MBA Insider's Blog

Day in the Life: Interning in Consulting (Tuesday Takeover)

Post is a part of the Day in the Life series - each post is written by a current UCLA Anderson student who shares their "Day in the Life"

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Hi everyone! My name is Mary Claire Flanagan and I’m excited to be hosting this week’s Tuesday Takeover. This summer I’m interning at EY in their operations consulting group focused on financial services clients. To give you a little bit of background on me, I was born and raised in St. Paul, MN and headed for the sunshine in LA to go to USC for undergrad. I studied business administration and pursued a career in real estate after graduating. My first role was in commercial real estate brokerage, followed by 3+ years at Oaktree Capital Management doing portfolio analytics for their real estate funds. I came back to business school to pursue consulting, and was fortunate to get the opportunity to try it out this summer at EY! I have been staffed on a couple of due diligence projects working on the IT workstreams, and have been working remotely from LA.

 

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4:30am: Time to wake up! I’m a fitness fanatic and have found both in business school and in my internship that the only way to make sure I get my workout in is to get it done first thing in the morning. Also, I’m working remotely with a team of people based on the East Coast so calls regularly start at 7:00am or earlier. My early morning gym time is the perfect way for me to clear my head and get ready for the day ahead!

 

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11:00am: One of the really cool parts of the EY internship is our summer-long project that we work on with other MBA interns. Teams were tasked with covering various topics such as reverse mentorship, technology trends and recruiting best practices. Our team had bi-weekly meetings, and I had the opportunity to be one of the two project leaders (along with another Anderson classmate!), which was a great way to put many of the leadership skills I learned during my first year into practice. Below you can see our team celebrating after our presentation with our Mobot foam roller/water bottles. 

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5:00pm: Our intern presentations were delivered to partners and senior leadership of the group at an all-MBA intern event in Brooklyn. We also participated in a scavenger hunt throughout the city and enjoyed a delicious rooftop dinner. Having so many of my Anderson classmates here with me summer has been so awesome! Here we are taking in an NYC sunset. 

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6:30pm: Consulting can be a stressful job, so EY has made sure to incorporate opportunities for us to relax and get to know the practitioners as well as our fellow interns in a more casual setting. For example, here we are enjoying some goat yoga! This summer I learned that a goat walking on your back while you’re in child’s pose is actually the ultimate stress reliever!

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I hope you’ve enjoyed my Tuesday Takeover!

 

-- Mary Claire Flanagan ‘20

 

ABOUT MARY CLAIRE

• Hometown: St. Paul, Minnesota
• Undergraduate Studies: Business Administration - USC
• Pre-Anderson: Portfolio Analytics Associate - Oaktree Capital Management
• MBA Summer Internship: Operations Consulting - EY
• Post-MBA Goals: Consulting
• Leadership@Anderson:VP of Admit Weekends - Admissions Ambassadors Corps, VP of External Affairs - Management Consulting Association, Consulting Coach - Anderson Career Teams (ACT), Consulting Coach - MCA Interview Prep Teams
  
• Activities@Anderson: Management Consulting Association, Women's Business Connection, Strategy & Operations Management Association, Social Impact Consulting Corps, Admissions Ambassador Corps

 

Day in the Life: Interning in Renewable Energy (Tuesday Takeover)

Post is a part of the Day in the Life series - each post is written by a current UCLA Anderson student who shares their "Day in the Life"

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Hi, my name is Bob Owlett and I’ll be today’s host for UCLA Anderson’s Tuesday Takeover. I’m interning at BayWa r.e. Solar Projects on the business development team this summer and I’m excited to share my experience with you. Before I get into my internship, here’s a bit about me. I attended Claremont McKenna College, where I focused on finance and economics while competing for the cross country and track teams. After graduation, I worked as an investment banking analyst at Wells Fargo Securities in the Asset Backed Finance division. At Wells Fargo Securities, I worked on transactions across a variety of sectors, and found myself fascinated by deals in the energy space. As such, I attended UCLA Anderson looking to pursue a career in a business development function in the energy industry. I hope you enjoy my takeover below!

 

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8:30am: Once I get into the office, I review my to-do list from the previous day and prioritize which projects I need to work on. My main summer projects include creating a strategy for developing solar in the western US (similar to BayWa’s completed CA project below) and conducting a market sizing on the potential for utility-scale energy storage systems across the US. The projects are fairly long-term, so I make sure to break them into pieces with shorter timelines to remain on track.

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11:30am: I present my western US market research to the office during a lunch and learn. A highlight of the session is the fantastic catered tacos brought into the office. This presentation represents my opportunity to showcase my summer research to all of BayWa’s various teams including finance, legal, and development, to give them a preview of the upcoming business development initiatives.

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2:00pm: I meet with the business development team to discuss how we would like to approach the energy storage market. With ever-growing levels of renewable energy saturation, energy storage systems are needed to shift day-time solar generation into nighttime hours. As a result, coupling energy storage systems to new solar projects has become a priority for all developers.

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5:30pm: I finish my day by reviewing my notes from the day’s meetings and creating a to-do list for tomorrow. It’s still 80 degrees and sunny outside, so some coworkers and I going to head for a quick drink in Newport before heading home for the day.

 

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Thanks for joining my on my day in the life! I hope you enjoyed it!

 

-- Bob Owlett ‘20

 

ABOUT BOB

• Hometown: Wellsboro, Pennsylvania
• Undergraduate Studies: B.A. Economics, M.A. Finance - Claremont McKenna College
• Pre-Anderson: Investment Banking Analyst - Wells Fargo Securities
• MBA Summer Internship: Business Development - BayWa r.e. Solar Projects
• Post-MBA Goals: Business Development - Energy
• Leadership@Anderson: Energy Management Group, Strategy & Operations Management Association, Anderson Ambassador Corps
• Activities@Anderson: John Anderson Golf Club, Outdoor Adventure Club, Anderson Craft Beer Club

 

Live Student Webinar: Entrepreneurship@Anderson (August 20 @ 7pm PT)

Tune in Tuesday, August 20 at 7:00PM PT for a LIVE webinar with current UCLA Anderson MBA students! You will have the opportunity to connect with full-time MBA students Jessica Cheng and Sam Murray as they share their experiences in the startup community at Anderson. Jessica is creating a fitness app and Sam is building an algorithmic trading platform. They will also share their overall first year experience and life in Los Angeles. Come prepared with your questions so we can engage in lively conversation!

Register and view webinar here:

 

Learn more about our student hosts:

More about Jessica:

• Pre-Anderson: Senior Analyst, Corporate Planning - Royal Caribbean Cruises
• MBA Summer Internship: Entrepreneurship with the Anderson Venture Accelerator
• Post-MBA Goals: Entrepreneurship
• Leadership@Anderson: Co-President/Co-founder - Wellness & Yoga Club, Co-Founder - Sustainability@Anderson, President of Section A - Anderson Student Association, Director - Admissions Ambassador Corps
• Activities@Anderson: Entrepreneur Association, AnderTech, Net Impact, Strategy & Operations Management Association, Women's Business Connection, Outdoor Adventure Club

 

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More about Sam:

• Pre-Anderson: Senior Analyst - Compass Lexecon
• MBA Summer Internship: Engagement Strategy - ZestFinance
• Post-MBA Goals: Entrepreneurship and FinTech
• Activities@Anderson: Entrepreneurship Leadership Development Program, Entrepreneurs Association, Anderson Wine Club, Outdoor Adventure Club

 

 

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Questions? Contact us at: mba.admissions@anderson.ucla.edu

Student Perspectives: A Day in the Life of DaJuan Bennett '20 (Throwback Thursday)

This post is a part of the Student Perspectives 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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As a prospective student, you’re probably wondering what your days would like should you enroll at UCLA Anderson. Knowing the range of activities my classmates and I are engaged in - including academics, clubs, recruiting, and social events - it can be difficult to describe what a typical day as an MBA here looks like … it truly does differ for every student! That said, I wanted to offer a taste of what a day for me actually entails to help you start to see yourself here.

For Throwback Thursday #tbt, here’s a look at a day during Fall Quarter of my first year.

7:45am: I’m still excited from a long weekend of celebration. We won 2^nd place at the UT Austin Real Estate Case Competition in Austin and I volunteered at Embracing Diversity this weekend. I usually wake up around this this time, I live in Hollywood, so it takes me a little longer to commute to school. On Mondays and Wednesdays, I don’t have class until 12:45 and Tuesdays and Thursdays, I have class at 9:45. I spend most of the morning catching up on emails and prepping for the day, could be an interview, informational, or company presentation, I need to get ready for. Today, I have an interview and class, so I’m prepping for that.

 

10:30am: After a 35-45 minute commute from Hollywood, I get to campus around this time and catch up with friends in the courtyard. There are always students doing homework, preparing for class, or having coffee/breakfast in the courtyard. As the Director of Community for the Black Business Student Association,  I need to spend some time researching yacht prices for our Spring Social. I am also the Director of Communications for the Anderson Real Estate Association, so I need to get updates from our members and send out the weekly newsletter. Usually I’ll just have a protein bar and a coffee before class.

12:45pm: I am an Admissions Ambassador, so if there are students visiting class, I will pick them up from Admissions and walk them over to class. Time for Finance with Professor Carlin. One of my favorite professors so far, he makes class very interesting an entertaining.

2:15pm: Class is over, now I need to head downtown for my interview at a Real Estate Private Equity firm. Wish me luck!

6:00pm: My interview went great, in fact, one of my interviewers was an Anderson alum! I should hear back in a couple of weeks. Now it’s time to meet up with my Consortium family for Friendsgiving. Can’t wait to have a good meal.

 

Every day is different at Anderson. From class, club meetings, and chilling on the beach, each day brings a special treat. One of the greatest things about Anderson is the community. No matter what is going on that day, I know that I can depend on one of my classmates, faculty, and or staff to help me overcome any challenges. Every day I am glad I chose Anderson because I feel like I can be my true self here, which attributes to my success thus far. Thanks for reading!

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Student blogger: DaJuan Bennett

Hometown: Compton, Ca

Undergraduate Studies: Howard University

Pre-Anderson: Management Consultant

Post-MBA Goals: Real Estate Private Equity/Development

Activities @ Anderson: Anderson Real Estate Association, Black Business Students Association, Cannabis Business Association, Admissions Ambassadors 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