MBA Insider's Blog

Student Blogger: Networking! The Not So Secret Life of an MBA...

This post is a part of the Student Blogger series - each post is written by a current UCLA Anderson student, and provides first-hand perspectives and experiences about being an MBA student at UCLA Anderson.

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Hi future B-school students!

With Anderson Tech Business Association's Internship Career Night happening a few weeks ago, I thought it would be a great idea to share my experiences, tips and tricks networking as a first year MBA at Anderson so far.

Some background on me:

I grew up in (the not so sunny) state of New Jersey, in a surprisingly rural town, but I always knew I belonged in a big city bursting with people and diverse perspectives!  My love for the Big Apple led me to attend New York University and I received my B.A. in Psychology with a minor in History.  I also had the amazing opportunity to spend six months studying in Prague, Czech Republic.

After graduating from NYU, I began my career as a conference director in New York City, where I was creating, producing, and directing over 15 (inter)national business conferences in the United States, Europe, and South America in a variety of life science topics.  After a few years, I moved to sunny Los Angeles to gain experience in technology, entertainment and international business.

I then worked for over 3 years at the UK's Department for International Trade in the Creative, Media and Technology sectors.  I worked directly with foreign investment and trade clients, promoting trade and investment from the USA and UK.  I advised UK based firms on their feasibility of success in the USA market.

In a nutshell, my entire career has been spent selling and networking directly with clients.  However in business school, the amount I have been networking has reached an all time high.  Building your network is imperative to becoming a true business leader, and Anderson does a great job in providing almost too many opportunities to meet with the most impressive people!  

Combining my six years of experience and the past 3 months at Anderson, here are my...

...Top 3 Tips for Networking as an MBA:

1) Network with EVERYONE!

For those who don't have much experience networking or find the idea of networking with executives a bit daunting, start by networking with people you already know. You may not realize just how amazing your current network of connections is.  Canvas your LinkedIn, colleagues, family friends, even Facebook to find people who are doing interesting things.  Send them a quick email and set up a quick coffee chat just to learn more about what they do.  
Pro Tip: When you start your MBA, don't forget to speak to your new classmates - they are pretty amazing, as well!

2) Know your Stuff and Respect!

Everyone is busy and you only have one chance to make your first impression when you are networking.  No matter the level, position or person, be respectful of the time they have donated to speak with you.  If this is a meeting you have planned in advance, take the time to research the person and their company, and come up with thoughtful, specific questions that relate directly to them.  I promise, you will make a much better impression if you put the effort in and are knowledgable.  
Pro Tip: don't ask for a job and always send a thank you note within a day of speaking/meeting!  

3) They are People Too and Be Yourself! 

It can be scary and intimidating to reach out to and speak with people who are in very senior positions or have the potential to recommend you for your next job, but its so important to remember that they are people, too!  They have families, friends, hobbies, interests, come from different places and backgrounds, just like you and me.  Whenever I have worked with C-Level executives of Fortune 100 Companies or Government Officials, I always made a point to connect on a human level.  Try to build a real relationship by connecting on your commonalities, not just for business.  Small talk is important to gain glimpses into the personality of the person you're speaking to and it is the best way to start building this real relationship.  
Pro Tip: don't be a robot, let your personality shine!

 

I hope you find my musings helpful and I can't wait to see you at Anderson next year!

-Miriam

 

P.S. My classmates and I visiting Netflix HQ a few weeks ago to network with Anderson Alumni and other executives.  

 

 

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Student Blogger: Miriam Feygenson '18 Undergrad: NYU Pre-MBA: Business Development @ Department of International Trade, British Embassy Leadership@Anderson: Director, Conference Programming-Women's Business Connection; Director, Marketing-Admissions Ambassador Corps; Director, Marketing-Jewish Business Student's Association

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Stay in Touch: Introduce Yourself
Follow the Admissions Team @uclaMBA:  Twitter and Instagram
Questions? Contact us at mba.admissions@anderson.ucla.edu

UCLA Anderson MBAs Place in Multiple Case Competitions

UCLA Anderson MBA students regularly compete in case competitions locally, nationally and internationally, returning with valuable experience facing real-world business challenges in a competitive environment. Below are pictures from some of the many case competitions that Anderson MBAs have placed in recently over the last few months. 

 

• NAIOP SoCal Real Estate Challenge (read more)
  
  
  
  
  
• Reaching Out MBA (ROMBA) Case Competition (read more)
  
  
  
  
  
• Deloitte National Human Capital Case Competition
  
  
  
  
  
  
• National Energy Finance Challenge
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Elite Eight Brand Management Competition
  
  
  
  
  

• Pfizer Healthcare Case Competition
  
  

 

 

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Stay in Touch: Introduce Yourself
Follow the Admissions Team @uclaMBA:  Twitter and Instagram
Questions? Contact us at: mba.admissions@anderson.ucla.edu

Instagram @uclaMBA #TuesdayTakeover: Aubrey Rho '18

Introducing you to today's Instagram #TuesdayTakeover student, Aubrey Rho! Aubrey will be taking over our Instagram account @uclamba for a whole day today to show everyone a "Day in the Life" of a UCLA Anderson student!

Check in throughout the day to our @uclaMBA instagram account to hear about Aubrey's "Day in the Life"!

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Name: Aubrey Rho Hometown: Pasadena, California Undergrad: Duke University, Neuroscience Pre-Anderson:  Sr. Business Consultant at Perficient

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LEARN MORE ABOUT ANDREW: 

Academic Specialization: Technology Management

Leadership@Anderson: Chief of Staff - AnderTech, Director - Design for America, Marketing Representative - Admissions Ambassador Corps, Entrepreneurial Leadership Development Program

Clubs@Anderson: AnderTech, Design for America,  Anderson Creative, Net Impact, Entertainment Management Association

 

 

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Stay in Touch: Introduce Yourself
Follow the Admissions Team @uclaMBA:  Twitter and Instagram
Questions? Contact us at: mba.admissions@anderson.ucla.edu

UCLA Application Insider: Top FAQs from Applicants - Part 1

This blog post is part of our weekly "Application Insider" blog post series that provides insider information, tips, and advice about applying to the UCLA Anderson MBA program.

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APPLICATION INSIDER TOPIC:
TOP FAQs FROM APPLICANTS - PART 1

We have compiled the top Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) we have received from prospective applicants via e-mail, phone calls, and in person. We hope the tips below help you on your MBA information gathering and your application journey.  This week we'll be sharing the first top 5 FAQs and please check back next week for the next 5 FAQs. 

 

Q1. What events are available at UCLA Anderson for prospective students interested in learning more about the MBA program and where can I sign up for them?

A1. UCLA Anderson offers group information sessions, school tours, class visits, coffee chats, lunch chats, and webinars as opportunities for prospective students to get to know us. To sign up, you can visit our Events calendar to register for a day that works for your schedule. Please note that some of these events have capacity limits.

 

Q2. How do I get in touch with current students and alumni?

A2. You can reach out to our current students through our Connect with a Student interest form. Here, you can select your specific career interests and get linked up to current students pursuing similar career goals. To connect with our alumni, we recommend that you visit the Alumni network to get connected to alums regionally. LinkedIn is also a great place to find some worthwhile connections!

 

Q3. Do I need to submit my official transcripts and/or official test (GMAT, GRE, TOEFL, IELTS) scores when I apply to UCLA Anderson?

A3. No, you do not need to submit your official transcript documents or official test scores when applying. With your application you upload scanned unofficial copies of your transcripts and documents, and self-reported test scores are perfectly sufficient for the admissions committee to evaluate. If invited for an interview, you will be asked to provide hard copies of your transcripts and official test scores (more specific details will be provided). 

 

Q4. Do I need to take the TOEFL/IELTS?

A4. We require all international applicants to provide TOEFL or IELTS scores (with exception of those educated in Australia, Barbados, Canada, Ireland, Jamaica, New Zealand, or the United Kingdom), regardless of the language of instruction during your undergraduate studies. This is a requirement from UCLA Graduate Division, which is the authority that oversees all graduate admissions.

 

Q5. Do you offer a GMAT/GRE waiver?

A5. We do not offer GMAT/GRE waivers for any reason. All applicants must submit either GMAT or GRE scores and we recommend you take the test you feel most comfortable with, as there is currently no preference for either exam in the admissions review process.

 

Make sure to check back next week for the next "Application Insider" blog post on TOP APPLICANT FAQs - PART 2 with an additional 5 FAQs!

 

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Stay in Touch: Introduce Yourself
Follow the Admissions Team @uclaMBA:  Twitter and Instagram
Questions? Contact us at: mba.admissions@anderson.ucla.edu

 

Student Blogger: Fresh off of the Tech Trek!

This post is a part of the Student Blogger series - each post is written by a current UCLA Anderson student, and provides first-hand perspectives and experiences about being an MBA student at UCLA Anderson.

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Hey everyone! My name is Ryan Dumlao and I’m a first-year student here at Anderson. Prior to Anderson, I was an electrical engineer, spending a few years working on radars, satellites, medical devices, and an iPad app. I eventually shifted away from design and into higher level roles, and finally decided to come to Anderson to pivot into product management in technology. As a first-year, one of the big events we get to look forward to during the first few months of the program are the Days On the Job, where we get a full week’s break from classes and recruiting to trek out across the country and visit companies in our intended industries. For those of us going into technology, the Anderson Tech Business Association (AnderTech for short) sets up an amazing week of company visits during this time: the Tech Trek.

Traveling up to Seattle and back down to the Bay Area, we were each able to visit a handful of companies throughout the tech sector. For my trek, I was able to visit 11 companies during the week: Microsoft, Amazon, and Tableau in Seattle, followed by Flex, Intel, Google, eBay, Adobe, Autodesk and Salesforce in the Bay Area. The selection of companies to visit was much larger, and we were able to ‘bid’ on companies to visit based on personal preference; I was particularly excited about Google and Intel, to learn about their product management and rotation programs available to MBA interns in the summer.

Visiting the Google (Mountain View) and Intel (Santa Clara) campuses

The trek gave us an in-depth perspective on what it was like to work at each company, including campus tours, information on the summer internship offerings and full-time opportunities, and sit-down discussions with Anderson alums and other employees from each company. It was amazing to see how strong and wide-reaching Anderson’s network is within the tech industry throughout the West Coast, and every alum was excited to meet and speak with us to help us navigate through the process they were once a part of as students themselves! Since most people were taking the same trek, I traveled and roomed with 3 other classmates in Seattle, Menlo Park and San Francisco. We bonded together, helped prep for our company visits, and unwound with other Anderson classmates at the end of each day.

Group photos at Salesforce (San Francisco) and Microsoft (Redmond, WA)

In between company visits, we were able to explore the sights and eats of downtown Seattle, had a evening mixer hosted by Intel in Palo Alto, and I spent the rest of the weekend hosting classmates around San Francisco and visiting friends. Amidst the hectic non-stop of the first quarter of business school, the week was not just an opportunity to continue recruiting for the summer, but to take a break from UCLA and sunny Los Angeles to explore more of the West Coast. For many first-time visitors, we were able to check out the Space Needle, the Fremont Troll and Pike Place Market and Seattle, as well as the Ferry Building, Golden Gate Bridge, and the Embarcadero in San Francisco.

Truly a unique experience, DOJ week is one of the best advantages of coming to Anderson, utilizing our vast network and close proximity to the tech scenes in Seattle and the Bay Area!

 

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Student Blogger: Ryan Dumlao '18 Undergrad: Electrical Engineering (B.S., UC San Diego; M.S., UCLA) Pre-MBA: The Medicines Co & Raytheon Leadership@Anderson: Brand Management Chair, Leadership Development Program, Admissions Corps Ambassador, Anderson Technology Business Association, Design for America, Management Consulting Association

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Stay in Touch: Introduce Yourself
Follow the Admissions Team @uclaMBA:  Twitter and Instagram
Questions? Contact us at: mba.admissions@anderson.ucla.edu

Instagram @uclaMBA #TuesdayTakeover: Abby Williamson '18

Introducing you to today's Instagram #TuesdayTakeover student, Abby Williamson! Abby will be taking over our Instagram account @uclamba for a whole day today to show everyone a "Day in the Life" of a UCLA Anderson student!

Check in throughout the day to our @uclaMBA instagram account to hear about Abby's "Day in the Life"!

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Name: Abby Williamson Hometown: Northbrook, Illinois Undergrad: Northwestern University, Theatre & Psychology Pre-Anderson:  Storybook Princess Parties, Co-Founder and Former Paralegal

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LEARN MORE ABOUT ANDREW: 

Academic Specialization: Entertainment Marketing

Leadership@Anderson: First Year Section President, Women’s Business Connection Director of Alumnae Relations, Entertainment Management Association Director of Entertainment Career Night,  Parker Career Management Center Social Media Marketing Team

Clubs@Anderson: Marketing Association, Challenge for Charity, Anderson Creative

 

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Stay in Touch: Introduce Yourself
Follow the Admissions Team @uclaMBA:  Twitter and Instagram
Questions? Contact us at: mba.admissions@anderson.ucla.edu

AMR: Business Creation Option (BCO) Spotlight on GOshopping

This post is a part of our Applied Management Research (AMR) series that provides information and insights about this unique program. For an overview of the program, visit the AMR website and view our first post of this series

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As a part of the AMR program, students have the opportunity to pursue a "Business Creation Option" (BCO) project which gives entrepreneurs the chance to launch their companies while still in school, or be on a team to help one of your classmates launch his/her company. Read below to learn more about one current BCO project and how Anderson is helping make it a reality:

GOshopping is an e-commerce store for women’s apparel in Mongolia, and is the first fashion e-commerce startup in that market. The preparation and research from EVI (Entrepreneurship & Venture Initiation) and BPD (Business Plan Development) courses were a great stepping stone for the launch of our business. Anderson’s entrepreneurial classes and the BCO program gave us the support, resources and motivation to hit the ground running. GOshopping has now been incorporated, the website is up and running, and we’re currently hard at work with marketing and merchandise planning/buying, with the launch of our e-commerce product pages right around the corner.

The BCO program has helped our team stay accountable and on track to reach our business goals. Beyond EVI, BPD and BCO, Anderson has been supportive of our business venture in many ways - from providing an accelerator space to assisting with photography to connecting us with invaluable people. We are fortunate to be one of the first teams to utilize the Anderson Venture Accelerator, a creative workspace that has proven to be immensely valuable for startups with limited resources. For example, we took advantage of the Accelerator by holding our first product photoshoot there. The Anderson Marketing & Communications Department and Senior Director Nathan May were generous enough to help us with our photoshoot, provide us with equipment, professional advice and hands-on help (see below for . Fellow students and alumni (Ashley Merrill founder of Lunya, Eunice Cho founder of Aella) with industry experience gave us valuable advice last year when we were doing research. The Retail Business Association connected us with industry experts, including Trent MacLean, a retail industry expert and an incredible supporter of Anderson students interested in the retail space. Our Faculty Advisor George Geis has been providing us with great advice in addition to putting us in touch with people that helped us along the way. Overall, we truly feel like we are in an environment where we can get things done with a lot of support and we're looking forward to continuing to work on GOshopping in the months to come through BCO. 

Photoshoot video recap

 

 

GOshopping photoshoot with the Anderson Marketing Communications team

 

 

 

 

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Stay in Touch: Introduce Yourself
Follow the Admissions Team @uclaMBA:  Twitter and Instagram
Questions? Contact us at: mba.admissions@anderson.ucla.edu

Instagram @uclaMBA #TuesdayTakeover: Andrew Protopsaltis '18

Introducing you to today's Instagram #TuesdayTakeover student, Andrew Protopsaltis! Andrew will be taking over our Instagram account @uclamba for a whole day today to show everyone a "Day in the Life" of a UCLA Anderson student!

Check in throughout the day to our @uclaMBA instagram account to hear about Andrew's "Day in the Life"!

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Name: Andrew Protopsaltis Hometown: St. Louis, Missouri Undergrad: UCLA - B.S., Electrical Engineering Pre-Anderson:  Digital Circuit Design Engineer, Northrop Grumman

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LEARN MORE ABOUT ANDREW: 

Academic Specialization: Finance

Leadership@Anderson: Admissions Ambassaor Corps - Marketing Representative

Clubs@Anderson: Investment Finance Association,  Public Speaking Club, Anderson Wine Club

 

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Stay in Touch: Introduce Yourself
Follow the Admissions Team @uclaMBA:  Twitter and Instagram
Questions? Contact us at: mba.admissions@anderson.ucla.edu

Student Blogger: A "Typical Day" in the Life as a UCLA Anderson 1st Year

This post is a part of the Student Blogger series - each post is written by a current UCLA Anderson student, and provides first-hand perspectives and experiences about being an MBA student at UCLA Anderson.

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Hi Everyone!

I’m Angela Chau and I’m a first-year student at UCLA Anderson. A bit about me, I grew up in San Francisco and earned my undergraduate degree at UC San Diego. I began my career in sales operations then transitioned to go-to-market program management. I came to business school for personal development and to be better equipped to transition to a role where I can drive user adoption, identify user pain points and influence the product roadmap.

I know many of you are curious to know what a typical day is like at business school, but I have to say that every day is very different depending on the course schedule, company presentations, group projects, etc. That said, below is what one of my recent days look like. Enjoy!

 

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A DAY IN THE LIFE...OF AN ANDERSON 1ST YEAR

8:00 am: I wake up, eat my yogurt and scan through my emails. I have a Visa on-campus Info Session today so I browse my closet for a business casual outfit. My econ midterm is in the afternoon, so I better review the major concepts as a refresher before I head out for class. I only live about 4 miles from campus so the commute is not bad. Occasionally there will be traffic and that’s when I’ll get off the main streets and opt for the residential streets.

9:45 am: Financial Accounting class. Today we learned about inventory accounts and different accounting methods and how they affect cost of goods sold, net income and tax expenses. It’s not the most exciting topic but it’s quite useful.

11:30 am: AnderTech club board meeting. I recently joined the board as a Director of Marketing and Communications so it was exciting to attend me first board meeting and meet most of the board members. Today we celebrated wins from having great turnouts at recent events and debriefed on what we can do to improve moving forward. We also discussed upcoming events such as the Tech Treks to Seattle and San Francisco! Anderson has a DOJ (Days on the Job) week where students can take a break from class and go visit different companies.

12:45 pm: Economics midterm. Was I nervous? Oh yes. Did I get through it? Yea and it was not as bad as I expected so now I’m relieved!

2:30 pm: AnderTech Marcom meeting. The entire marcom team met to go over our goals for the year and how each of our roles are intertwined. We also locked down cadence for the year as well as next steps.

3:00 pm: Time for me to catch up with my friend who works at Cisco and see how she’s doing. We use to grab lunch once a month or so back when I worked in the Bay Area so it was nice to catch up over the phone now that I'm in LA. I find this to be a good time to take a break from studying and reconnect with a friend.

3:30 pm: Email my resume to my Parker Career Management Center TA and mentor so that we can talk about it next week. Continue researching Visa's digital solutions and recent partnerships to prepare for the info session.

4:30 pm: Visa Info Session. Learn about how Visa views itself in relation to its competitors and the company culture around diversity, collaboration and productivity. I was intrigued by the 90/10 innovation program. Typically, after company presentations and info sessions, there will be time to mix and mingle with the company representatives to ask additional questions to help you determine whether the company will be a good fit for you.

7:00 pm: Unfortunately, it’s not dinner time yet. My ACT (Anderson Career Team, I’m in the Tech-Marketing one) group meet our ACT coaches at Westfield mall (about 15 minutes from campus) for our store visits. We visited Apple and Microsoft stores to assess the store layout, customer experience, product placement, etc. And then we discussed how the companies cater to their target audience.

8:30 pm: Time to have a quick dinner and do the readings for tomorrow’s marketing class. Then I take a look at the highlights of tomorrow’s schedule: General Mills Lunch & Learn, Marketing Class, catch up with a friend at Facebook and play boardgames with my friends! My boyfriend and I like to chat or watch TV together to unwind at the end of the day. We recently finished Narcos and we’ve been watching Luke Cage.

I hope this gives you an idea of what is in store for business school!

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Student Blogger: Angela Chau '18 Undergrad: UC San Diego Pre-MBA: Verizon, Intel, Cymer Leadership@Anderson: Forte Foundation Fellow; Director of Marketing, AnderTech; Director of Alumni Relations, Marketing Association; Marketing Rep, Admissions Ambassador Corps

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Stay in Touch: Introduce Yourself
Follow the Admissions Team @uclaMBA:  Twitter and Instagram
Questions? Contact us at mba.admissions@anderson.ucla.edu

Applied Management Research (AMR): Company Launch

This post is a part of our Applied Management Research (AMR) series that provides information and insights about this unique program. For an overview of the program, visit the AMR website.

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Earlier this month, the Applied Management Research (AMR) welcomed over 125 company executives to campus for its annual Company Launch.  Serving as the program’s official kickoff, the Company Launch gives the clients and students a day dedicated to project scoping, data sharing and goal-setting for the 6-month project.  This year’s client roster represents a wide variety of industries, including technology, entertainment, sustainability, healthcare, and many more.  15 of this year’s projects come to us from UCLA Anderson alumni and 14 are repeat clients, which is a testament to the great work and results achieved by past teams!

What is AMR? The AMR Program serves as the 2^nd year MBA Capstone Project, in which 53 teams of students work directly as consultants for external companies and organizations.  These companies bring business questions or challenges to the program and the teams of 5 MBAs spend 6 months dedicated to researching and analyzing all elements of the project to deliver a comprehensive set of actionable recommendations to the client in March.  In addition to the 39 domestic companies the students will be working with this year, we are also welcoming 5 international for-profit companies and 9 international non-profit organizations to the program.  The students will be traveling to countries such as Nigeria, Chile, China, South Africa, Ecuador, and Vietnam to conduct their primary research with consumers and other stakeholders. 

For the past 49 years, UCLA Anderson has been a leader in experiential learning.  The AMR Program gives students the opportunity to apply the tools gained in the classroom to a business situation that is evolving and changing in real-time, and allows students to gain practical project, team, and client management experience.  We believe that the AMR Program provides an arena for creativity, innovation, and exploration, and we’re looking forward to another year of successful outcomes for our students and clients. 

Check back on this blog in the upcoming months for more updates on how the AMR projects are progressing!

 

Second year students meet in the Rosenfeld Library pods with their company representatives

 

 

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Stay in Touch: Introduce Yourself
Follow the Admissions Team @uclaMBA:  Twitter and Instagram
Questions? Contact us at: mba.admissions@anderson.ucla.edu