MBA Insider's Blog

Anderson Women Leading at the Forté Conference

In our spirit of sharing success and promoting women@Anderson, we encourage our incoming Forté Fellows and women to attend the Forté MBA Leadership Conference each summer. The Forté Foundation is a non-profit consortium of leading companies and top business schools working together to launch women into fulfilling, significant careers. This year’s event took place in Austin, Texas on June 17 & 18. Of the participating schools, UCLA Anderson led the way with the largest cohort of 34 women from the Class of 2018!

Welcome to our newest class!

In addition to the conference panels and career expo, UCLA Anderson’s Parker Career Management Center was on-site and provided attendees with advanced resume preparation, 1-on-1 mock interview coaching and speed networking practice before our annual school dinner. On Friday night, we also explored Austin’s food scene and nightlife together!

Speed Networking Anderson-Style

We are so excited to see the community these women have started building and the impact they will have on campus this year!

If you support Forté’s mission and are interested in learning more about the organization, please visit their website.

 

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Stay in Touch: Introduce Yourself
Questions? Contact us at: [email protected]

Tech Tuesdays: Charlotte '13 @ Amazon

UCLA Anderson's MBA program features many opportunities and experiences for those interested in entering the Tech. In fact, nearly 1/3 of our UCLA Anderson MBA students enter the Tech Industry. So in honor of #TechTuesday, here's an article about UCLA Anderson MBA '13 alum Charlotte Baxter Maines and how she leveraged her UCLA Anderson MBA degree to successfully make the career switch from Real Estate to working in Tech product management at Amazon.

 

The below is an excerpt from a full interview blog post that originally appeared on the UCLA Anderson blog. Read the full post here

 

Q: What was your background prior to attending UCLA Anderson?

Before Anderson I was a real estate developer, and one of the reasons that I went to business school is I knew that I wanted to get into tech. As a real estate developer you’re very much a project manager, quarterbacking these big (in my case) hotel development projects. You spend two years, 20 million dollars, really going all the way from finding the empty land to having fully stamped and approved architectural plans, approved by the city council and engineers. That whole process involved managing something from A to Z, which I really enjoyed, but the real estate industry itself and being in that space wasn’t my passion — whereas I was really interested in tech. I decided to go to business school in order to facilitate that transition.

I went to Anderson because it is a great school, it’s on the West Coast, there are lots of good things about it. When I got there I just really dove in immediately trying to make that transition to tech, which was a little bit tricky. There are a lot of things on your resume when you’ve been a real estate developer for seven years that don’t really jump out to tech companies when they’re trying to decide who to interview and who to talk to for a summer internship. That’s why it’s great at Anderson to be able to leverage the career nights, the things that the clubs are doing and the tech treks. Anderson is a top school that tech companies come to for recruiting. You get the chance to make connections with employees who are currently working there and that helps facilitate getting interviews.

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Q: What resources at Anderson were most helpful to you in making the transition to tech?

Anderson was invaluable in enabling me to make a full industry and function switch. From the very beginning, I acknowledged that a lot of work needed to be done and that I wasn’t sure what it was. I had to go and see what resources were there and be proactive about making the time. Beyond that it was very much the input and the time provided largely by the folks at Parker Career Management Center. My advisor was David Cooley, who is now in the alumni group, and I was in his office for an allotted hour every week, plus additional time that he made for me. In the very beginning it was, let’s talk through what I really want to do in tech. What does that mean? What companies should I be targeting? What are the skill sets and strengths that I bring from my previous careers? And then it was the painful exercise of taking a resume that was filled with real estate acronyms and turning that into something that someone from a tech company wouldn’t look at and immediately throw into the “we don’t need to talk to them” pile. So that was a really arduous experience but I got through that.

There are also a lot of other resources, whether it’s the club events or mock interview sessions. I took advantage of the fact that the consulting association (MCA) brings in experts who will help you practice consulting cases. Even though tech cases aren’t as intense and structured as consulting cases, it’s still great practice. Going on in the background, in addition to working on how I present through my resume and interview, there’s also what you do to actually be able to connect with the companies.

Anderson is a top-tier school that brings in all of the companies you could possibly want to work with in tech and lots of other industries. They come to campus and do presentations and they make time for informational chats, they’re willing to host us on tech treks, and they send folks back out for career night. Those were all the ways I built relationships that enabled me to get interviews and get a chance to talk to the tech companies and let them know that I had a skill set that’s very translatable to product management, even though it may not look like that on paper. I was paired with someone in Amazon’s on-campus “office hours” with whom I had a good connection and he thought that I would be a good fit. I continued to build that relationship. When I came up to Seattle for the tech trek, I took him out to coffee. He told me later on that he had walked into the resume debrief late and looked at the pile of rejected resumes and saw mine. And he said, “No, no, no! We have to talk to her, I’m convinced she would be an amazing product manager.” And they said, “Well, she didn’t really seem to have relevant experience.” He was, like, “No, we’re talking to her.” And then the interviews happened and I got an offer. It was because of that relationship, and I would not have had that relationship if it wasn’t for the opportunities that Anderson provided for us to interact directly with the employers. I think the resources there are invaluable.

 

Want to hear more about Charlotte's story? Read the full interview here. 

 

Thank you for everything, Class of 2016!

As the UCLA Anderson class of 2016 graduates, I cannot help but feel a little bit sentimental about their last day at school. When the class of 2017 entered Anderson in early September, we were greeted by the class of 2016 and their boundless enthusiasm – as Orientation leaders, as section leaders and as mentors. Anderson is truly run by the students, and I am sure that every student in the class of 2017 will agree – we would not have reached our dreams had it not been for the endless hours of support and guidance from the class of 2016.

There are many ways in which the second years influence the first years. Starting from coming back early from their vacation to help us get settled in during orientation, to guiding us about major issues like which classes to take, to telling us the secret timings of getting free coffee in the student lounge, to helping us at each and every step of recruitment – the second years have been nothing short of heroic. The second years participate in various roles – all voluntarily and without asking for anything in return. The Anderson Career Teams (ACT), the Interview Prep Team (IPT), Parker Career Series Teaching Assistants and all the student clubs are just a some of the ways in which they help us. This does not include the several hours of mentorship (both formal and informal) that we received from the second years. They spend hours meticulously training the first years, and passing on the baton. As the Class of 2017 prepares to take on these leadership roles, we can only hope that we are as impactful as the Class of 2016.

From my own experience as a student striving to compete in the tough world of consulting, the second years have been monumental in helping me secure an internship. ACT and IPT were just the beginning of my relationship with the second years. Several second years have spent several hours listening to my 30-second pitch, going over my resumes, teaching me how to solve basic math in seconds and boosting my confidence whenever I needed a cheerleader. From calling to check on me during my interviews, to taking me out for coffee to help me deal with rejection, to celebrating me when I signed my offer – the second years are truly family at Anderson.

From the Class of 2017 to the Class of 2016, thank you so much for everything you have done. Each one of us is so grateful to you, and for all your hard work and support during our first year. We will miss you and wish you nothing but the very best in life!

Meet the UCLA Anderson MBA Admissions Team

Applying to business school can sometimes feel very mysterious, so we wanted to take this opportunity to introduce the people behind the admissions process here at UCLA Anderson, the MBA Admissions team! If you're planning on joining us while we're on the road this Summer & Fall and/or if you plan on visiting us on campus, we hope you have the opportunity to meet some of the faces you see below.

We are here to help answer any questions you may have about the application process. We can also help answer questions about our MBA program -- in fact, 5 members of the Admissions team are also UCLA Anderson alums!

UCLA ANDERSON MBA ADMISSIONS TEAM

Click here to read individual bios about each Admissions team member

	ALEX LAWRENCE ('99) Assistant Dean, MBA Admissions & Financial Aid
	CRAIG HUBBELL ('91) Director of Operations, MBA Admissions
	VICKIE EUYOQUE Associate Director, MBA Admissions
	ADRIAN AGUIRRE ('01) Associate Director, MBA Admissions
	FRANKIE SANDOVAL Associate Director, MBA Admissions
	SATIYA WITZER ('13) Associate Director, MBA Admissions
	ILANA VAN ALLEN ('13) Associate Director, MBA Admissions

 

We also have many student ambassadors from our Admissions Ambassador Corps (AAC) who are ready to answer your questions about the student experience. Click here to connect with a student. 

 

We're all looking forward to meeting you soon!

 

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Stay in Touch: Introduce Yourself
Questions? Contact us at: [email protected]

MLT MBA Prep Program: Summer Seminar

As the recruitment season begins for the Class of 2019, my colleague Vickie Euyoque and I traveled to Houston, Texas to participate in the Summer Seminar with Management Leadership for Tomorrow (MLT). MLT is a nonprofit that strives to empower the next generation of diverse leaders by offering an MBA Prep program that provides underrepresented minority professionals with personal guidance and strategy to navigate the admissions process, business school and post-MBA career goals.

With UCLA Anderson’s commitment to diversity and inclusion, MBA Admissions partners with MLT to help coach the fellows as they prepare for business school. 

The weekend consisted of speed networking, round-table discussions and panels about MBA programs, the admissions process and putting together a competitive application. Here are a few photos from the summer seminar:

As we aim to diversify the student body and build a strong MBA class, UCLA Anderson looks forward to strengthening our partnership with MLT. Next month we will continue the conversation with the fellows at the upcoming event, Pre-Application Seminar in Boston, MA.

If you’re interested in learning more about MLT and/or the MBA Prep program, please visit their website.

 

On the Road with the UCLA Anderson MBA Admissions Team: July 2016

 

The UCLA Anderson MBA Admissions Team is on the road this Summer & Fall, hopefully in a city near you!  Take a look below at our July 2016 travel schedule* to find out where you can find us and make sure to visit us and say hi!

• Tel Aviv, Israel - July 7
• Seattle, WA - July 14
• San Francisco, CA - July 16
• Los Angeles, CA - July 17
• Houston, TX - July 19
• Atlanta, GA - July 21
• New York, NY - July 23
• Chicago, IL - July 25
• Boston, MA - July 27
• Washington, DC - July 28

Please see above links for details, including location, times, and registration information.

 

As always, there are still other ways to connect with us! You are welcome to visit us on campus for our Group Information Sessions, School Tours, and MBA Class Visits (when classes are back in session in the Fall) and join us online for our online webinars and MBA Liveguide Sessions -- register for next week's live session on June 29th, featuring Lauren Yang, MBA '17: 

 

We are looking forward to meeting you soon and stay tuned for our August 2016 travel schedule!

 

*Dates and attendance subject to change

Student Spotlight: David Rhein (MBA '17)

This post is a part of the Student Spotlight series where we highlight a current Anderson student and learn about his/her experiences at Anderson.

Today is the International Day of Yoga, so in honor of this day, we are excited to highlight one of our Anderson yogis, David Rhein (UCLA Anderson MBA Class of 2017)

- Name: David Rhein
- Hometown: Minnetonka, MN
- Undergraduate Studies: Harvard
- Before attending UCLA Anderson, I worked at... Target in Business Intelligence & Analytics
- This summer, I am interning at... Optum Health as a Prevention & Wellbeing Graduate Intern
- Next, I plan to... Launch a new business EmployYoga, a company that offers yoga & mindfullness services to SMBs

 

Tell us about the Anderson Yoga Club.

The Anderson Yoga club is only 2 years old and we have big plans for next year. My good friend and classmate Tiffany Lu is the president (and also VP of Marketing for our Admissions Ambassadors Corps), and I’m the Chief Teacher – I suppose you can call me the VP of Education. I’ve been teaching 20-minute quick beginner’s yoga classes to fellow Anderson students in the mornings and afternoons several times a week, and we have plans to organize outings to local yoga studios next year.

 

 

How else can Anderson students keep health & wellness top of mind?

This year we officially formed the Anderson Health and Wellness Club (fondly known as “HAWC”). The club’s mission is to promote health for Anderson students during this stressful period in their lives by addressing all of the various elements of well-being. We will plan and execute events to promote personal health (exercise, nutrition, and mindfulness), professional health (work-life balance, financial well-being), and community health (socializing in healthy environments, living sustainability, and connecting with the broader UCLA community). We're really excited about all of the events we're planning for next year! Improv comedy classes, beach outings, circuit training, sustainability challenges, healthy potlucks… the possibilities are endless!

 

Tell us about your current company Healing Rhino and your new business venture EmployYoga. 

Healing Rhino is about making yoga and healing work accessible to populations that normally wouldn’t feel empowered to practice. I taught a lot of beginners classes and did Thai Bodywork with people from all walks of life. As much as I enjoy the one-on-one work, I am now trying to find a way to deliver the lessons of yoga to a broader population, so Healing Rhino is taking a back seat to the next venture: EmployYoga. I plan to launch EmployYoga while at Anderson as a part of the Business Creation Option (BCO) of the Applied Management Research (AMR) project. 

 

How are you spending your summer in between your first and second years?

I’m interning at Optum, the healthcare services arm of UnitedHealth Group. I work on the prevention team, which is right now launching new products to help employees at large corporations to become more resilient, mindful, and productive. It’s an incredible opportunity to learn more about the well-being marketplace and dive deep into emerging research on how these tools are extremely effective in addressing workplace challenges.

 

Why did you choose to attend UCLA Anderson?

I was inspired by UCLA Anderson's entrepreneurship program and the possibility to launch a venture during school through the BCO (Business Creation Option) program. Plus, Los Angeles is a health-oriented, forward thinking city and the perfect place to start the kind of company I’m envisioning.

 

What has been your favorite thing about Anderson thus far?

I’m a huge fan of Anderson Afternoons. Every Thursday afternoon, there is free food and drinks and an opportunity to hang out with old friends and make new ones. Plus it’s always nice to bump into Deans Judy Olian, Gary Fraser, and Rob Weiler there!

 

Describe your Anderson experience in one sentence.

A smorgasbord of leadership opportunities, a constant search for synergies, and instant friends.

 

Consortium Orientation Program 2016...New year, new class

While our current MBA students were preparing for final exams and getting ready for summer internships, and our graduating MBA students were bracing themselves for re-entry into the "real world" of full-time employment, the some of the UCLA Anderson Admissions & Parker Career Management Center team were on our way to St. Louis to meet our newest class of Consortium students. Although June marks the conclusion of the academic year, it also serves as the beginning of the MBA experience for Consortium students who attend the Consortium Orientation Program (OP). Students from throughout the US travel to a different location each year to participate in OP.

Here are some of our incoming Consortium students making their way from LAX to STL: 

If you are not familiar with The Consortium, "The Consortium for Graduate Study in Management is the nation's largest diversity network, linking top tier students, leading MBA programs and corporate partners, including Fortune 500 companies." The mission of The Consortium "is to reduce the under-representation of African Americans, Native Americans and Hispanic Americans in education and business." The Orientation Program, or OP as it is commonly referred to, is the kick-off for the entering Consortium class.

My favorite part of participating in OP is getting to know our incoming Consortium students. I really enjoy seeing how quickly they come together to bond as a united group. While a large part of attending OP is focused on networking and meeting with recruiters, I'm glad that our students embody UCLA Anderson's pillar of "sharing success" and rapidly understand the importance of collaborating and working to support each other. I can truly say that attending OP with our students is one of my favorite trips to make each year and I look forward to many more to come.

Welcome to our newest Consortium class!

 

If you support The Consortium's mission and are interested in learning more about the organization, please visit their website.

 

 

UCLA Anderson MBA Brochure Now Available

Happy Friday from Sunny SoCal!

We wanted to let you know that our UCLA Anderson MBA Brochure has been updated -- make sure to add it to your summer reading list! 

In this brochure, you can learn more about our curriculum, unique Applied Management Research (AMR) program, top career services, faculty, class profile, and more!  

Download the brochure and view it by clicking here.

 

 

Let’s Get Started! MBA Class of 2019 Application Deadlines

Hello Future UCLA Anderson MBA Class of 2019!

We know you’re all excited at the prospect of beginning your journey here at UCLA Anderson, and the first step is to apply when our new application goes live on August 1st! We’ll be posting more information in the coming weeks and months, but to get you started, below are the application deadlines by round for our Full-time MBA program:

• Round 1: October 6, 2016
• Round 2: January 5, 2017
• Round 3: April 12, 2017

Stay tuned for more information!  Have some burning questions now? Don’t hesitate to reach out to us at (310) 825-6944 or [email protected].  Also, don’t forget to Introduce Yourself!