The MBA Student Voice

Why UCLA Anderson Is a Great Choice For B-school IMHO

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope everyone had a wonderful day spent with family and friends. I know for us students, it was a welcome day off from studying as we approach finals. There are only two weeks left in the now-infamous first quarter of b-school (I say “now”—I think it was always infamous, I just didn’t really understand until I lived through it myself!), and I will admit to being incredibly ready for the holiday! That said, business school so far has been an amazing experience that I wouldn’t trade for anything. And one quarter into it, I can also safely say that I wouldn’t trade UCLA Anderson for any other business school either.

Another satisfied student votes Anderson!

It’s a tough question- there are many amazing business schools to choose from, how do you know which one is best for you? Complicating things is when you get your heart set on a school and for whatever reason are not able to attend (and by whatever reason, I mean you don’t get in). I've been blogging on this site for awhile, and with luck I've built up a bit of street cred amongst our readers. So I hope you'll trust me when I say that I encourage you to consider UCLA Anderson as seriously as you would any other school, and I include the Top 3 in that as well. Why? Where do I begin…

1)      The quality of people. Every day, every hour, I am amazed, surprised, and delighted by the sheer intellect, ambition, savvy, wisdom, goal-orientation, creativity, and overall high caliber of each of my fellow students, first and second year alike. This is truly a top notch institution to have attracted such amazing talent. There is no doubt in my mind that many people I walk the halls of Anderson with today are going to be tomorrow’s Fortune 50 CEO’s, start-up darlings, and revolutionaries in the non-profit space. It's just an added bonus that everyone is also friendly & helpful, normal (loosely defined), and quite often, hilarious. (At least in Section B, the most awesome section there ever was.)

What was that about “quality of people”??

Women's Business Connection Brunch Series I: Finance

Three representatives from Citigroup were kind enough to join us for the brunch: Gloria Lin from New York, Tasha Bartuzik from Los Angeles, and Tanya Silvio from Chicago.

I'm the first-year co-director of professional development for Women's Business Connection (WBC) at UCLA Anderson, and as such, was able to participate recently in a brunch hosted by WBC with several key finance firms in the LA area. The brunch was held on Sunday, October 23rd, and we were able to have firms such as Credit Suisse, Citibank, Houlihan Lokey, Goldman Sachs, Oaktree Capital, and Amgen in attendance. The best part of all this is that this isn't the average "mixer" type of event--it's geared specifically toward women who are seeking industry jobs and as such, these events tend to be more intimate and a bit more candid than your garden-variety networking event.

The brunch was graciously hosted by fellow first-year students Miho Goto and Laurel Martin, both of whom I'm sure will secure top-notch jobs in the finance field come summer.  Not having been to a brunch networking event before (but having attended plenty of lunch and light-dinner events), I wasn't quite sure what to expect.  The event was held on Sunday at 10:30 AM at Hotel Angeleno, basically right by the world-renowned Getty Center here in West Los Angeles.  From the moment I walked in, I knew it was going to be a great event as the food spread was quite impressive (always a good sign in my book).

The event was set up in a round-robin format, with each of us going from one table to the next after about 20 minutes of chatting.  This was very efficient as we were able to choose with which companies we'd like to network prior to the event.  Armed with my background in private wealth management and a high-level knowledge of finance, I was able to uphold my end of the conversation and soon everyone found the conversations free-flowing, as was the case with the coffee & orange juice.  

What I found especially noteworthy, as mentioned before, is that the WBC brunch series is specifically set up for women by women.  So there are discussions honed in around work-life balance, family life, glass ceiling issues, and other unique challenges that women may face in the industry.  The fact that we were able to have frank conversations with women who are successful in their fields was like a breath of fresh air.

The three sets of 20 minutes flew by in a blink and soon we found ourselves saying goodbye.  The finance brunch series set up by WBC was a great event and I very recently--just this past Sunday--attended the consulting brunch series.  Look for my blog post regarding this new brunch next week!

-- Connie Kim

connie.kim.2013@anderson.ucla.edu

@UCLAMBA

Second Year

Second year has a very different rhythm from first. This time a year ago I remember looking at a list of deliverables due in the next three weeks and having no idea how I'd survive until winter break. This year the list is daunting, but definitely survivable.

It isn't exactly that the second year is "easier" than first. (Though it probably is, insofar as I no longer have to contort my brain into accounting-speak.) Second year is equally busy; the difference is that you chose everything piled on your plate. 

One of the things I did last year, that I'm excited to do again, is Project Echo. A business plan competition for high school students, Project Echo introduces young people to every step of the process of creating a viable business. Each student team is assigned a group of MBA mentors. We advise them on how to build their business plan and help them prepare for the final competition, when each team presents their plan to a panel of judges from the community. 

Last year I had the opportunity to review many of the student business plans, and to watch a number of student groups present their ideas. It was amazing to see how far the teams had come during the months of competition, from an unformed concept to a detailed, well-informed and realizable business plan. Many of the teams have already successfully put their ideas into practice!

When it came time to decide whether to sign up for Project Echo this year, I did hesitate. So much to do, etc. But ultimately I had to recognize that Project Echo gave back everything we put into it last year and more. Gaining early experience with business and entrepreneurship will be tremendously valuable for the participating students. Plus, it was a lot of fun.

So I signed up. In a few days my team will be meeting our new students, who already have a number of great ideas for their project. I can't wait!

-- Tara Egan

tara.egan.2012@anderson.ucla.edu

@UCLAMBA

Adventures in South America - Montevideo and Buenos Aires

This past Tuesday there was a 'Bank' holiday in Brazil, which meant no classes on Monday and 6 days off for me.  Like several of my classmates, I decided to take advantage of the opportunity and make a 'big' trip to other cities outside of Brazil, including Montevideo, Uruguay, and Buenos Aires, Argentina.  I'm so glad I took this trip because it really have me a different perspective of Latin America from what I'd seen in Brazil.

A gorgeous day in Buenos Aires

The main Beach of Montevideo, Brazil

 

The first thing I discovered when visiting both Montevideo and Buenos Aires, was how much more 'developed' each of these cities felt.  Granted, they didn't feel quite as polished as some parts of the US and Europe, there was a general feel that things were more organized and structured.  In comparison to Brazil, which has its own feel when it comes to shopping, restaurants, architecture and more, both Buenos Aires and Montevideo felt considerably more 'European' both in style and in population.  

Montevideo by Day and Night

For a little bit I wondered why this was.  Perhaps its because they were both once Spanish colonies, maybe it had to do with how they developed either socially, culturally, or economically.  But, as opposed to the almost industrial feel of many parts of Brazil, there seemed to be much more history in the architecture and the city layout.  For example, in Sao Paulo, it really does feel like a concrete jungle with only small pockets of parks and trees.  However, in both Montevideo and Buenos Aires there was an abundance of trees, parks, and open spaces.  One thing that was interesting, was that as nice as Buenos Aires is, several people were quick to remind me that it has come quite far from the economic challenges it faced a decade ago.  It is still a place where there is a large income gap, and around sunset you'll find lots of people sifting through trash for recyclables and other discarded items of value.

 

One of most striking differences between Brazil and both Montevideo and Buenos Aires that I also discovered was the lack of diversity in the population Montevideo and Buenos Aires compared to Brazil.  While Brazil is comprised of predominately 3 ehtnic groups, both Montevideo and Buenos Aires seemed to be made up of direct descendants of the Spanish colonizers.  This was neither a positive or negative observation, but it made me appreciate the diversity of Brazil a little bit more.  

One of the common traits among all of Latin America that I have experienced so far is how outgoing and welcoming everyone is.  It's something that I've already commented on but I constantly find it striking how willing people are to strike up a conversation with someone on the street.  On more than one occasion as I strolled through Montevideo or Buenos Aires I had people approach me asking me if I needed directions, wondering where I was from, and what I thought of their city.  There was a general sense that they were very proud of their respective countries and excited to let me know of highlights.  

I leave you with one of the highlights of my trip to Argentina, which is know for its grass-fed cattle.  Easily the best steak I've ever had.  AMAZING.

School Is Cool

As the great Austin Powers would say, “Allow myself to introduce myself.” My name is Willem Suyderhoud and I am a first-year full-time MBA student at UCLA Anderson. I’m honored to be one of the school’s social media ambassadors (it sounds very regal, doesn’t it?) and I look forward to sharing my insights and perspectives with you.

I wanted to be a social media ambassador for a few reasons. For one, I’m quite interested in social media and its ability to facilitate communication and connection in a way that was unfathomable just a decade ago. So taking on this role will hopefully add to my social media education (and hey, it can’t hurt to have on a resume). But I also wanted to do this in order to share my story with prospective students.

I come from what we at school call a “non-traditional” business background. Prior to arriving at Anderson, I was a television sports anchor/reporter/producer in Butte, Montana, Medford, Oregon and San Francisco. I was on TV for five years delivering nightly sports reports, so I didn’t have much time to learn about such fun stuff as net present value and regression analysis. As a result, I was a bit insecure as I embarked on the business school application process. I wasn’t sure if my background would scare off those wonderful folks in admissions. Seeing that I’m writing this blog post in UCLA’s scenic business school library, I guess I fooled enough people. Of course, I’m kidding. But what’s no joke is Anderson’s celebration of diversity. I have classmates who are Grammy award-winning musicians, standout division one athletes, and successful entrepreneurs. And the diversity isn’t limited to professional backgrounds. I now have friends from all over the world. I consider myself extremely lucky to be able to engage with these diverse and fascinating fellow students because I get a fresh perspective every day. In other words, the education doesn’t stop when you leave the classroom.

The point I’m trying to make is no matter what background you come from or where you come from, Anderson can be a great fit for you. I’m hoping that over the course of the year I can use this outlet to prove that. 

Also, if you have any questions about the application process or the Anderson experience, please feel free to contact me. My e-mail is willem.suyderhoud.2013@anderson.ucla.edu. You can also follow me on Twitter @willsouthwood. 

 -Willem

 

São Paulo, The Living City

It's been a little while since my last post where I blogged about my trip to Florianopolis, Brazil.  Since then I've become much more accustomed to living in Brazil and have started to form some initial opinions of both São Paulo and Brazil in general.

The best way I can describe São Paulo is a 24 hour living city.  While I've had a chance to spend a little time in major US cities like Los Angeles and New York, and even spent some time in Europe, I have never experienced the feel of a 24 hour city like São Paulo, or most of the places I've been in Brazil for that matter.  São Paulo is kind of unique in Brazil, in that it is the financial and economic center of Brazil, and in many ways like the NY of Brazil.

 It's where people go to work hard and create a career for themselves.  At the same time, São Paulo is like many other Latin American cities in that at 11pm, when most people in the US would be going to bed, the city seems like it is just waking up.  On almost any day of the week you can find lots of people out walking around, having conversations at bars and restraunts, or at clubs until the sun comes up.  I've never personally been much of a night owl, but I find that in Brazil, its hard not to be.

One of the things I find amazing about Brazil is how organic it feels in many ways.  While Brazil doesn't always appear as structured as I feel things are in the US, it definitely has its own unique feel and culture that I've become accustomed to.   

One of the things that I can't leave out of this post is how amazing the people of Brazil have been.  In almost every case they've been warm, patient, and happy people.  While I'm not fluent in Portuguese by any means, I have made an honest attempt to speak Portugues, and that seems to go very far when I'm looking for directions, buying something at the grocery store, or trying to order something off a menu.  Brazilians seem happy to have an American gringo in their country and eager to share their culture and language.

My next trip will be to Montevideo, Uruguay and Buenos Aires, Argentina.  I'm very excited about both trips and can hardly wait to share my experiences.

If there's something specific you'd like me to blog about, please let me know.  I'd be happy to share and will try to post more regularly.