From the Dean’s Desk: First Day of School

This post is part of a “From the Dean’s Desk” series, where we hear directly from our UCLA Anderson leaders across the school.

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Today’s post is from Alex Lawrence, Assistant Dean & Director of Admissions for the Full-Time MBA Program. Alex is a UCLA Anderson MBA alum (Class of 1999), spending his post-MBA career working in Management Consulting prior to returning to UCLA Anderson, where he served as the Executive Director of The Riordan Program prior to joining the Admissions team.

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On Monday, members of the new Class of 2018 stepped onto the UCLA Anderson campus for the first time as a collective group. Even though it is more than 1 month earlier than usual, I could still see the nervousness, confidence, the joy and excitement in everyone’s faces.

For me, it was like a reunion because I have personally met most of this group. In some cases, I have known individuals for several months (if not years) from past recruiting activities, one-on-one conversations, on-campus events like A-Days, and events on the road in Los Angeles, New York, and Washington DC, to name a few. And for a few students who I was meeting for the first time, it was nice to finally put a face to a person I felt that I already knew from reading their applications, interview reports, and letters of recommendation. 

Regardless of how and when we met, as the new Class of 2018 sat together in Korn Hall, it was evident that everyone was extremely excited about the next 2 years as a student and lifelong member of the Anderson family.

The Class of 2018 getting to know each other right before orientation kicks off

Along with Deans Olian, Shih, Weiler, Fraser, and Regazzi,  I had the honor of welcoming the Class of 2018 to the UCLA Anderson campus on their first day. During my welcome speech, I always enjoy sharing fun facts about the class (for example, one of our Class of 2018 students is a U.S. Armed Forces Bronze Star Medal recipient!) and the many opportunities to stay engaged with the MBA Admissions office (check out the Admissions Ambassador Corps!).

I look forward to “hitting the road” again later this month in Boston and Washington DC with the Parker Career Management office to share information about our full-time MBA program for our next class of students. I highly encourage those in the area to register for the events, meet school and alumni representatives, and come learn about the school and the power of the UCLA Anderson alumni network!

 

The Class of 2018 from my perspective up on stage at Korn Hall

 

 

-- Alex Lawrence

 

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