program, I did, however, consider the risks and sacrifices that I would have to make to study abroad.  

At UCLA Anderson we only have 6 quarters of classes and the first year consists of primarily core classes.  If
I chose to study abroad, that would mean that I would be giving up one of my three remaining quarters of electives at Anderson to study abroad.  In addition, I wouldn't be able to be part of the professional associations at Anderson, help 1st years with interview preparation, or go to all the tailgating and other social events.  Another consideration was my ability to recruit effectively during the Fall Quarter of my second year.  If my internship over the summer didn't go as I'd hoped, I had to consider how studying abroad would effect my ability to effectively recruit for highly competitive jobs.  Finally, I did have to take into account the additional costs of flying abroad, getting a VISA, and several additional costs.  While I did have an internship in Germany between my junior and senior of undergrad, I decided that the opportunity to spend 3 months in a foreign country outweighed the sacrifices that I would have to make at home.

"Why did you choose Sãu Paulo?"

Truth be told, we were actually allowed to choose three locations.  My choices in order of preference were:

1) Sãu Paulo (Fundacao Getulio Vargas, Escola de Administracao de Empresas de Sao Paulo)
2) Barcelona (IESE Business School, University of Navarra)
3) Hong Kong (Hong Kong University of Science and Technology) 

We were given a list of schools across the globe that we could choose from, and while there was a specific reason as to why I chose each of these schools, there were a few significant criteria that I took into consideration when picking schools.

1) Location - Where are the places that I've never been, that I have a genuine passion to learn more about, and that I think I will enjoy my time the most?
2) Network - Will I be able to develop a personal and/or professional network for the future?
3) Opportunities - Will the combination of the environment, the network, and other intangible aspects provide opportunities that I might not realize otherwise?

Apparently Starbucks has invaded Latin America as well...

I chose Brazil first because of everything that I've been hearing about it in the news, such as how it's middle class is growing, how it's hosting the 2016 Olympics, and how it is rapidly becoming a more modern country.  I finally decided on Sãu Paulo over  Rio de Janeiro because I'd heard about the quality of the university in Sãu Paulo and because people described it as the New York of Brazil.  Since I haven't lived in a large metropolitan city aside from LA, I thought Sau Paulo would be a good place for me to step out of my comfort zone.   

But the best coffee is found in smaller shops

If you're interested in studying abroad while getting your MBA, I hope this gave you some useful items to think about.  I've been in Sau Paulo for 5 days now and have some first impressions that I'll share in my next blog post.  I'm actually taking a short trip to Florianopolis before classes get started, so it will probably will be a week before my next post, and I look forward to sharing some fun pictures.

UCLA Anderson - International Exchange
http://www.anderson.ucla.edu/x7181.xml

Matt

School Begins, Breathing Ends: First Quarter at UCLA Anderson

Classes started just over a week ago, and if I thought things were going to slow down after Orientation, I was W-R-O-N-G! I have classes beginning at 8 am every day and I rarely leave the Anderson campus until around 8 at night! Good thing it is such a nice facility, but perhaps it could use a few futons… One of my top priorities right now is figuring out how to make everything fit! For the first couple of weeks of class, a typical day looks like this:

6 am – Wake up, chug coffee, catch up on e-mails that have already come in from the East Coast.

8 am – First class begins. My classes this quarter are Managerial Economics, Financial Accounting, Marketing Management, Data and Decisions (don’t be fooled by the name, this is STATS!), and Management Communications. For a liberal arts major many years out of school like me, there is a steep learning curve!

2:15 pm – Classes end, time to meet with my 5-person Learning Team to work on group assignments for a couple of hours. We use one of the awesome group study pods in the beautiful Rosenfeld Library. You can even write on the glass walls!

No, not these glass walls.

4:30 pm – Meet with a career advisor at the Parker CMC (Career Management Center). I’m working hard to get my resume in recruiting-ready shape!

5:00 pm – Squeeze in a quick run. An easy, hilly 4-mile route is simply to run around the UCLA campus. The beautiful Drake Track is very close by and a good place to get in some speedwork. Or get hit on, if you are Bill Wells.

6:30 pm - Change into business casual or a suit for evening recruiting events or professional association meetings. Last week alone, I attended events put on by Amazon, Microsoft, and SanDisk, as well as meetings for the Marketing Association, High Tech Business Association, Women’s Business Connection, and Net Impact.

9:00 pm – Arrive home. Check to see if my fiancé still recognizes me. Begin homework.

You get the idea! But before it sounds like I am complaining, things are certainly busy but it is very empowering to feel like I am in charge of my own destiny and making choices every day that affect the quality and success of my business school experience.

And there are still the weekends! Although I spend the majority of them catching up on all the work the above schedule didn’t permit me to get to during the week, there’s still time to enjoy fabulous Los Angeles.

Making a friend at Malibu beach.

Even if I anticipated this big life change, that doesn’t make it easy. In an effort to maintain some vestige of my former life as a regular competitor in triathlons and marathons, I took my first dip in the Pacific Ocean in the form of the LA Triathlon last weekend. Much to my surprise, I actually got my best time ever at the Olympic distance (.93-mile ocean swim, 25-mile bike, and 10K with two surprise enormous hills). As has become my habit, I am attributing it to the cooler, less humid, amazing weather I am so enjoying here. Stanton came Downtown to LA Live to watch the run, and probably because it was a rare chance for him to actually see me!

Catching some air!

We also bumped into Greg Booth, Anderson ’12, whose fiancé Hadley Hughes (below right) was doing her first ever tri. We all agreed it's much easier to smile when the race is over!

So life continues to evolve here at UCLA Anderson. On balance, I am loving it so far. But speaking of balance, I will certainly be happier when (if??) I ever get any!

 -Charlotte Baxter