MBA Insider's Blog

The Letter of Recommendation

Greetings from Houston! I have been “on the road” at a number of Forte Foundation events over the past week and have enjoyed meeting many of you. I’ve been asked on a few occasions about how one should go about sourcing a letter of recommendation and would like to share with you some of the tips I’ve passed along:

 -   Job titles aren’t as important as how well a recommender knows you in the work place. At UCLA Anderson, we look to your letter of recommendation to help us assess from a third-party perspective your leadership and management potential, fit with the program, interpersonal skills and teamwork abilities. In most cases, someone you have reported to on a day-to-day basis can provide more insight into these qualities than someone higher up in the organization who may not interact with you regularly.

-  There are other options if you can’t obtain a recommendation from your direct supervisor. Preferably, you should have a letter from your direct supervisor. However, we understand that sometimes candidates are not yet comfortable letting their employer know they are pursuing an MBA. Indirect supervisors (people who have overseen projects you’ve worked on, a manager from another department, etc.) are a good option, as well as former employers, clients (especially for those of you who are self-employed) and supervisors from extracurricular organizations. At UCLA Anderson, we prefer professional recommendations over academic, so avoid asking a former professor if possible.

-   Prepare your recommender as much as possible.  Give them ample time to prepare a strong letter, and perhaps give them a deadline to have the letter prepared by. Provide your recommender with a copy of your resume and remind them of your key accomplishments. I personally enjoy reading letters of recommendation that provide concrete examples of an applicant’s accomplishments, as well as genuine insights into an applicant’s personality.

The letter of recommendation adds some color to the application that we may not see through your essay and resume... until we have the opportunity to meet you in person during the interview. We'll be posting about the interview soon. In the meantime, I hope to meet you at an event in the near future!

International Pre-Orientation

One of the strengths of the MBA program at UCLA Anderson is the diversity of our student body, particularly our international students who represent a third of the class.  Programs designed specifically for this group include International Pre-Orientation (IPO) in the summer before orientation begins.  Today, Associate Director of Student Services Elizabeth McKillop fills us in on this program, which welcomed students from the Class of 2015 earlier this month.  Read on to learn more!

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Each summer, UCLA Anderson teams with the UCLA Center for World Languages to host International Pre-Orientation. This three-week long program consists of workshops, presentations, classes, and social events designed to acclimate entering international MBA students to the rigors of the UCLA MBA program and to the delights of living in Los Angeles! Students who opt to participate in IPO acquire strategies to improve English skills; gain exposure to MBA-style class work, group work, and case studies; learn tips and strategies to jump start their job search from UCLA Anderson’s Parker Career Management Center; experience and learn about American culture; make great friends, discover Los Angeles, and have fun!

Four types of workshops are offered during IPO, focusing on language skills, business learning, career enhancement, and American culture.

Through the Listening & Speaking workshops, students analyze and discuss videotapes and transcripts of UCLA Anderson courses in an effort to better understand classroom communication. Topics covered include the characteristics of good public speaking; group presentations; effective expression of opinions, preferences, and disagreements; recognizing and responding to questions; and comprehending native-speaker English. Writing workshops help students to enhance English writing skills and explore the characteristics of effective MBA writing; in particular the qualities and structure of a good case write up, and types  of grammatical and vocabulary choices that contribute to good writing. Instructors also meet independently with students to discuss individual writing samples.

In the Business Learning workshops, students participate in a miniature version of UCLA Anderson core courses. In previous years, courses have covered topics in Finance, Strategy, and Organizational Behavior.  Students experience class interactions and lectures; complete sample group assignments, such as short case analyses and presentations; learn about UCLA Anderson norms and expectations; and get feedback about classroom performance.

The UCLA Anderson Parker Career Management Center hosts a workshop designed to familiarize international students with the U.S. job search process and the importance of communication skills during this process. Students were also engaged in two activities during which they visited Parker CMC to meet advisors and conducted a case study to practice what they learned from the workshop. 

In an American Culture workshop, students are led in a fun and informative overview of life at UCLA Anderson; in L.A.; in California; and in the U.S. Spouses and significant others are welcome to attend this workshop, as well as the social activities held during IPO! These activities include an opening reception; a series of hosted luncheons; a day at Santa Monica Beach; field trips to local L.A. attractions; scavenger hunts in the L.A. area; and a closing barbecue.

For more information about IPO, please contact Elizabeth McKillop, UCLA Anderson Associate Director of Student Services. 

GMAT and academic review by MBA Admissions

Strong academic potential is part of the profile of every student admitted to UCLA Anderson.   Sometimes this potential is shown more by the undergraduate record than by the GMAT score, or vice versa.  No matter what, we are looking for people with a balance of academic and managerial potential, in order to admit those with the best raw material to be successful in the MBA program and in their careers.

There is no formula for our GMAT evaluation.  We just consider the test score you self-report on your application and compare it to other applicants' (which is why we prefer using the GMAT instead of the GRE so we have a global basis for comparison).   Both the verbal and the quantitative scores are important, as is the Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA) score, and we are just starting to look at the Integrated Reasoning (IR) scores too.  There are no minimum scores for admission -- naturally, the higher the score the more competitive the application -- and we use our flexibility in admissions to look at the applicant's whole picture rather than just focusing on tests.

Undergraduate transcripts are another good way to show the academic potential needed to succeed in our demanding MBA program.  We always evaluate transcripts in their own context, taking into account the rigor of the school and the courseload, along with grade trends.  It is a good sign if your grades got better over time as you learned study methods and got deeper into classes for your major.  In general we try to give applicants the benefit of the doubt, so a few lower grades can be offset by higher ones in our consideration.  Graduate coursework can also help boost a candidate's academic profile, as can additional classes taken post-undergrad.   MBA-type courses such as accounting, statistics or economics are usually the best ones to show good preparation -- but nothing is required, since we always want to admit a diversity of academic backgrounds.

Please note that we never convert grades to a 4.0 scale, instead we examine transcripts according to the grading scale for that school.  We know the grading systems and relative rigor of schools around the world, so we understand the context for each applicant's performance.

Even beyond our thorough academic evaluation, there is so much more in every applicant profile for us to consider.  Leadership, career progression, future focus, interpersonal skills, communication abilities -- everything is important as seen in our application requirements.   So even if academics are not your strongest point there is plenty of room to shine on other metrics.  Not everybody can be an academic star in the class, so we just try to be sure that all admits can handle the MBA coursework here, and that they are ready to help others learn and grow in this stimulating intellectual, professional and collaborative environment.

 

 

Now live: our Fall 2014 online application

The MBA Admissions & Financial Aid Office is excited to announce that our application for Fall 2014 is now live!

To access the online application, click here.  Detailed application instructions are found on our website, so be sure to read everthing carefully as you assemble all the pieces of your application during this time.  The MBA Admissions & Financial Aid staff are always here to help throughout this process, so shoot us an email or speak to us at one of many events taking place on-campus, around the world, or virtually.  We look forward to connecting with you soon!