This week I realized that the first year of MBA is done. Yes, I still have a couple of take-home exams to submit by Wednesday, but the mood is already in the summer mode and the time has come to make conclusions about first year experiences and set the goals for the next year.
In the past couple of months I have met a lot of people thinking about getting an MBA or who were admitted to UCLA Anderson and the most common question I hear is "why did you choose UCLA Anderson" and what were your experiences like?". You can read my reasons to choose the school in my last year post. In terms of the experiences, this year has been awesome and I can't be happier to have chosen UCLA Anderson a year ago and further I will tell you why.
- School name is a very good brand. Whenever I mention I am attending UCLA Anderson, people say it is very good school with strong reputation and community. A lot of companies have very strong relationships with Parker Career Management Center and they hire a lot of Anderson folks. Alumni network is also very strong and supportive: whenever I had any queries about the job in a company, I could always reach out to alums and ask for an informational interview - even top level managers could always find the time for me.
- Community at school is super supportive. Should I have any issue with not understanding a concept in class or personal issue like getting to another part of the city without a car, my classmates are always ready to give a helping hand. It is also true for people several years out of school - I got the mentor from Women Business Connection Club and she has been very helpful to me in terms of advice on my career search and she helped me to get ready for the interviews for my summer internship. This kind of relationship is very valuable and clearly demonstrates the community at school.
- Career services. We all come to school to ultimately find a job or start your own business. This year has been very stressful in terms of the career search but Parker CMC has been my point of contact, my family, my psycological center, my decision-making place and advice center. I am looking forward to helping Parker CMC with the newly admitted class of 2016 in their career search.
- Location. Honestly I don't go to the beach very often but being 1 year in a wonderful climate helped a lot. I became more healthy in terms of food I eat and amount of exercise I do, I have seen a lot in the city and fell in love with it, so I will be interning here in the summer as well.
When someone asked me what I didn't like at UCLA Anderson, I could not come up with something on the spot, but now I know what it is - I don't like that the time here flies by so quickly.
XOXO,
Alena
