As our new MBA application goes live on August 1, you will find a new question for our 1 required essay:
We believe that the best results are achieved when you share success, think fearlessly and drive change. With this in mind, what are your goals at UCLA Anderson and in your short-term and long-term career?
The best essays show that you understand our school's culture and how to use it to optimize your future. As shown in our UCLA Anderson video, three principles form our foundation. First, we SHARE SUCCESS within our community as we collaborate to achieve goals. While working together, we THINK FEARLESSLY to go past the obvious, to go around the obstacles — with our sights set on making a real impact. And with the opportunity for impact comes our desire to DRIVE CHANGE as a result of all that we do.
What does this mean for your specific plans? Ideally you start by thinking about your long-term goals and work backwards to show what you would do to "hit the ground running" at UCLA Anderson. For example, if you want to head up marketing for a technology company, you could drive change by helping the firm to discover and respond to niches in the market. Thinking fearlessly might entail taking international assignments to gain experience meeting global demands. Serving on cross-functional teams is also a good way to share success across boundaries on the way up. Naturally you should do research on potential career paths in order to feature details that resonate with you, so the admissions committee can sense your contagious excitement.
Demonstrating your excitement for UCLA Anderson is a key element as well. Student groups are natural venues to share success and are a vital part of any career search, so in this example it is smart to highlight the Marketing Association and High Tech Business Association. Thinking fearlessly about the future with the help of TED talks here can complement mentoring via your Anderson Career Team. To learn to drive change in the real world, UCLA Anderson's Applied Management Research (AMR) program can't be beat, and you can even affect future generations of students through the Admissions Ambassador Corps (AAC). As always, the most compelling essays are the ones that weave together student opportunities at this school with clear goals for the future.
Whatever your target may be, your essay is the platform to distinguish yourself with your passion, clarity, planning and eloquence. Refining your career plans once you get here is fine, but first your application should make a compelling case for how you would use the UCLA Anderson MBA to build on your transferable skills to reach a distinctive future. Students thrive in our culture as they undertake their metamorphosis, so just explain how this would work for you and what exhilarating long-term results you will see.
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