Happy Thanksgiving! I hope everyone had a wonderful day spent with family and friends. I know for us students, it was a welcome day off from studying as we approach finals. There are only two weeks left in the now-infamous first quarter of b-school (I say “now”—I think it was always infamous, I just didn’t really understand until I lived through it myself!), and I will admit to being incredibly ready for the holiday! That said, business school so far has been an amazing experience that I wouldn’t trade for anything. And one quarter into it, I can also safely say that I wouldn’t trade UCLA Anderson for any other business school either.
Another satisfied student votes Anderson!
It’s a tough question- there are many amazing business schools to choose from, how do you know which one is best for you? Complicating things is when you get your heart set on a school and for whatever reason are not able to attend (and by whatever reason, I mean you don’t get in). I've been blogging on this site for awhile, and with luck I've built up a bit of street cred amongst our readers. So I hope you'll trust me when I say that I encourage you to consider UCLA Anderson as seriously as you would any other school, and I include the Top 3 in that as well. Why? Where do I begin…
1) The quality of people. Every day, every hour, I am amazed, surprised, and delighted by the sheer intellect, ambition, savvy, wisdom, goal-orientation, creativity, and overall high caliber of each of my fellow students, first and second year alike. This is truly a top notch institution to have attracted such amazing talent. There is no doubt in my mind that many people I walk the halls of Anderson with today are going to be tomorrow’s Fortune 50 CEO’s, start-up darlings, and revolutionaries in the non-profit space. It's just an added bonus that everyone is also friendly & helpful, normal (loosely defined), and quite often, hilarious. (At least in Section B, the most awesome section there ever was.)
What was that about “quality of people”??
3) Fabulous Los Angeles! I am truly head-over-heels in love with this city. From the amazing weather, to the beach with beautiful piers dotting the Pacific Ocean, to fun open-air Santa Monica, to the great restaurants in West LA and Beverly Hills, to the hikes in the canyons minutes from UCLA campus, to the melting pot culture of the city and all the delicious food that results… It’s hard to argue there is any better city to live.
Yes, there are seasons in LA. They are just milder and SUNNIER. A fall tree on the Anderson campus.
Just the other day we went to a foodcourt inside a Japanese supermarket and ate the most delicious, authentic ramen I have ever had for $7/bowl.
BYO Tofu
You may be thinking to yourself, “Oh I could get that in New York.” Do you know what else you can get in New York? Cold snowy slush inside your boot one minute after leaving your apartment for a long day of work because you stepped in a puddle of melted snow that was deeper than you thought! (Not that this happened to me personally, of course.) (And I really do love New York.)
The list truly goes on but I think one of the driving ideas behind a "blog" is to keep it short and sweet. I hope I was able to convey at least some of the huge satisfaction I feel at UCLA Anderson. My wish for any prospective students reading this is that wherever you end up, you are as happy as I am here!
-Charlotte Baxter
Follow me on Twitter: @CharlotteK
