The MBA Student Voice

Removing the "LA" from "UCLA"

Over the past two weekends, I've had the opportunity to leave Los Angeles on trips organized by my fellow students.  In both cases, they turned out to be fruitful both from a career perspective and from a social perspective. 

And I'm sure it is pure coincidence, but Mrs. V. wasn't on either trip with me (!)

I. MBA Poker Tournament, Las Vegas

During MLK weekend -- we get a bank holiday in January in the US for Martin Luther King, the civil rights leader who was assassinated in the 1960s -- my beloved Section B went to Las Vegas, coinciding with the MBA Poker Tournament, sponsored by Harrah's and held at Caesar's Palace.  The whole weekend was an absolute blast.  Just great fun in the clubs, dinner, and on the tables.  I organized a section dinner at Pampas, and everyone had a great time. 

Except for me, because I never made it.  

Here's what happened: the poker tournament started on Saturday at noon -- actually, there were three tournaments, starting on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at noon, but the Saturday one was the main event.  After a heavy Friday night, I slept just a couple of hours, then went to the brunch hosted by Harrah's before the tournament (more on this later). 

Then the tournament started with 202 players.  Each Through some combination of luck (99%), stamina (0.99%), and poker skill (0.01%), I managed to stay alive, and worked my way past the first few rounds.  All of a sudden, that 202 became 150...then 120...a couple of good hands later and I'm one of 99...then 80...then 50...then 27...then 18 -- in the money!  

At this point, it was 7:30 and there was no way that I was making a 7:30 dinner.  I had a decent chip stack - not the top, but well off the bottom - and I wanted to push for the gold.  So on the break, I texted one of my classmates and told him I wasn't going to make it. 

Ultimately, I finished 14th. I missed a fantastic dinner -- and was absolutely over the moon about it. 

II. Sports Business Association career trek to New York

I was in Los Angeles for about 36 hours after the poker tournament when I headed off for the Sports Business Association's annual career trek (these are called "Days on the Job", or "DOJ" for short, in Andersonian).  We met with executives from Madison Square Garden, ESPN, the National Football League, and the National Hockey League.  All of the meetings were fantastic, and I had two very personal revelations from this trip. 

Firstly, I realized how much I missed New York.  I lived there for seven years, including four years as a student at New York University and three years working for UBS, the investment bank.  But then I moved to London and took to the capital of the United Kingdom like a fish to water.  I'd been back to New York before but this was the first time when I thought about how nice it would be to be back there as a resident again. 

Secondly, while I always knew what was important to me about sports was building connections with fans, I learned that the roles that really excited me were the business development roles that were focused beyond game nights.  Creating a link with fans through new sports events and properties was very fascinating to me.  In my mind, this includes poker, which through ESPN and Las Vegas is experiencing a surge in popularity (including me); being able to build franchise links with casino fans would be very interesting to me as well. 

Speaking of the Sports Business Association, be sure to read more about our Career Night, to be held here on campus on 16 February.  It promises to be a blast! 

I apologize to my readers for going too long without posting, but I promise to email with better regularity soon.  In the meantime, enjoy the Caps Rap video and the posts of my fellow blogetteers! 

-- Sreesha

Organic Food Option on Campus

This week, I wanted to post about a great new food option we have on campus.

After months of consuming Cafe Roma food offerings - not widely known for its nutrients, and having little time to go to the grocery store, our Anderson class decided to do something drastic. We set up an organic veggie box drop off at Anderson, once a week.

 

The box is from (SCF)"South Central Farmer's Cooperative", with recipes provided on the website. Only $15/box, it's cheaper than buying the same veggies at the grocery store and is full of organic locally grown veggies. Here are the contents of a typical box: Zucchini, Scallop Squash, Sunburst Squash, Yellow Squash, Eggplant, Spaghetti Squash, Okra, Swiss Chard, Red Kale, Black Kale, Blue Dwarf kale, Collard Greens, China Rose Radishes, Cilantro. 

Healthy, right?! Now it’s about taking the veggies home and actually cooking them. Cooking...looks like quantitative analysis might not be the only thing I learn in business school.

- Katya

UCLA Media, Entertainment & Sports Week (January 25 - January 30, 2010)

As I mentioned in an earlier post, at UCLA Anderson I'm focusing specifically on media and entertainment. I figured that with the location in LA, alumni, entertainment student clubs and the Center for Managing Enterprises in Media, Entertainment & Sports (MEMES) there would be plenty of opportunities for exposure into the media and entertainment industry. And I was right. There's always something going on and the challenge is to try and fit everything in while balancing all your other commitments. Feeling like there is not enough time in the day has become the norm.

Next week is definitely going to be busy. The inaugural Media, Entertainment & Sports Week put together by MEMES is taking place and it's jam-packed with interesting speakers, workshops and networking events. And the great part is, most of it is free! Check out the following link for more information and registration:

http://memesweek.eventbrite.com/

I encourage you to take a look at the events, and if you are interested in attending, please let me know and I'll make sure to introduce you to other students, faculty and speakers in attendance.

--JP

~The clock talked loud.  I threw it away, it scared me what it talked.  ~Tillie Olsen, Tell Me a Riddle~

One Quarter Down, Five to Go

It's been yet another hiatus for me between Thanksgiving, finals, and winter break.  So, I figured I'd tackle an end of quarter recap.  The best way for me to try and do that is to address the questions friends and family ask me most: “How was your first quarter?  Did you have fun?”  Deep down, I know it was a great time and a hell of a ride, but I really have to think about it to make sure.  That’s because school can be overwhelming at times.  Five classes that you’re somewhat unfamiliar with over the course of ten weeks makes for an intense quarter.  It consumes you to some extent.  It’s all you and your friends talk about.  For instance, I consider myself a student of comedy.  I interned at Late Night and The Daily Show in college.  I like to think I know what’s funny.  At one point, though, I’m fairly certain the only jokes I, along with my fellow students, was cracking were statistics related.  Is p-value really that funny?  After some decompressing time, I’m pretty sure it’s not, but at the time…HILARIOUS!  And if we’re making class related jokes, that means we’ve learned something, right?  I’m going to say yes.  Definitely, yes.

 

But such feelings appear to be the norm at Anderson.  It’s really the nature of the beast.  We start classes later than most programs and there’s a lot of material to pack into such a short period of time, especially since we’re on the quarter system.  It’s basically like a rite of passage.  The second years assure you that you’ll get through it, you doubt them, you take four grueling finals in four days, and then realize they were right and don’t understand why you didn’t trust them in the first place.  I have no doubt some first year will question my wisdom next year and I’ll just smile and crack a p-value joke and he or she will laugh uproariously.

 

Admittedly, I just painted a somewhat bleak picture.  So, how can I say business school has been enjoyable?  Well, that’s because while I may have underestimated just how time consuming the program would be, all the rumors about the social and networking opportunities I heard so much about are most definitely true.  For all the work we do, there’s always a chance to blow off steam afterwards, be it a karaoke night with your section, the school ski trip to Breckenridge after finals, or a winter break jaunt to Israel.  And over the course of these experiences, I really can’t fathom the number of friends I’ve made.  When I left New York for my Los Angeles to begin this new quarter, two of my classmates offered to pick me up from the airport.  I didn’t even ask.  Do people really just offer to do that out of the goodness of their heart?  Am I that fun to be in a car with?  Maybe I’ve been living in New York too long (plus no one has a car here), but that’s a first and second for me.  I kept an attentive eye on my wallet just in case.

 

In the meantime, things are not going to slow down one bit.  After taking five classes in a quarter, we are only required to take three in the winter.  Those courses are Marketing Management II, Corporate Finance, and Operations Technology Management.  In addition, I’m taking an elective Feature Film Marketing class at UCLA’s Producer’s Program, and I also scored an MBA Spring Internship at Fox Filmed Entertainment.  Needless to say, I’m expecting to be frantic and frazzled for the next couple of months, but when it’s all said and done, and you ask me how it was, I have no doubt I’ll pause, take a deep breath, and say, “Fantastic.”  See you after my next hiatus

Don’t Give Up!

If you have followed my Anderson MBA blog for the past few months, you know that I have expressed a strong partiality for DaVita.  What can I say?  That company has a truly charismatic leader and actually seems to care about its values.  As it turns out, I have failed to convince DaVita to invite me to an interview.  Indeed, the irony of the situation has not escaped me, but c’est la vie!  Of course, that outcome is disheartening.  I did, after all, attend all of DaVita’s presentations, visited the headquarters, and networked (obviously not very successfully).  In other words, I invested a great deal of time and effort for naught in the end.  But let’s talk about would-be investment bankers, shall we?

For the past months, many of my classmates have been working day and night – and I’m not exaggerating – for a shot at investment banking.  I wish you had seen them practicing, over and over again, all their quantitative and interviewing skills, networking ‘til they drop, while working hard to get a high GPA.  Now, many of them have been invited to at least ten interviews, and for the past two weeks the hallways of Anderson have been invaded by students in pretty nice – if awfully conservative – business attire.  So far, none of those I asked were invited to a second round interview.  Hence, for my classmates, too, it ought to be very disheartening, especially considering how good the Investment Finance Association is at training us.  I imagine aspiring consultants will be facing the same reality soon enough.

I don’t have the arrogance to believe that not interviewing me is DaVita’s loss, and I hope that you feel the same way if you are in a comparable situation.  But I’ve seen a few long faces on campus this week (including mine), so I’ll tell you this much: don’t give up.  Whether you are currently competing for business school, an internship, or a job, it is awfully competitive out there, so keep trying as long as it makes sense.  Consider that there are probably 50-200 people competing for each position you are targeting, and that 10% of these applicants are likely strong candidates, so you will have to try harder.  Actually, under these conditions, making it to an interview is an exploit in itself.  But do have a plan B, for all of us can’t become the next President of the United States.

–Simon

Traveling to Africa

Next Saturday, I'll be leaving LA to spend a week in Accra, Ghana. This is part of my AMR (Applied Management Research) project, about which I have previously posted. As a refresher, or if this is the first of my posts you have read, I'm working with a team of four other second-year students on a consulting project for a hospital in Accra called Korle Bu. We are working specifically with the surgical department, with the goal of our project being to improve the efficiency of the operating theater. 

We originally thought this would be a simple "process flow" analysis, where we would try to find the bottleneck in the surgical process and then come up with a solution for how to relieve the bottleneck. If you're interested in learning a little more about what I'm talking about, visit the webpage of Anderson's Operations Department. Or, try reading this -- it's a novel that is, believe it or not, required reading for the core operations class at Anderson. 

When half of our team visited Accra in November, they discovered that there were too many variabilities in the the daily operations of the surgical department at Korle Bu for us to use a simple process flow tool. Although we were frustrated at the time, in retrospect it was a great educational experience for us to be forced to think (way) outside the box. In fact, this hiccup led to a much more complex and comprehensive solution to the surgical department's problem. Although operational analyses remain at the core of our recommendations, we layered human resources over that core, designing a complete and comprehensive performance management process that will allow the department to continually improve in the coming months and years.

Round 1 Admits - Invitation to A-Days I

Round 1 admissions decisions were released today. To all applicants who received good news: CONGRATS!! Time certainly flies; it wasn't that long ago when I received my acceptance notification. I'm actually thinking about that moment right now and it still brings a smile to my face. I hope you have a chance to go celebrate the fruits of your hard work.

After you're done celebrating, I strongly encourage you to make plans to come visit us on campus during Anderson Days ("A-Days") which will take place February 20-21, 2010. Among the countless reasons why you should attend, this will be a great opportunity to:

1. meet and interact with current students, professors and future classmates
2. check out Anderson's awesome facilities
3. experience first-hand the collegial Anderson culture
4. explore Los Angeles.

I guarantee that not only will this be informative, but it will be fun. Bold words you say? Perhaps, but as the Programming Chair for A-Days I'm sure I can back them up. The various A-Days committees are hard at work to ensure this will be a fantastic event, and I'm confident that you won't be disappointed.

So go check out the A-Days website here for more information, and if you have any questions don't hesitate to ask. I hope to see and meet many of you there.

--JP

~You're only here for a short visit. Don't hurry, don't worry. And be sure to smell the flowers along the way. ~ Walter Hagen

Alternatives to On Campus Recruiting

2010 is off to a fast start: courses, recruiting, school/club projects, catching up with classmates. Never a dull moment.

While banking and consulting have summer internship application deadlines (through Anderson Career Services) and campus interviews in December and January, the less traditional fields are still in the exploration mode.

One way to get to know more about these less traditional (business school wise) companies is through a program called "Lunch for Eight". The lunch is set up by Anderson students who bring executives from various firms to campus. Eight students are then selected to have lunch with each company. 

One of the lunches I attended was with, an innovation consulting company that worked on Apple's first mouse and blends design and business (and often social change through design). Very cool. I've known about this company for a while and was very excited to meet face to face with one of the company’s partners.

After a pleasant lunch (free, if you don't count the b-school tuition), the partner invited each of us to visit the company's headquarters. Now, I have to say that I tried contacting the company prior to business school for this exact purpose, to no avail. They have so many informational interview requests, they just screen out most of them.

In other words, I was happy to take up the visit offer and visited the company during Winter break. Not only did the partner take his time to show us the various departments, I also got to see several innovation projects in progress. Projects, which I am sure you will hear about once it's clients issue a release.

So - free lunch and a tour of my favorite company. There might be something to this business school thing...

- Katya

UCLA Anderson - MBA Struggles and Rewards

Hey Everybody! Oh my gosh - how long has it been? Sigh, no I didn't drop off the face of the earth and no the big scary MBA program didn't swallow me alive. I just had to get through first quarter finals, which were a bear! However, I survived relatively unscathed.

So, I finished winter break, and it was sooooo fun! Good time to catch up with family and friends in the Bay Area. But it wasn't ALL fun and games. No, our diligent student club put together some DOJs (Day on the Job) for several companies in the Bay Area. A bunch of us visited some awesome companies like Apple, Google, HP, Adobe, Cisco, and on and on and on. Each company gave a presentation about their products and positions and then we got a chance to network with the employees. It was a hectic schedule but very exciting and worthwhile.

The DOJ took up a good 3-4 days of my time and after that I headed off to Reno with family. I gave myself a $30 budget and proceeded to lose it all.....but hey, I had a fun time losing it! Now I'm back in LA and have already completed the first week of the second quarter. What have I accomplished so far this quarter you might ask? Well, I participated in a case competition and had a job interview. Not a bad way to start of the new year. I didn't win the competition, but had lots of fun. We worked something like 20 hours straight analyzing the case, got two hours of sleep, and then presented our recommendations to executives at Deloitte. It was a one-of-a-kind experience and something I recommened all MBA students try at least once in their lives. Btw, my team didn't win the competition, but quite honestly we felt like we had because of the feeling of accomplishment after such hard work.

The second quarter class schedule has been much more manageable, although I can see it getting really hectic once interviews pick up. Well, that's about it thus far.

I know many of you out there must be thinking about MBA school, whether it's the right thing to do, or how to get through the application/interview process. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.

Until next time!

Roma Challenge

I forgot to mention the Roma Challenge. 

Cafe Roma is the coffee shop here in the courtyard. It is the only eatery in the courtyard and therefore has a relative monopoly on student business -- you could walk a bit to the Ackerman Student Union or to Northern Lights, a cafeteria-style eatery, but that requires generally more time than most people have.  

My issue with Roma is that the food isn't healthy, nor does it taste good, and nor is it cheap; none of this endears me to its near-monopoly position.  So I've decided to see if I can go the entire quarter without spending any money there.  So far, so good. 

I'll keep you all updated on this blog as things progress.  Here we go! 

-- Sreesha