The MBA Student Voice

Silicon Beach

Ah, the b-school application journey... where to begin? As I explored business schools and weighed the merits of each program, location was a huge factor in my decision of where to apply. As I mentioned in my intro blog, I'm from Hawaii, but have been living and working in Washington, DC for the last four years. Based on my past experience, personal preference, & my future goals of switching careers and joining the tech industry, I came up with three simple qualifications for each school location:

1) in/close to a city

2) significant tech industry presence nearby

3) no harsh winters (I'm not a fan of the words "polar vortex")

My short list included Stanford GSB, UC Berkeley Haas, and UT Austin McCombs. Soon after I started to think about business school, I was tasked with organizing a business roundtable series for Business Forward, the organization I worked for. Each meeting brought together 20-30 key business leaders from a specific city and 6-8 senior Obama Administration officials. Each group met at the White House to discuss a range of topics critical to creating jobs and promoting economic competitiveness in their respective cities. It was when I began to put the group together from Los Angeles that I first heard the term, "Silicon Beach." (No, not the plastic surgery kind of silicon... the Silicon Valley kind of silicon.) Foolishly, I had always assumed that LA was mainly entertainment and tourism. However, as I sat in that meeting, I realized that LA is full of social disrupters, entrepreneurs, tech gurus, and mega tech investors. I learned that Los Angeles is quickly becoming a tech start-up hub that fosters innovation. Many of the largest tech companies have a presence there. By the end of the meeting, I was hooked. LA easily met all of my location criteria. Turns out that you don't have to go to northern California to have your silicon cake and eat it too.

Felicia Escobar, Senior Policy Advisor, Domestic Policy Council, White House, discusses H-1B visas and immigration reform with a Silicon Beach tech entrepreneur.

Silicon Beach business leaders meet with White House officials.

 

Apartment Hunting in LA

This week I wanted to share my experience from finding an apartment in LA. A lot of incoming students are looking for a place and I hope some of my insights will be helpful. It started over two weeks ago when I called a few places from Craigslist and pretty much everyone told me to call them back closer to the move in date. I needed a place starting Aug 1^st so booked my flight to LA for 3 days to look for a place around the end of June.

I flew in on a Sunday but did not get to utilize much of that day to look at places since most leasing offices are closed on the weekends (note to out-of-towners), but I did get to pick and order my glasses from Warby Parker (shout out to LA for having a physical store). Before I flew in I setup a few appointments for apartment viewing for Monday and Tuesday through Craigslist and Zillow. I started off near campus checking out the places in Westwood. Out of the 7 or so places I visited, I only liked one. So in the afternoon I drove through every single street between Wilshire Blvd and Sunset Blvd in Brentwood, calling the numbers in front of the buildings. I was able to check out a few places but unfortunately they were all outside of my 1 bedroom price range. This was turning out to be a harrowing experience, what I was prepared to pay mentally was not matching with the kind of place I wanted to rent.

From Middle East to West Coast

"California! Here we come!" Phantom Planet - California

I can’t remember how many times I have played this song since receiving my admission offer. I am truly ecstatic to join the Anderson family as a MBA 2016 candidate and as a student blogger.

Hello everyone. Before I begin sharing about my transition from Middle East to Los Angeles, I would like to introduce myself in this post. My name is Piyush and I am originally from India. The literal meaning of my name in Hindi language is elixir of immortality. Although I am aging too, I can share some tips to live longer.

I was born in a small town in north India called Karnal, which is also home to late Kalpana Chawla, first Indian-American astronaut and first Indian woman in space. I was only one week old before I started moving because of my father's job. I’ve ventured around the world and called seven cities across five countries my home. I’ve shared rooms with students belonging to over 15 different nationalities during my university days in London. I mainly grew up in Gulf countries, which includes UAE, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain. Saudi Arabia is the only country missing on my list since my parents choose not to move there because of strict Islamic laws. I am now living in Bahrain and have seen the current Middle Eastern crisis unfold in front of my eyes.

Professionally, I am a biotech graduate with experiences in cluster development, retail, e-commerce, and oil & gas. At Anderson, I would like to explore opportunities in consulting and pharma/biotech. Outside of work, I am a big soccer fan and support local English club called Manchester City Football club (owned by UAE – that’s why affiliation). Fun for me, is spending time with friends, could be over sports or just about anything. I enjoy almost every competitive sport but personally like to play soccer and squash. 

Please send any comments, burning questions, Middle East opinions, video of great soccer goals and tips to live longer to [email protected]. You can also follow me on Twitter here

 Me with my brother

Fired Up & Ready to GO

Aloha Student Voice Readers! My name is Britney Sussman and I'll be moonlighting as an Anderson student blogger while I prepare to join the incoming full-time MBA Class of 2016 at UCLA Anderson this fall. I hope to share some stories, advice, bad jokes, and yet another Anderson perspective with you, but first a little background info:

For the last three years I worked for a business-policy non-profit in Washington, DC, called Business Forward. Its mission is to bring more business leaders into the policy-making process because Washington's lawmakers need to do a better job at listening to business and the business community needs to do a better job at helping Washington on tough votes. I served as the organization's Director of Corporate Member Services, working with over 50 of some of the largest companies in America (think Microsoft, Google, AT&T, Walmart, Target, Visa, Comcast, etc.), who underwrite Business Forward. Each corporate member makes it possible for thousands of business leaders across the country to get involved without having to pay anything. This experience at the nexus of business and policy gave me invaluable exposure to a wide range of policy issues. I became especially interested in workforce issues as I designed many roundtable discussions focused on diversity and inclusion, hiring the long-term unemployed, the skills gap, immigration, and healthcare. While dialog is important, I realized that I wanted to work for a company that moves beyond talk and takes bold action - more specifically in the tech sector, in strategic human capital management. Enter UCLA Anderson as the golden key to my career switch.

You may have noticed that I used the past tense in the previous paragraph about Business Forward (especially if you've been studying the verbal section of the GMAT). I recently left my position there to spend the summer before bschool traveling. I was born and raised on the small island of Kauai, HI, and due to island fever (yes, that's a real thing), I caught the travel bug early on. This summer's itinerary includes Thailand, Laos, Cambodia (I'm writing this from Phenom Penh), Indonesia, and Malaysia. Stay tuned for more from the road. A' hui hou!

 

One benefit of going back to business school - the opportunity to do some traveling beforehand.. Angkor WHAT?!