The MBA Student Voice

Over Already? Looking Back on My Two Awesome Years at UCLA Anderson

I am amazed (and a bit embarrassed!) to realize that my last post about my goings-on at UCLA Anderson was almost a year ago! But as graduation looms (what? where did the time go?!?) in a mere five weeks, it seemed a final wrap-up post about my time here at this awesome school was in order.  To get you up to speed, when I last wrote I was one quarter into my tenure as president of the High Tech Business Association and about to head off to Seattle for a summer interning as a Product Manager in the Kindle division at Amazon.com. For a look back at all my old posts, you can click here.

So much has happened since then, it’s hard to know where to begin, but I will start by saying my experience at Amazon was fantastic this summer, and I am delighted to report that I will be returning there after graduation full-time as a Senior Product Manager! Over 12 other Andersonians will be heading there too, joining the many others already at Amazon, Microsoft, T-Mobile and Nordstrom, and continuing our Seattle reach!

Josh Stark, me and Brad Lyman had awesome summers at Amazon and will be returning after graduation.

I was lucky enough to work with the Kindle team in the months preceding the launch of the next generation (Kindle Paperwhite, Kindle Fire HD) on September 6, 2012. Because the team was so busy, I ended up with some pretty cool assignments, the coolest being building out a product that I got to present to Jeff Bezos. Yes, that Jeff Bezos.

"Bezos"? "War Room"? So yeah, pretty much the coolest thing ever.

Back at school, the High Tech Business Association (HTBA) continued on the upward trajectory started by the board preceding me and launching into high gear since last spring. A good overview of some of our activites and other opportunities in Tech that Anderson offers can be found in my fellow blogger Alejandra Rodriguez's post Let's Talk High Tech. One awesome event we added this year was Anderson's first ever High Tech Case Competition, sponsored by Amazon. Among the prizes winners received was guaranteed interviews with the company for summer internships or full-time positions!

Of course we promoted the case competition using social media!

Our annual Silicon Valley and Seattle Tech Treks took us to some of the most sought-after tech companies in the world - for example, over 20 in the Bay Area including Adobe, eBay/PayPal, Facebook, Google, Medallia, Salesforce, SanDisk, Twitter and YouTube.

HTBA inside the Zynga light tube!

HTBA "likes" Facebook!

We teamed with sister club the Entrepreneur Association to get more involved in the LA start-up scene, also known as "Silicon Beach." We incorporated company and incubator visits and events on campus like our Mobile in LA panel with start-up founders.

Founders from start-ups ParkMe, Shipmate, Mogreet, GonnaBe and Gumiyo

There's lots more great stuff to say about HTBA but I will let that thread continue with fellow blogger Ashley Mallinson, who is the newly elected president for the 2013-14 school year! (Unless of course she gets so busy with that position she doesn't find time to blog anymore. Not that I know anyone this has happened to.)

There were lots of awesome events at school and around Los Angeles, as always. Just this weekend was the annual Tour de Strand, a day-long pub crawl on bikes from Santa Monica to Hermosa Beach along the beach paths. Things get pretty crazy by the end of the long, sunny, fun day, but here are two SFW pictures to give you an idea:

Biking from bar three to four along The Strand.

James Vogl, Kiara Barrett, and Kevin Hofstee were the "whistleblowers" or coordinators of this year's event, and they did a fabulous job!

Also this spring, the annual AnderGLAM Fashion show completely rocked the house. Students moonlighted as models, walking the catwalk in hot fashions sourced by the Retail Management Association (RMA), to the delight of their classmates. Several administrators and professors participated in this popular event, including the school dean, Dean Judy Olian! 

Kelsey Doorey, Dean Olian, Natalie Velasco, Al Osborne (Director of the Price Center for Entrepreneurship), Sarah Alexander, Angie Lin and Kavi Kapadia pose on the red carpet.

A few other events from the year, in pictures:

The Women's Business Connection (WBC) Game Night, which included Board of Visitors member and school donor Marion Anderson (right) on the guest list!

My AMR Team made our final presentation in March after working on this project, the Anderson capstone experience, for six months. As professional and poised as we appear here, we were sooo excited to finally be done! (From left: Rob Michlovich, Jesse Pemstein, Matt Cautero, me, Uros Pajic)

Halloween has always been a favorite holiday at Anderson.

Street fair in Venice on yet another gorgeous Los Angeles day

On top of HTBA presidency, WBC vice presidency, classes, and all the rest, I still managed to run a few marathons in my free time, including Seattle in June, Santa Barbara in November (after going to New York only to have the NYC Marathon be cancelled in the wake of devastating Hurricane Sandy), Los Angeles in March, and Boston in April. My friend Dave Masterson and I took this picture at the finish line the day before the race - so chilling to think of what happened there under 24 hours later. I was so grateful to my wonderful Anderson classmates for all the support and love they showed me in the aftermath of this scary event.

Sending support and healing thoughts to everyone affected by the tragic events on marathon day.

And that is an extremely high level overview of my second year of business school. Anderson has been a wonderful experience for me - well worth the time and money involved. That said, now it's time to start making some money again so I can pay off those loans! Next stop: SEATTLE!

Enjoying a beautiful summer day in Seattle with my husband Stanton.

Thanks for joining me for the last two years, I hope I've helped more than a few of you realize that UCLA Anderson is definitely the place to be. And now it's off to the real world again, this time as an officially MBA'ed professional:

Wouldn't you hire me?

-Charlotte Baxter Maines, Full-time MBA Class of 2013

Twitter: @CharlotteK

Finally, an update on what happened at NICC and beyond!

Last month, UCLA Anderson Net Impact wrapped up the Eighth Annual Net Impact Consulting Challenge (NICC), a two-week consulting project that offers students the opportunity to assist local nonprofits and for-profit social ventures with specific business challenges. All 17 student teams presented their strategic plans to teams of judges and members of their assigned organizations. After the first round of presentations, the finalists were called on stage in Korn Hall to present once more, this time in front of a crowded auditorium. And the winners are…

First place: The Los Angeles Center for Law and Justice - Kiara Barrett (MBA 2013), Diana Lin (MBA 2014), Ana Peña (MBA 2013), Alisa Sommer (JD/MBA 2013)

Second place: The Mary Magdalene Project - Megan Groh (MBA 2014), Suzanne Howard (MBA 2014), Shuhan (Bali) Majid (MBA 2014), Ada LingJun Peng (MPP 2013)

Third place: EVO Farms - Chris Calice (FEMBA 2015), Dan Freeman (FEMBA 2015), Axel Guerra (FEMBA 2015), Don Sutherland (FEMBA 2015), Allyson Tom (FEMBA 2015)

Congratulations to all winners! 

NICC proved an extremely valuable experience for both the partner organizations and student teams. In talking with the participating students following the competition, one thing was very clear. All of us felt proud to have done work that had real impact on a real organization. It made us realize just how much we have learned in business school so far!

Many of the organizations have asked the student teams to present their recommendations at upcoming board meetings. In fact, just last week my team attended our client’s board meeting to give a presentation and discuss how our recommendations can be implemented going forward. This was a great opportunity for us to get to know the board members on a personal level as well as to address their questions and concerns. The board was very excited to get going on the plan we created, and to show their appreciation they even got us a cake! 

All in all, NICC was a very rewarding experience that I highly recommend to anyone who is interested in putting their newly acquired MBA skills to use to have a real impact on a real client in the Los Angeles community. So all you first-years and incoming students out there, remember to sign up next year! 

TED at UCLA Anderson!

 

 

Hello everyone. Last week we had a very exciting event at UCLA Anderson, the second annual TED Live Streaming! TED (Technology, Entertainment, and Design) is an annual set of global conferences about "ideas worth spreading". The topic can be anything as long as it is an innovative idea and they last at most 18 minutes so it is a fast and fun way to learn something very interesting. For example I got to listen to a talk about how music should be free and another about how the best experiences and products are those that stimulate more than one of your five senses. 

UCLA Anderson has an agreement to live stream these conferences at the campus and they designed an amazing room so students could sit and enjoy the talks. Take a look here:

 

 

Doesn't it look awesome? Those bean bag chairs were very comfy! If you want to see how they set it all up you can see that in a video here. It looks much better there; my pictures don't do it justice. 

After the live stream three or four panelist comprised of alumni, students, faculty, and industry specialists would go up on stage and discuss the TED talk to provide more insight on the subject and allow guests to ask questions. 

 

Second year Ana Peña (on the left) was moderating the panel I attended.

 

There was also a campfire at the end of the event on the third day where students and faculty would go and present their own TED inspired talks. I was not able to attend but fellow blogger Ashley Mallison did and here is what she had to say:

 

 

"The campfire was a great event. The photo is of Bhavna from our year who gave an inspiring talk about changing the way we design our cities to inside healthier lifestyles! It was a fabulous event that spoke to the power of TED and the UCLA Anderson community with great drinks and food, and black light chalk wall for people to write “What would you name your own TED Talk” and truly inspiring presentations from students and professors!"

I hope this inspires you to attend the TED Live Streaming event at UCLA Anderson next year and if you are planning to visit campus make sure to ask a current student if there are going to be any events on the dates of your visit. There is always something interesting going on at UCLA Anderson! 

 

-Alejandra Rodriguez '14
Follow UCLA Anderson at @UCLAMBA

Lets talk High Tech!

It is that time of the year where a lot of you must be deciding which MBA school to go to (of course you should choose UCLA Anderson!). For those of you interested in technology or those who have not decided what they want to do after their MBAs, I want to share with you why Anderson is such a great place for transitioning to a job in the high tech industry. 

 

Location!

Anderson is located very close to Silicon Valley, the San Francisco bay area, and Seattle. You can find the headquarters of all the major high tech companies in these areas. For example Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Facebook, Ebay, etc. All just a drive or a short plane ride away.

Los Angeles is also home of many startups, including those in the high tech industry, but you don't have to take my word for it, click here to read a great article from Forbes about why Los Angeles is becoming the new tech startup capital. 

Lastly, we are very close to Las Vegas which is home of the annual CES convention. Fellow blogger Kyle Forest just wrote an awesome post telling you all about it which you can find here. If you haven't read it yet I highly recommend you do so! 

 

Parker CMC!

We just talked about the awesome location but how can you really leverage it? The Parker CMC , which is Anderson's Career Management Center, has a great relationship with all the high tech companies.  Most of them recruit on campus and post positions through Parker CMC. 

You can follow Parker CMC on facebook here. They do a splendid job coaching and preparing us for networking and interviews. They have a class just for this on your first quarter, they do workshops, and you can book an appointment with any of the advisors every week. Actually one of the greatest advices I can give you when you start your MBA is to meet with an advisor every week. They will do mock interviews with you, review your resume and cover letters, address your concerns, guide you on how to get your dream job, and so much more. I usually meet with Emily Taylor or Regina Regazzi, who have done an amazing job coaching me and I highly recommend both of them.  Needless to say you can't go wrong with any advisor you decide to work with, they are all great! 

This is Emily teaching us about Parker CMC during our first days of class! 

 

Alumni!

We have Alumni in almost any company you might be interested in and they are all happy to talk to you about their experience. It is actually one of my favorite things about Anderson, we have a great community where everyone helps each other out and that does not stop upon graduation. Contacting an Alumni is very easy, we have an ever growing database where you can search for them and obtain their e-mails. 

 

We have ACT Coaches!

You must be wondering what ACT Coaches are, they are second years who meet with a group of first years for an hour every week to guide and mentor them on their job search. ACT groups can be by industry or function, for example I am in an ACT group for high tech and in another one for finance. Let's discuss the high tech ACT group since this is a post about high tech. These are my Act Coaches: 

Meet Joshua Stark and Bradford Lyman from class 2013! 

Can we talk about how awesome Josh and Brad are? They keep us up to date with tech news, practice interview questions with us, and guide us all the way from how to decide what companies to target to how to get the most out of your internship. It is so nice to have a fellow second year to talk to about these things and their advice has been so helpful! I am amazed by how they know so much! 

 

We have Mentors!

If Parker CMC and ACT Coaches are not enough for you we also have mentorship programs in many of Anderson's clubs. I have a mentor from the HTBA (High Tech Business Association) and from the WBC (Women's Business Connection). When looking for a mentor in the high tech industry don't just look in the HTBA, many other clubs, like the WBC, will offer you mentors that match your function, country of origin, gender, etc. but that doesn't mean they can't also match your target industry! My mentors Daisy Chen and Shiva Ramesh from class 2012 have been providing me invaluable advice and connecting me with many other alumni. I highly recommend that you sign up for mentorship programs when you are at Anderson. 

 

HTBA and Tech Treks!

The HTBA (High Tech Business Association) organizes events throughout the year to help you meet and talk to representatives from high tech companies. Some of these events are:

-Career nights:  They are kind of like speed dating. You sit at a table with representatives from a certain company and after some time the organizer indicates that it is time to switch tables. It is really fun!

-Tech treks: The HTBA assigns companies for you to visit or you bid for them in a raffle system. You get to visit one or two companies per day and there is always an alumni networking event too. There is one for Seattle and one for the Sillicon Valley area and they usually happen during winter. 

Anderson students at Microsoft's campus in Seattle 

-Brunches: As the name implies it is a brunch with company representatives. There is going to be one this Sunday organized by the HTBA and the WBC (Women's Business Connection).

 

If all this did not convince you, I encourage you to visit our campus and talk to some current students. That played a big role for me when deciding what MBA to go to. If you can't come to campus contact some students by e-mail or phone, they are all very friendly and happy to help!

 

-Alejandra Rodriguez '14
Follow UCLA Anderson at @UCLAMBA

Real case. Real client. Real impact. The Eighth Annual Net Impact Consulting Challenge!

Last Wednesday, the UCLA Anderson chapter of Net Impact held the kickoff for its Eighth Annual Net Impact Consulting Challenge (NICC). NICC offers students the opportunity to assist local nonprofits and for-profit social ventures with current strategic challenges across various areas, such as marketing, finance, operations, and leadership. The students work with their assigned organizations for a period of two and a half weeks, and the competition culminates in a presentation on Sunday, January 27th, when all teams will present their strategic recommendations and compete for a cash prize. 

In an effort to bring together students of various disciplines and levels of expertise, NICC is open to FEMBA and EMBA students, as well as graduate students outside the business school. Students compete in teams of four to six, and this year there are a total of 17 teams and 86 students. The participating organizations were selected through a competitive application process, and are dedicated to causes that include education, poverty, domestic violence, healthcare, and environmental issues. In past years, NICC had been restricted to nonprofit organizations, but the application process this year opened up to for-profit organizations with a social mission, reflective of a growing interest in this business model. 

Over the past eight years, NICC has brought together 190 students and impacted over 60 local organizations.  During the kickoff event, guest speaker and Anderson alumna Gayle Northrop noted that across the years, interest in the nonprofit world has grown at Anderson from just a few students to a sizeable group of individuals with varying interests and aspirations.  

I'm also participating in NICC, and my team and I were fortunate enough to get placed with the Alexandria House, a non-profit organization that empowers women and children who are victims of domestic violence and human trafficking by providing them with access to transitional housing, a support network, and medical and career services, ultimately preparing them to lead happy, fulfilling lives. We met with our clients at the kickoff event to discuss the strategic challenge at hand and outline our plan of action for the  next few weeks. We feel honored to have the opportunity to work with such passionate, dedicated individuals, and are so very excited to compete in this challenge and help Alexandria House to reach its goals! I urge you to check out Alexandria House's website and learn more about how it helps to make L.A. a better place: http://www.alexandriahouse.org

Stay tuned for my next post later this month to find out who wins NICC!

Glad to Be Back! Winter Quarter at Anderson Begins...

Whew, made it through the first quarter! After four straight finals that required me to know...

Assets = Liability + Equities (Accounting)

That the Firm is at the center of everything (Economics)

How to analyze a case using 3C, STP, 4P (Marketing)

And a variety of statistical methods (Data and Decisions aka Stats). 

I then went off and had a relaxing winter break. Now, fully rested and recovered, here I am at the end of week one of the Winter Quarter, and now more than ever am super excited to be at UCLA Anderson. 

Why am I super excited you might ask? Not that I didn't have an absolute blast in the fall quarter and learn a lot, this is the quarter where I get to experience many of the reasons I came to Anderson, starting with...

- Electives

This quarter we had more freedom in choosing our schedule, as the only two mandatory core classes for Winter Quarter are Operations Technology Management and whichever class out of Marketing and Finance you did not do in the fall (I'm in Finance). We had the option of doing Business Strategy now or in the spring (I'm taking it now), and of taking electives, whether at Anderson or classes offered through other graduate or undergraduate programs.

I'm taking Pay and Rewards in Organizations, since I thought it'd be pretty cool to learn about different ways firms try to incentivize employees. I don't have any action photos for this post, but here's a picture of Professor Phillip Leslie, who spoke at our Orientation closing ceremony and is the Business Strategy professor this quarter. 

- Extracurriculars

While continuing to be involved in the Riordan Fellow Mentor program, I'm also going to start volunteering with Project Echo. Project Echo is a business plan competition for high school students who are mentored through the business plan development process by teams of Anderson students. Not only is it a great opportunity for me to give back to the community, but its a valuable experience to watch people go through the process of bringing their idea to life. 

During the Winter Quarter, training for the Challenge 4 Charity sports weekend at Stanford will also begin, along with additional volunteering and fundraising activties. Right before classes started we participated in a Junior Achievement Bowl-a-thon, which proved to me that I should stick to team sports for Stanford weekend.

 (The eight section C bowlers out of the ~50 or so bowlers. We rocked it.)

- LA Marathon

On Sunday, March 18, I'll finally get the up close and personal tour of Los Angeles that I've been waiting for when I run the LA marathon. According to Runner's World Magazine, the race was named the nation's best big city marathon - no wonder Anderson's location in LA was such a key factor in my decision to come (well, other than all of the career related opportunities LA offers as well)!

After starting at Dodger Stadium, I'll get the chance to run by landmarks such as the Pantages Theater, Hollywood Walk of Fame, Rodeo Drive, and ultimately finish at the Santa Monica Pier, where I can plunge in the ocean to immediately begin icing my legs down. 

- Japan Trip

The shining light at the end of this quarter is the spring break trip to Japan organized by the Japan America Business Association (JABA). Last year over 90 students went on the trip, and I think we're on pace to easily top 100 this year. Highlights of the trip include visits to the Golden Pavilion in Kyoto and trying Zen meditation, checking out the entertainment district in Osaka, touring a Toyota factory and chilling out in the Atami hot springs, and of course, last but not least, SUMO!!!

That's all for now - I'll be back next week with more, as I'm heading out to Las Vegas tonight with members of the High Tech Business Association to attend the Consumer Electronics Show. 

Until next time, 

~Kyle Forrest, follow on Twitter and follow UCLAMBA 

Starting your MBA Life Tips

First of all I would like to say I am still alive! I am very sorry for the lack of posts but first quarter has been super busy (also super fun)! Today I want to talk to you guys about some tips that might be useful when starting your MBA life. Regardless of which MBA school you go to this will be useful (Though of course you should go to UCLA Anderson!). Lets get right to it:

- Your first MBA loan check won't be ready when you arrive at UCLA. Why? As soon as you get to Los Angeles you have to go to the financial aid office and personally sign a contract and hand in some documents. Without this the loan process can't start and If I remember correctly this whole process takes about 2 weeks. The good news is the financial office will kindly extend your tuition payment deadline but you still need to pay for your living expenses so make sure you have some savings or borrow some money from a family member for those 2 weeks. 

- Don't go grocery shopping crazy. I stocked up on food and cleaning supplies as soon as I arrived at Los Angeles. BIG mistake! First of all during orientation UCLA will provide you  with breakfast and lunch. Once classes start, clubs have so many events and left over food it is not very hard to get a free lunch almost every day. Groceries will expire all the time so buy only what you think you will use in one week. 

-Using a mac laptop for class is doable. If you look at the laptop requirements for school in this page, you will see windows and office are necessary. Alot of people in our class were worried about if they should use BootCamp, Parellels, or just buy a windows laptop. I do not own a mac computer so I don't know how they solved the problem but as you can see in the following picture many people in class use a mac and they manage:

Don't they look good in orange? 

-Get a roommate, preferrably from a different country than you. Alot of people will disagree with me since they prefer to live alone or feel safer getting a roommate from their country that they can relate to. I say be adventurouse, you go to an MBA to have new and exciting experiences and UCLA is so culturally diverse it is a shame to miss this opportunity. My roommate and classmate, Nhung Phung, is from Vietnam (I am from Mexico) and it has been an awesome experience sharing a home with her. I totally recommend it! 

My roomie and friend, Nhung :)!

-Strive to do things out of your comfort zone. This is the time to experiment, really. No one here will judge you, in fact people here are so nice that they support you and help you on anything you try. Here is a picture of me and some of the friends I danced with on a play during orientation. If you have ever met me you know I am the world's worst dancer, seriously. Everyone in that picture was super supportive and patient with me!

The start of our dance routine!

-Push yourself to talk to new people every day. Once classes starts you might find yourself trying to hang out with the same people all the time, don't. Try walking up to a circle of people you have never spoken to and introduce yourself, you don't want to miss out into meeting all your awesome classmates! 

These are only the first years!

-It is true you don't need all the books. I was warned by second years to wait and see if I actually needed all the books for class and I did not listen. Now I have a $200 dollars book i bought for a class and I never even read it! 

-Listen to second years. Really they know better, I wish I had listened to them more. They are all very nice and happy to help. It is a great community so don't be afraid to ask for advice. You can always contact me, I am happy to chat with anyone interested in UCLA Anderson! 

-Have fun. The MBA life is very busy and stressful but it is also the most fun you will ever have so make lots of friends and enjoy it :)! 

A group of Ucla bruin bears I saw during a tailgate. I love school spirit!

Happy holidays!

 

-Alejandra Rodriguez '14
Follow UCLA Anderson at @UCLAMBA

Opportunities Abound at Anderson

It's a little over halfway through the first quarter at Anderson, and as predicted, it's turned out to be very busy! Club events, recruiting, networking, classes, and homework seem to fill up every hour of the day. I never used a Google calendar before school, but now I refer to it several times a day--sometimes just to figure out which classroom I'm supposed to be in!

Despite the pace of the fall quarter, I'm trying to take advantage of the many opportunities offered at Anderson. For instance, this past week I attended a talk with Indra Nooyi, Chairman and CEO of PepsiCo. Dean Olian asked Ms. Nooyi several questions about her experiences and challenges at the helm of PepsiCo, then Ms. Nooyi entertained questions from students. One key piece of advice for future managers? "Invest in communication skills."

Of course, it wouldn't be a business school event without a free lunch. Fortunately, instead of the usual pizza, we were treated to a box lunch with a variety of PepsiCo products. Did you know Pepsi makes hummus?

So as I finalize my schedule for Winter quarter, I'm trying to leave some "white space" to attend more events like this. I have a feeling two years are going to go by pretty quickly, and I don't want to miss out!

-Ann Ching, '14

Follow me on Twitter: @annibbler

10 Reasons Anderson Orientation Rocked!

Top 10 things from UCLA Anderson Orientation

1. Game Day & Skits (Section Competitions)

2. Scavenger Hunt

3. Luau

4. Club outings & Social Hours

5. Prestigious speakers

 

Jim Morris, Chairman & CEO of Pacific Life

 

6. Extra curricular activities i.e. surfing

7. Leadership Foundations Rope course

8. 1st Official UCLA Anderson Football Tailgate

 

9. 80's Party Finale

10. Welcomes from Dean Judy Olean, Regina Regazzi & Parker Career Center and our distinguished professors!

 

Dean Judy Olean welcomes Class of 2014

 

 

ALMA Welcome Week Event!

UCLA Anderson Latino Management Alumni

Welcome Week event at Obika Mozzarella!
When: October 9th, 6pm - 8pm
Alumni: $15 - Students $5
Where:  Obika Mozarella - Century City Westfield, 10250 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, CA