MBA Insider's Blog

Transitioning from Working to Being a Full-Time Student

About Pete: Pete Severs (’23) is a first-year student at UCLA Anderson. He attended the U.S. Naval Academy for his undergrad degree, where he majored in Ocean Engineering. Upon graduation, Pete commissioned as a Surface Warfare Officer in the U.S. Navy, where he served on two warships and a support staff located in Hawaii and San Diego. After Anderson, he is intending to transition into management consulting. In his spare time, you can find Pete chasing after gainz at Kinross Rec Center, repeatedly getting stumped by the NY Times crossword, or dreaming about his next scuba diving trip.

---

As I was nearing the end of my obligated active-duty military service and beginning to explore options to transition into a different career field, I became increasingly enticed by the opportunity to pursue a full-time MBA. I was excited by the chance to further develop my leadership and management skills, increase the quality of job options available to me, expand my professional network, and make new friends with whom to enjoy some of the memorable experiences embedded into the full-time MBA curriculum. However, there was one idea that made me a bit nervous about this new endeavor, and it was the dreaded prospect of going “back to school.”

 

My memory of going to school may have been slightly more stringent considering my undergrad experience at the Naval Academy was “non-traditional” to say the least. But I was still hesitant about the idea of sitting through lectures, writing countless papers, studying (ok cramming) for intensive exams, and all the other tasks associated with being a student again. Additionally, my undergrad educational background in engineering, combined with my military experience, was unique compared to some of my classmates coming from the business world. This made me wonder how I would ever keep up in classes covering some of the core business principles such as accounting, finance, and marketing. However, after spending close to a year in Anderson’s MBA program, I am pleased to report that those fears were premature and have gone unrealized.

 

For one, all of Anderson’s core classes are taught from the assumption that each student has no prior background in the subject. This was great for someone like me, who started accounting at the 2+2=4 level and was able to keep up with class material from the start. Additionally, most core classes are taken within your Section, a group of about 75 students, and within each Section students are placed into a Learning Team of 5-6 people. Nearly all assignments are completed by each Learning Team, which is great for balancing expertise and busy workloads, especially during the fall recruiting season. There were countless times that my Learning Team saved me, whether explaining the homework that I was still a bit confused about or stepping up to tackle a heavier part of the workload when I had a busy week with recruiting or other tasks. Additionally, I have found most classes to be genuinely interesting (although not hard to be more interesting than thermodynamics). Most professors go out of their way to incorporate real-world events into their curriculum, such as discussing Super Bowl commercials in marketing class or relating how current global supply-chain issues can be analyzed through core economics principles.

 

All things considered, returning to be a full-time student hasn’t been nearly as daunting as I expected, and instead has been quite the opposite. I’ve enjoyed escaping the grind of working full-time to take classes in business subjects with which I was previously unfamiliar. Combined with the other amazing aspects of the Anderson student experience such as top-notch recruiting opportunities and support, extracurricular clubs to be involved in, and nonstop social events for a wide array of interests, all with the famous Los Angeles sunshine constantly smiling upon us, the transition from working to being a full-time Anderson student has been everything I could ask for!

Learning Team at a Dodgers game!

Section B Holiday Party

 

---

Student Blogger: Pete Severs '23

Undergrad: U.S. Naval Academy ‘15

Pre-MBA: Surface Warfare Officer, U.S. Navy

Leadership@Anderson:  First-Year Director, Anderson Ambassador Corps; Director of Alumni Affairs, Management Consulting Association; Director of Corporate Outreach, Anderson Veterans Association; Director of Joint Ventures, Cannabis Business Association

Experiential Learning at Anderson

About Marissa: Marissa Buffo (’23) is a first year at UCLA Anderson and, prior to Anderson, she worked in both consulting and international exchange. Originally from Chicago, she also lived /worked in Copenhagen prior to moving to Los Angeles, so she has a special appreciation for the warm, sunny days that persist year round. In her spare time, you can find Marissa outside running laps in the park, hiking on the nearby trails, or reading at the beach.

---

One of the main reasons I came to Anderson was the diverse array of options for experiential learning that are available from day one in the program. From global immersions to local internships, the program structure is built around facilitating opportunities for students to put theory into practice. I wanted to be in an environment where I was challenged both academically and in an applied context; and Anderson supported these goals through programming, global immersions, and internships – all of which I have been able to take advantage of in my first year of the MBA!

1. Investment and Consulting Teams (AVIP, ASAM, ASG)

It’s one thing to learn about the process for sourcing an investment, pitching a stock, or developing strategic recommendations for a client…it’s another to actually put yourself in the shoes of a VC, investment manager, or strategy consultant. Opportunities at Anderson through Anderson Venture Impact Partners (AVIP), Anderson Student Asset Management (ASAM), and Anderson Strategy Group (ASG) facilitate application of classroom learnings in a real-world investment or project. For all three opportunities, students must apply and then are divided into groups once accepted. As a first-year director within AVIP, I was fortunate to get exposure to the LA venture ecosystem and conduct first-hand sourcing and due diligence on healthcare startups to formulate a pitch to our investment committee. Companies that are selected for investment by the committee get incorporated into the AVIP portfolio and second years are engaged in monitoring investments – analyzing both financial and impact metrics.

2. Global Immersions

Anderson has a strong focus on global engagement and developing MBAs into internationally mindful business leaders. Even during the COVID pandemic, the Center for Global Management ran virtual programming that allowed for interaction with alumni and business leaders spread across the world. Post-COVID, Anderson has brought back the travel component of courses called ‘global immersions’ – students have several classroom sessions with a professor who is an expert in a specific region before traveling as a group to the city / region for company visits, cultural activities, and interactive lectures with local business leaders. I traveled to Santiago this March for the course “Doing Business in A Rapidly Changing Emerging Country: Chile and Its New Constitution” led by Prof. Sebastian Edwards, previous World Bank chief economist for the Latin America and Caribbean. Students heard from executives in significant sectors such as mining, fishing, wine, and banking and had discussions with notable economists and academics to gain a better understanding of the business environment in Chile and how this environment could potentially shift with a new constitution.

3. ‘Academic’ Internships

Los Angeles is the base for a wealth of startups, non-profits, and major corporations – this gives Anderson students plenty of opportunities to gain experience in their target industry. The Anderson careers portal posts a wide range of internships in entertainment, finance, marketing, VC, and more, but plenty of students have also found opportunities through networking at conferences, alumni outreach, or a peer student’s past / current professional connections. I’m currently working at a fast-growing startup co-founded by an Anderson alum in an industry that I find exceptionally fascinating / important – space! I’ve enjoyed connecting with the founders and leveraging the knowledge from the Anderson marketing core course to provide value to the team. ‘Academic’ internships only have the academic qualifier because they happen during the course of FTMBA academic programming, but often continue into the summer or post-MBA.

---

Student Blogger: Marissa Buffo '23

Undergrad: Indiana University ‘17

Pre-MBA: Consulting, International Exchange

Leadership@Anderson: President, Anderson Venture Impact Partners (previously Director – Healthcare); Director of Prospective Student Affairs, Admission Ambassador Corps; First Year Director, Admit Weekends Committee

Shared Success Then, Shared Success Now

About Yitsac: Prior to Anderson, Yitsac Sandoval (‘23) lived in New York City and Miami and worked as part of a rotational program at Univision. Yitsac is a first year student at Anderson and in his free time, he likes playing soccer, participating in triathlons, and riding his motorcycle through the hills of Malibu.

---

You may think that Anderson’s culture of shared success is just a tagline or marketing tool. However, it’s not. It’s actually so much ingrained in the culture that I was able to experience it as an undergraduate student.

As a Mexican immigrant to this country and previous DACA student, I grew up not knowing of all the possible career opportunities aside from becoming a lawyer and doctor. For the longest time I thought I wanted to become a lawyer. However, after spending a quarter in Washington DC working for a reputable law firm, I realized it wasn’t for me. I was back in LA and searching for a career opportunity where I could combine my strengths and passions. It was then that I joined a business club on campus where Anderson’s ALMA student club worked with undergraduate student interested in business careers. These Anderson students shared their previous experiences working on interesting projects, their career aspirations, and how their MBAs were helping them reach those goals. I was hooked. I knew that I wanted to pivot my career but I was unsure how or if was too late for me. Luckily, two Anderson students connected me to the Riordan program, helped review my application for a summer business program, and connected me to their career networks. By the end of that same year, I had secured a full-time offer for the next year. Anderson’s culture of collaboration and support had overspilled from the northside of campus and into my life and set me down a path of success.

Fast forward a couple years, as a current student, shared success continues to present itself in different ways. As I began my summer internship recruiting process, I was taken back by the amount of support from current students and Anderson alumni. Anderson alumni from different firms reached out to prep me for interviews, shared insights and notes regarding the group of interviewers, and shared what experiences I should highlight throughout my interview process with their company. Most importantly, I wouldn’t have been successful had it not been for the support from current classmates during this time demanding period. I recall one specific instance when my learning team called me before the start of interview week where I had an interview every day of the week. I was concerned about being able to juggle academics, extracurriculars, and recruiting during this time. I let my team know what I had going on through a casual chat on our group chat. My teammates immediately called me and let me know they would be happy to take on more workload so that I would be able to focus entirely on recruiting. I was heartfelt to see that there were people who cared about my success and truly saw my own as their own.

Anderson has and will always be a highly collaborative environment for students to learn, grow and thrive in. It’s one of the things I appreciate the most about Anderson. No matter what your background is or what previous experiences are, there’s always someone within the larger Anderson community who wants to see me succeed and do well.

---

Student Blogger: Yitsac Sandoval ’23

Undergrad: UCLA, ‘18

Pre-MBA: Finance at Univision

Leadership@Anderson: Director of Partnerships - Alliance for Latinx Management Association, Director of Conferences -Entertainment Management Association