The MBA Student Voice

Caught the Ander-flu; Need the Ander-dote

My regular readers (both of them) have been clogging my inbox (thanks Mom) asking me why I haven't said anything recently.  The truth is...I caught the dreaded Ander-flu. 

The Ander-flu is the bug that infects almost every first year either during orientation or soon thereafter.  Here we are in the first week, and you could conduct a chorus of coughing during class. Unofficially, I count 20 people out of our section of 72. 

I think the Ander-flu comes from our freezing cold classrooms - which are decidedly warmer now; I'd like to think that it's because I keep complaining on the blog, but it's probably because someone called maintenance -- and because we're all on limited sleep and hyper-active schedules.  

Oh, and all of the orientation "networking sessions" at the bar didn't help at all

So I promise to write more about the first week here at Anderson soon, once all of this Theraflu kicks in.  Till then! 

-- Sreesha

Week 1 Orientation - Recap

As promised, my wonderful blogging colleagues have been sharing their orientation experiences, so here's my contribution. I wasn't quite sure what to expect with orientation. Having gone through various "orientations" in the past, I expected a few speeches, ice breakers, tours and some free food. I understood that it was necessary but I admittedly was not overly excited.

Happily I can report that UCLA Anderson's orientation far exceeded my expectations. The first week of the two and a half week program focused on getting the incoming class to interact with each other, learn more about UCLA Anderson's program and challenge ourselves to venture out of our comfort zones.

The highlight of the first week for me was the ropes course and the improv. Both were new experiences for me, and while it was a bit of an adjustment to get into the proper mindset, I came out of it having learned something new about myself. The ropes course was facilitated by Odyssey Teams, Inc., and I was thoroughly impressed by their energy and commitment. Walking across tightropes, climbing telephone poles and figuring out challenges as a team was a great way to meet and interact with others in the incoming class. 

And as for the improv, well Wayne Brady can rest easy knowing that I'm in no way a threat to his improv reign but nonetheless it was fun and I did learn among other things to "be in the present", be an active listener, create a supportive environment and "Yes and...".

Week 2 and 2.5 were just as jam packed and I will definitely provide a recap of those as well...but not right now. As "real" school has started, real readings have been assigned and I still have to finish those for tomorrow. Therefore: to be continued....

--JP

~The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands in times of challenge and controversy.~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

Now The Real Game Begins

Apologies to my mother, and the probably four other people who read my ramblings, for my absence.  It appears that my last post was something like three weeks ago.  Time sure does fly, and the reason for the hiatus was the cliffhanger from my previous entry:  orientation.

The best way I can describe orientation at UCLA's Anderson School of Management is that it's an awful lot like summer camp.  For example, there was a ropes course day.  Somehow, the powers that be here convinced me to climb up a very tall pole, rotate 270 degrees atop said pole, and then jump from the pole to a trapeze that appeared to be hanging too far for me to grasp.  I'm still grappling with how this relates to business exactly (not that it had to, as it sure did help build bonds between many of us), but I sure did learn a bit about myself.  Mainly, I confirmed that I'll try almost anything given enough peer pressure.  I just hope more of my friends don't start skydiving, because if they do, I'm hosed.  The only reason I'm jumping out of a flying plane is if it's crashing.  And if I see a tall pole, my first inclination is most definitely not to climb it.  I'd be interested in meeting the first guy who had that yen.  I bet he sees the world a whole lot different than me.   

Anyway, in addition to the ropes course, we had a day of improv, a county fair of sorts, section olympics, and even a group skit.  My section's theme was "pirates," so throughout the olympics day, for instance, we brandished blow up swords and eye patches and chanted, "Yo ho, yo ho, a pirates life for me." I believe the summer camp parallel is now complete.  And needless to say, pretty much everybody was looking like a complete fool at one point or another.  In fact, perhaps that is where the correlation to business kicks in.  Plenty of photos were taken of all the insanity.  Presumably, the possessors of said photos would have some nice leverage over those pictured.  I should really invest in a camera.  That might pay off down the road. 

But orientation wasn't all fun and games.  There were guest speakers, community service at local schools, and even one of our core classes.  Overall, the days were jam packed and rather tiring.  But now, I've had to make the transition from orientation to actual school, which is a bit rough.  I barely looked at a syllabus during orientation, but as soon as it ended, I realized I had 70 pages of econ to read for the next day.  A rude awakening to say the least, but I still made it out to the bar that night (using public transportation, I might add).  I think the key from here on in will be to find that right work/life balance, and I'll let you (Mom) know how that goes on this here page.  Wish me luck, day two of class is tomorrow.    

We Are the Champions…

At Anderson, MBA students have the opportunity to address quintessential questions, such as: "What would happen if Queen, Chuck Norris and the Most Interesting Man in the World (MIMW) put on a show together?"  Obviously, I am not talking about the MBA curriculum, but rather about my section skit, which we performed on the last day of the two-week leadership program.  Before the program started, students were separated in five sections of 70 to study leadership together and, among other things, compete for the prized Section Cup (see picture below).  Thus, sections battled with sportsmanship against each other in various activities – Olympics, team spirit, section skit, etc. – for the privilege of winning The Cup.

My section being especially foolish ambitious, we decided to produce a Queen rock opera for our skit because studying leadership and group dynamics 10-12 hours a day for about two weeks just wasn’t time-consuming enough.  Frankly, I am surprised how smoothly the whole project went.  A dozen of us, including yours truly, brainstormed for about two hours and came up with the Queen/Norris/MIMW concept.  We then divided the work into three acts/songs – rewriting Queen songs was definitely the longest part – and a talented colleague seamlessly put it all back together.  We rehearsed as a group for about five hours, et voila!

But why add Chuck Norris and MIMW to the cast, you might wonder.  Well, Chuck Norris can sneeze with his eyes open – and that’s fact #4 – so he just had to be in the skit.  As for the MIMW, he might be the only man cooler than Chuck Norris, so incorporating him was a no-brainer.  And by the way, my section did win the skit contest, which also led us to winning the cup (see below).  Is there anything Chuck Norris can’t do?

–Simon

Chuck Norris (with the hat) is evaluating how far he'll have to stretch to roundhouse kick the cup into the face of the Most Interesting Man in the World (in the suit).

Another Adventure in the MBA Career Search

Hi Everyone,

As you all know, I am a first year MBA student and already riddled with questions regarding what career I should focus on. If any of you read my previous post, you'll know that I am still in the process of deciding - sigh. Yes, I am a bit overwhelmed. But like all those before me, somehow I will manage to get through this, especially with support from my fellow students and faculty at the UCLA Anderson School of Management. Yes, that was a plug for my school, but hey, when it's the truth what does it matter?

Okay, let's get real. With my background in accounting, I could fair reasonably well in consulting (would be like working for the Big 4 - long hours but a variety of interesting projects and clients), finance (but then why did I come to MBA school when I could have found a finance job on my own), entreprenuership (not exactly sure what this is but it sounds cool), and a whole assortment of other areas. I think the areas that would instantly get me labeled a career switcher if I chose them are Marketing, Investment Banking, Human Resources, or say, Sports Management. Nothing against these avenues, but I decided that I need to pursue a field where I can leverage off of some of my skills. That's not to say I couldn't switch completely if I wanted to, but quite honestly I enjoyed being an accountant - at least parts of it. So why go off on a completely different course?

So, I just completed my second week of orientation. There were so many fun events! We did a ropes course where you have to basically compete with yourself the whole time and learn to trust your team members. You learn a lot about your determination and courage and also learn that your class is comprised of many awesome individuals. I came over my fear of the dreaded 40 foot log (or however high it was) and stood on top of it. Then I jumped off of it and sucessful grabbed a trapeeze bar several feet away - my legs were shaking the whole time. Sheer determination kept me from falling I think. Okay, enough sap. For the readers who are still with me, thanks for hanging in there. Back to business. Suffice it to say that I met a lot of people because Anderson put together these amazing events that just naturally made you bond with members of your team. After talking with several of them, I realized that I am not the only one confused about which career path to take.

I attended a one-on-one Parker Career Management Center (CMC) meeting last week and had the chance to talk to a counselor about my career options. It was really helpful. She gave me a guide as to how to do some introspection and see where my skills and desires align. The Parker CMC also put together this really comprehensive and insightful package explaining all the different career options, tips/tricks for recruiting and resumes, and quiz sheets and assessment tests to help me figure out what types of careers migh be suited to my interests and skills. I have my work cut out for me.

This coming week is going to be fun as well. After doing some community service with Junior Achievement we all get chance to pick our Anderson Career Team (ACT). This team will provide all sorts of career guidance throughout the MBA experience. Will let you know how that goes.

Until next time!

The Impertinent UCLA Anderson FAQ

As orientation winds down to a close here in sunny Westwood, I thought I would share some answers to some very pertinent questions you are all probably asking yourselves at this precise moment. 

Here are some real answers to some real questions posed by the members of the live studio audience in my living room. 

Q. Why did you and your section spend an afternoon with your faces painted singing Gwen Stefani songs? 

The Section Olympics were on Thursday, which were a lot of fun.  There were lots of events that I haven't played since I was a kid, like kickball, dodgeball, whiffle ball, and tug of war.  Two clear patterns emerged: (1) we are by far the biggest section in terms of height, weight, and muscle mass, and (2) it doesn't take much to get otherwise grown adults to paint their faces, make slogans, and scream like banshees. 

And we had Section B songs, courtesy of the people in our section who are far more creative than I.  We had "B is Bananas! B-A-N-A-N-A-S!", and "Who let the B's out?", and "You down with Section B? Yeah you know me."...was a lot of fun and left us all hoarse.  The other sections had their songs, too.  Of the others, my favorite was Section C's redux of the Ting Tings song, "That's Not My Name". 

OK fine, it's all a little kiddie.  But if I told you we sat around the telly watching United while singing "he goes by the name of Wayne Rooney" you wouldn't have thought twice about it.  I'm a disaster playing football and I don't even know Wayne Rooney; at least I know the people in Section B.  

Unfortunately, we came up short in the Section Olympics.  But still a few days to go before they award the Section Cup to the best section.  Cheer us on! 

Q. How many times did you dunk your section leader in the dunk tank before it was no longer funny? 

We never really reached the point of it not being funny.  As part of orientation, the second years organized a mock County Fair, replete with country line dancing, Nerf jousting, face painting, balloon animals -- and a dunk tank, which of course we used to repeatedly dunk our section leaders.  I say "we" very loosely -- my three throws consisted of two sliders and one that fits Bob Uecker's category of "juuuuuuuuust a bit outside."

Q.  Can you tell us the Tyson Beckford story? 

Some of my female readers have been unimpressed that I mention attractive celebrity females but not attractive celebrity males in my posts.  So I promised to incorporate an attractive celebrity male (other than me, of course) in this post.  Tyson Beckford was recommended to me by some -- but surprisingly, not all -- of my female readers. 

Q.  Is that all there is to the Tyson Beckford story? What an anti-climax. 

I agree.  But I don't know Tyson Beckford or any other attractive male celebrities.  

Q. How many outgoing mailboxes are on Westwood Boulevard between campus and Santa Monica Boulevard?

One.  Yours truly went wandering around for 45 minutes after school trying to put a letter in the mail and ended up a block from my apartment.   

Q.  Did you really think it was a good idea to wear a Washington Capitals Mike Green shirt in the middle of the Los Angeles summer?  

I did, but with good reason - it's freezing in the classrooms.  They are like meat lockers, especially Korn Hall, which is a beautiful, well-designed, yet blood-freezing cold hall even when filled to its 500+ capacity.  So what I need is a light sweater that I can easily take off.  And since hockey players call their shirts "sweaters", it seemed like a good idea. The fact that it was also opening day of training camp made it all the more sports-geeky.  

Q.  Did you really have a final exam during Orientation? 

Yes we did.  The school builds in a pass/fail "tasting course" for five days during orientation.  It's supposed to give us a warm-up to the real thing which starts at the end of next week, and highlights some broad concepts of leadership.  Most importantly, it gets us into the mode of thinking like students, and some practice for reading cases and engaging in classroom discussion, which are both very different from undergrad. 

Q.  Is it true that you lost your fantasy football league game by 2/100ths of a point this week? 

Who put this question in this blog?  Yes, it is true.  That "irrelevant" interception by San Diego on the last play of the last game of the week?  Not so irrelevant for me. 

Q.  Will you get up tomorrow morning at 5:30 AM to watch the Manchester derby? 

I really want to, but it's not on Fox Soccer Channel here, which means I have to nip off to one of the United pubs in Santa Monica.  Getting into a car at 5:00 AM is quite an ask, even for me.  But I'm really tempted to do it. 

Q.  Whatever happened to the idea that you would go to the gym every day? 

Point taken.  Time to get off of the couch. 

--- Sreesha

De-blasé-fied!

I am so jaded I would probably yawn at my own funerals.  Personally, I blame Hollywood movies and video games for murdering my awe, but every now and then something makes me go “Wow!”  Of course, I am too blasé to actually say it out loud, but nonetheless…  Thus, imagine my surprise when I had two such moments this week only, and this is only my second week as an Anderson MBA student.

My first “Wow!” popped out on Wednesday during a presentation by Kent Thiry, Chairman and CEO of DaVita Inc.  I will not bore you with details depicting how Mr. Thiry brought the company back from the dead over the last ten years, although the end-results are impressive.  Instead, I want to mention why I think Mr. Thiry has been so successful; he understands that happy employees have no incentive to leave or work poorly.  Big deal?  I think so, considering DaVita Inc. has over 15,000 employees.  How Mr. Thiry does it on such a big scale completely mystifies me, but it might have something to do with the fact that DaVita actually seems to take its values seriously.

My second “Wow!” moment was triggered by Pr. Al Osborne, Senior Associate Dean at Anderson, and entertainer (from what I can tell!).  I will not bore you with his accolades, for they are numerous, but I’ll attempt to recount an especially interesting part of his story.  Early in his career, Pr. Osborne decided that he wanted to promote entrepreneurial businesses, but was told that it was just a stupid idea that would kill his career.  Unsatisfied, he left his job for a position at UCLA, where he eventually founded the Price Center for Entrepreneurial Studies.  The Price center oversees teaching, research, extracurricular, and community activities related to entrepreneurship.  How’s that for seeing one’s vision come to fruition? 

–Simon

LA County Fair

The blur that was the first week of orientation just ended. It was informative, exhilarating, challenging and rewarding. Basically it was a microcosm of what I expect the UCLA Anderson MBA program to be for the next two years. But before I, along with my awesome fellow bloggers, regale you with stories of our adventures during the first week i.e. the ropes course, improv, negotiations etc., I want to take a quick pause and tell you about a non-orientation event I attended.

This past Saturday, I went to the LA County Fair.

I love fairs/carnivals - the sights, sounds, smells and general atmosphere. As soon as I step onto the fairgrounds I'm instantly taken back to when I was 7. Fairs are one of my favorite parts of summer and I make it a point to go at least once.

Food is a big part of my annual fair experience. Normally I try and watch what I eat but all bets are off on my annual fair day. That day is by far my worst eating day of the year. It's like a cross between Man v. Food and Bizarre Foods - I try and eat the most copious amounts of weird, unusual, and usually very unhealthy food that I can. My visit to the LA County Fair was no different as you can see by the pictures below:

HUGE corndog

Deep fried twinkie with chocolate sauce

Deep fried cheeseburger

I also had some delicious BBQ corn to break-up the fried food monopoly. I considered soldiering on and eating chocolate covered bacon and meat flavored ice cream but alas while my mind was strong, the body was weak. Actually my body and I are currently not on speaking terms; it is a tad upset and rightfully so. Needless to say I'll be hitting the gym quite hard this week. =X

--JP

~Not sure I'm going to feel too good after I eat this...but I'm still gonna. ~ Me

Laissez les bons temps roulez...

In England it's not terribly uncouth to nip off to the pub in the AM on weekends, especially for important sporting events such as football or the Ashes.  I learned today that this is also accepted practice in Los Angeles, due to the three-hour time zone difference between the East and West Coasts. 

I also remembered how much I love football Sundays in America. 

A bunch of us Andersonians met up today at 10 AM at the unofficial Anderson watering hole, Q's on Wilshire, to watch the first weekend of the NFL season.  There were multiple screens, multiple games, and groups of fans loudly supporting each team in action today -- barring, for some inexplicable reason, Arizona Cardinals, last year's Super Bowl finalists. 

Europeans may have differing views about American football versus its English, continental, or Gaelic counterparts, but football Sunday is a uniquely American experience. 

We were at the street-side tables with the bright, sunny Los Angeles morning to our backs, watching all of the action, consuming breakfast, then lunch (free hot dogs and grilled chicken!), then more snacks, and perhaps a few drinks (wink wink) - I opted for what's now being known as a John Daly, which is an Arnold Palmer (ice tea + lemonade) with vodka.  

More than the food and drink, though, was that it was the perfect setting to really get to know people, because everyone is in their natural state.  We've just gone through four intense, exhilarating, and exhausting days of orientation this week, so this was a chance to just be ourselves and not think about anything serious (other than our fantasy football teams).  

I know it won't be long before school becomes stressful, before we are inundated with classwork and recruiting.  So I'll treasure these moments, where my classmates and I can just be ourselves. 

And the best bit is -- we get to do it all again next Sunday. 

Laissez les bons temps roulez!  Let the good times roll! 

-- Sreesha

I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead!

“I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead” is not just a terrific title to a terrible movie - it might soon become my motto.  It appears that maneuvering a successful career transition during my MBA at UCLA Anderson will mean little sleep, especially during the first two quarters.  I cannot complain because I was warned that transitioning would require a tremendous amount of work, but I’ll argue that being warned about, say, the imminence of being sucker punched does not dull the pain.

It all started on Tuesday with a 12-day orientation/leadership program.  In essence, students spend 9-12 hours a day attending a multitude of leadership workshops and getting acquainted through various group activities, such as improvisation.  We then go home to prepare for next day’s lecture, work on a leadership plan, and maybe meet classmates at the pub.  So far, the challenge is not so much that it is difficult, but time-consuming.  This extravaganza ends when classes begin, and these will be mostly new topics for me: finance, marketing, accounting, economics, data & decisions.  Classes amount to 15 hours per week, and I expect I will need to spend another 15-30 hours reading, doing homework, studying, etc.

Classes, however, are only half the story; there is also the work required to market myself and ultimately land a job.  Fortunately, Anderson has the resources and the expertise to help me, but obviously I have to do the actual work.  So I will be spending a considerable amount of time researching companies, attending corporate presentations, making contacts, etc.  It will require impeccable time-management skills to conduct the career, academic, and extracurricular aspects of Anderson’s MBA program concurrently.  Thankfully, my brilliant plan is to forgo the minor details of life like sleep, meals and – while I'm at it – personal hygiene...

–Simon