The MBA Student Voice

Circle of Death.

So 3 weeks into classes and investment banking recruiting has begun. For the next 2 months, my life will be consumed by recruiting events for 10+ banks who come to campus, prepping with classmates/2nd year coaches, and attending club-sponsored training (I'm a career switcher from accounting, so no prior banking or finance experience).

Oh wait, there're also those pesky things called classes I have to attend everyday, not to mention the 3 hours a week of TA sessions and 6+ hours of learning team meetings every week. And of course I can't miss Wednesday/Thursday nights out with classmates for drinks (also essential to our experience). Feels like I barely had the chance to exhale before the fun really started.

One insider tidbit I'd like to share. So the centerpiece of banking recruiting on campus is the dreaded "circle of death" (as one 2nd year endearingly called it). The "COD" refers to the circle we (as recruits) awkwardly form around a banker at a recruiting event, like piranha around their prey, except we piranha are powerless.

Our goal is to ask meaningful questions and express our interest without trying too hard to impress or be a stand-out. Either would bring on the unnecessary risk of an early elimination from that bank's recruiting pool. These folks are recruiting you to work 16+ hours a day with them so the right candidates are people they can get along with while the sun rises, sets and rises again.

A COD may sound easy but our first experience last week was pretty nerve racking and every bit as awkward as we had been told. One great thing we learned in our ACT coaching groups is how to support each other in the dreaded circle. Don't try to monopolize floor time for yourself and make sure to include others if you see them hovering around you. Ask good questions to learn about the firm's speciality practices and what a MBA Associate actually does, and build off of each other's questions. My fellow classmates really embraced this collaborative method to recruiting and we did a great job supporting each other through our first COD. One down, countless more to go!

--ML

B School Life

Hello, future MBA students! My name is Kelly Riddle and I am a first-year full time MBA candidate at UCLA Anderson. When I was researching schools, I turned to many blogs to try to get a sense of what daily life was actually like for students, so hopefully I will be able to provide some insight on this front in upcoming posts. As an introductory post, I will provide some background on me: I am an aspiring entrepreneur in the financial services sector and plan to actively participate in the Entrepreneur Association and the Investment Finance Association. I am also a California girl, through and through. I grew up in Southern California, went to undergraduate school in Northridge, California, lived and worked in Los Angeles for the past three years and now I’m at Anderson. I didn’t necessarily plan things this way, but now that I’m here for at least another two years, I can tell you that I couldn’t be happier.

It’s not just because I love California. Being a student at Anderson has already proven to be a good decision and an experience I will never forget. During the past five weeks I have won the coveted Section Cup with my class section, joined six student clubs, participated in an enlightening speaker series with Dean Judy Olian, stayed up until 2:30 AM writing up a marketing case, seen more free beer than I ever have in my life, and much more. Business school is extremely challenging and no doubt exhausting with regard to schoolwork and career-searching, but if you do it right, it’s a lot of fun too. When your inbox is flooded with club events, recruiting opportunities, and homework assignments it can be daunting, but as someone who is just getting used to all of it I can tell you, it is possible to balance it all once you prioritize. And when you do figure out this balance, you will find that the resources at Anderson provide you with more opportunities than you could imagine to accomplish all of your goals and have fun at the same time.

I will delve a little more into those resources at a later time. For now, it is Friday, and while technically there is no class for first year students, I am headed to campus for a statistics review session and to do some studying in the library. Once that’s done I can get ready for the social event we have planned for this evening. I look forward to updating you on my business school life!

-Kelly

On Being a Woman in Business

Last monday 70 female students and I had lunch with UCLA Anderson Dean Judy Olian.  The lunchtime chat (lecture seems too formal) was hosted by the Women's Business Connection (WBC), the first in their series of conversations with successful businesswomen.

Dean Olian spent an hour answering questions about the causes and solutions of the continuing gender gap in the business world, the role of work-life balance and the diverse ways powerful women achieve professional success while maintaining relationships and family.  Dean Olian shared with us a little about the key drivers of her journey, as well as the steps she has taken during her tenure to increase the number of highly-qualified women joining Anderson's brilliant faculty.

It was a fascinating conversation because a lot of these topics - how work-life balance really functions at the top, for example - are taboo in many forums.  As a woman it can be difficult to find role models who will speak honestly about the sacrifices, successes, and the choices that brought them there. 

Personally, I came to Anderson to get ready for the rest of my professional life.  I want to make sure I'm making the career choices now which will allow me to be happy, fulfilled, and successful both 2 and 20 years from now. In preparing to make those choices, information is everything.

Anderson is, like all top tier business schools, mostly male (33% female), but the atmosphere is uniquely supportive and collaborative here, and I've not once felt that my contributions were any less valued or my voice any less heard.  I appreciate that Anderson, in addition to supporting women, recognizes the challenges we are likely to confront in our professional futures and helps us prepare to meet them.

I'm looking forward to being part of Anderson's network of strong women.

--Tara Egan

Breath.

Whew. My first breather in 5 weeks. Finally.

After 3 weeks of orientation, 2.5 weeks of class, countless group/career prep/club meetings (and countless slices of free pizza), it feels like things are really settling down and my life has found a new equilibrium.

All I can say is that business school is not what you expect. It's probably not even what anyone tells you it is. It's an amorphous creature that's completely dictated by your effort and abilities. And for the most part you can't plan for it either. You just learn to deal with it all once it's here. To say this experience is a lesson in multitasking is a gross understatement.

That being said, you can still prepare your expectations. Do expect to be busy 10 hours a day, every day (even Fridays, when you don't have class). Do expect to deal with scheduling conflicts. Lots of scheduling conflicts. Do expect to sleep less. Do expect to be a leader. Do expect to be a follower. Do expect to have a (really) good idea about what you want from this school or you'll be exhausted trying to do everything (you can't). Do expect a seemingly endless amount of resources from the school and other students to help you accomplish your goals. Do expect to be challenged by the class work and feel the frustrations of dealing with ambiguous and difficult problems. Do expect to successfully complete all of these tasks (somehow??) with the help of your teammates.

Actually, before I sign off on this first post, I have to correct myself already. Before I came to UCLA Anderson, people told me it'd be a great time. Some even told me it'd be the time of my life. Those were gross understatements too.

--ML

Greetings!

My name is Katie Levinson. I'm a first year at UCLA Anderson, and this is my first blog post ever! I was so excited to come here that I decided to enter the big bad world of blogging to share my experiences with all of you. That being said, here is a little bit about myself:

I grew up in Saratoga, CA (for all you Bachelor lovers out there - it was Jake's last stop before the final rose!) and went to Washington University in St. Louis for undergrad, where I studied Psychology and History. That led me to Human Capital consulting in Washington, DC for the past three years. While I loved life out on the east coast, I was happy to come back to the west coast and the sunny and non-humid climate of LA. In my free time I love playing sports, hanging out with my friends, and long walks on the beach...well not that last part (let's be honest, it's really tiring to walk on the sand), but I do love the beach down here!

On a more serious note, I'm looking to transition into brand management, so hopefully I will be providing some insightful posts about the events the Marketing Association will be putting on, as well as other exciting and interesting events that UCLA Anderson has to offer.

Until next time,

Katie

Hit the Ground Running: The First Two Weeks

I remember starting a new year of college as a gradual immersion process, with weeks passing by while professors made multiple introductory lectures, and we students slowly sorted out which classes we were taking, and which of those we actually needed to attend.  

Business school's not like that.  From day one our classes have been fast-paced and full of material.  Plus, since before coming to Anderson I worked in marketing, the many quantitative classes in the fall curriculum are completely new to me.  

Combine the course load with clubs, of which I've joined four, and on-campus recruiting events, which began last week, and the last couple weeks have been pretty much non-stop.  I come home late and tired, with high-heel blisters and a stomachache from too much coffee.

I’ve made it harder on myself, too.  My boyfriend and I are transplants from DC, where monthly rent on a parking spot can cost nearly as much as a new iPhone.  So we moved to LA sans car, and have spent every free moment reading about car-buying, role-playing car salesman scenarios, and writing off $$ every day to the rent-a-car company. (Note to future Andersonites: move to LA with a car if you can.)

Last week, we finally bought a car.  So this weekend, I finally relaxed.  Three glasses of wine in and I started to realize, for the first time, that I’m really here and doing this.  And I started talking.  

And talking.  

About how perfectly structured all those horrible quant classes are, so that each new piece of knowledge comes coupled with cases that perfectly illustrate exactly what you need those numbers for.  

And about how much better my resume is already, after just one meeting with a counselor at our Parker Career Management Center (CMC.)  

And about how thrilling it is to flip through The Economist and realize that not only are those fancy job ads targeted at ME (well, future me & fellow MBAs,) but the companies running them are coming to campus later this year, and the full force of Anderson is devoted to making sure I put my best foot forward when they do.

I talked for 30 minutes straight, which in introvert-years is nearly a lifetime.

I’m so excited to be here.  It can be easy to forget when you’re sleepy and sore-footed, but already I can see that Anderson will offer me everything I hoped it would when I decided to move west.  I'm excited to be here, and excited to share all my new experiences as a first-year with you.

I hope I still remember to be excited tomorrow, when three 6:20am alarms and a red bull wake me up for class.

--Tara Egan

A Warm Summer Day in Anaheim

Many people assume that I want to be in the sports business because I'm an obsessive sports fan that never made it as an athlete.  That's not entirely accurate: I definitely am an obsessive sports fan that never made it as an athlete, but I'm not trying to be in sports to recreate a dream that never happened.

What appeals to me about the industry is the connection with fans on an imperceptible level, a bond that unites us with a bunch of strangers who toil for an impersonal company we have no direct connection to.  Sports is one of the few markets where the end consumer actually drives the business.

We at the Sports Business Association got to see this first-hand last week when our colleagues from USC Marshall invited us to a behind-the-scenes day with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.  We started with a tour of Angel Stadium by Clyde Wright, who pitched for over 10 seasons in the big leagues, primarily in Anaheim.  You could tell by his enthusiasm that Clyde had that he loved the ballpark and being a representative of the team - both on and off the field. 

Then, we spent an hour with team president Dennis Kuhl, who gave us his insights on the club, the business, baseball, and the industry.  Most interesting to me was his dedication to every detail of the fan experience.  He wanted his stadium to be the cleanest in the majors - and by my count, it was impeccable. One of his objectives was to build the brand of the club behind three logos: the name "ANGELS", the large "A" logo, and the colour red.  Every employee was dressed in all three on them in some capacity.

We wrapped up the session with Mr. Kuhl, then headed into the main part of the stadium for some Tennessee BBQ at Clyde's, which was named after our erstwhile tour guide.  Finally, we soaked in the fruit of the hard work put in by Mr. Kuhl, Mr. Wright, and the Angels organization: a big crowd out to see the Angels take on Oakland, a midweek game between two teams already out of contention.  The lower bowl was full, the upper deck was 40-50% there.  

That's what it is all about.

-- Sreesha

 

Diversity - in many ways

When we think of "diversity", we typically think of what I would call demographic diversity: race, age, gender, nationality, religion, etc.  However, during my summer internship at Harrah's, I had the chance to be a part of a diversity training program, where I learned that there are over 50 ways to measure diversity.

(Yes, I know I said this last year.  But last year I just wanted an excuse to make fun of my fellow blogeteers John Park and Matt Kerbel being fans of the Toronto Major Laughs Maple Leafs.  This time I actually have more to say.)

Applying that logic, here are a few different ways that you could measure the diversity here at UCLA Anderson:

* Career Aspirations: One of the reasons I decided to come to UCLA was that while there are healthy contingents of people looking for careers in finance or consulting, these two fields represent a much smaller portion of the total UCLA Anderson population than they do in other schools.  Nothing during my time here has dissuaded me of this opinion.  There are many other career aspirations on campus, including sports, entertainment, healthcare, non-profit, and education. 

* Entrepreneurship. I had heard a lot about UCLA Anderson's commitment to entrepreneurship, but I never appreciated that until i came here.  Many of my classmates are actively looking to start new businesses after graduation, and the school encourages and actively supports these endeavors -- as evidenced by the projects that came to fruition during the summer and in our second year. 

For example, one of my classmates has been working on edilex, a company offering professional grade business contract templates to legal professionals and business people over the web -- check it out at www.edilex.com.

* Previous work history: in my section last year, there were many different career backgrounds.  The usual pre-MBA careers of finance and consulting were present, but so were military (not just US), entertainment (including a feature film producer!), non-profit, healthcare, and energy, plus two Mormon missionaries and a published author.  And that was just within my 72-person section.

* Sport Activities: My regular readers will be forgiven for thinking that all we do here is drink, watch sports, play poker, and get into political debates.  I can't imagine a sport that isn't represented from both the fan and the spectator perspective.  And from those in the 1st year class I've met so far, that now includes cricket!

* * * * * * * * *

* Yeah, I'm a little annoyed at my Steelers, who managed to terrify Tampa Bay, 38-13 last week. See, I'm annoyed because we have so many holes to fill - offensive line being the most glaring - that we need a year off, get a high spot in the draft, and rebuild.  This year seemed like a good year to do that -- no Ben, no Santonio, difficult off-season.  Instead, after beating three teams we should have beaten, we're talking about making the playoffs and I can just see that 7-9 train wreck coming.  Of course if we make the playoffs, then I'll be happy to admit I was wrong.

* Great move by the NHL to get HBO involved in the Winter Classic with its behind-the-scenes documentary of the Capitals and Penguins up to the Winter Classic.  The best part is that the NHL series is being covered by broader entertainment media, such as the Hollywood Reporter - this shows that the NHL can build on the momentum of last season, arguably the best NHL season since 1994 (the Capitals' own demise against Montreal notwithstanding).

* I've seen Chicharito's goal in Valencia several times now.  What a brilliant strike!  But I still don't understand why Macheda didn't just have a shot himself!  Macheda has a lethal strike himself, surely he would have put that in.  I complain only because of United's woeful finishing this season and last.  Macheda has either lost his shooting instinct, or has gained an unworldly sense of vision. 

-- Sreesha