"How did you decide which business school to attend?" That is arguably the #1 question I get asked as a current Anderson student. I tend to offer a smile with the answer I share because I know there really is no succinct way to explain all of why Anderson was the right choice for me. That said, when deciding between schools I remember my gut telling me I needed to surround myself with the people at Anderson. The students simply over-delivered on all the qualities I was looking for from my MBA peer group; off the charts intelligence, inspiring work ethics, diverse & accomplished backgrounds, highly personable, grand ambitions, compassionate, and risk-taking.
But talk is cheap. To illustrate why I'm so smitten with my classmates, I asked them to contribute to this story. And in true Anderson fashion they took time out of their intense internship schedules to share these special moments from their Anderson experience.
Question: "How have your Anderson classmates supported you in making an impact or be a more meaningful team member during your internship?"
"I wanted to do strategy and operations work at a startup this summer and was fortunate to land a spot at a cool LA startup, Club W, a wine eCommerce retailer. While my position doesn’t require a sommelier's knowledge of wine, fellow intern, Brooke Matthias, is always available to lend her expertise. Not only does she have an answer for all my wine inquiries, it’s nice to have a friendly face around the small office!" - Kit Swain, Operations Intern, Club W
"I was completely overwhelmed in my first week. My project required Excel skills that were above and beyond anything I was familiar with. I asked for help on our Anderson SF FB page and received over 20 responses from classmates offering to help. Nick Evans spent an hour with me after work giving me a lesson in excel formulas and Alexis Lobodocky offered a midday phone call to help me troubleshoot. It made me so proud and happy to be part of such a supportive community!" - Margot Bloch, Corporate Restaurants & Bars MBA Intern, Commune Hotels & Resorts
"It's been so wonderful having Jenni Yamamoto here at Nike with me! We have really helped one another to navigate and maximize the Nike internship experience. It's also been amzing to explore Portland with the Adidas interns Jacqueline Gantes, Matt Ferrer, and Joel Ramirez. We have created a fun and supportive Anderson Portlandia intern family!" - Lindsay Shaffer, Global Consumer Knowledge Intern, Nike
"I'm not necessarily one to reach out and search for help, even when I desperately need it (often.) Even so, whenever I spoke to one of my classmates during the first several weeks of my internship, they were convincingly quick to thoroughly dismiss any concerns of failure or inadequacy I had and replace them with pointed pieces of feedback full of unwavering encouragement. The belief they displayed in me was both humbling and invigorating. And is definitely going to lead to a $1,000,000 signing bonus." - Dan Brown, Client Development Consultant Intern, Gallup
"The Anderson Veterans Association provides a platform in which veterans, who share a deep sense of camaraderie and patriotic responsibility, can impart the knowledge we have acquired through extensive leadership experience to our civilian classmates. In turn, our classmates exhibit a profound degree of willingness to help the student veteran community with business concepts we may be less familiar with." - Brendan Hancock, Strategic Sourcing & Procurement Intern, The Walt Disney Company
“The capstone project that I received during my summer internship is closely related to an elective course that I took winter quarter at Anderson. Unfortunately, I did not save any of the class materials that I needed to refererence for this project. I reached out to Arek Santikian and Micah Davis, and within a few hours, they searched their archived files and sent me all of our relevant class notes along with their offer to help me if I had any questions. I can say with great confidence that we all care about each other’s success and I think that speaks very highly of the Anderson community.” - Annette Cheyne, Marketing Strategy & Analytics Intern, Nordstrom
"The Anderson family has been amazing this Summer. From offering the occasional (but sometimes much needed) moral boost, to reviewing each others' projects, I feel extremely lucky to be a part of such a supportive family. One week into my internship I reached out to a classmate for guidance on how to best present a report to my manager. I only expected a short response back but instead he went above and beyond, providing me with examples and showing me how to best approach what I was doing. Also, we are currently submitting our materials for conversion to full employment. My fellow Anderson interns at Google offered to review each others' materials before submitting. It's nice to know that we are a cohort that focuses on shared success!" Suzy Crawford, Large Customer Sales - Gaming, Google, Inc.
I'd love to hear your questions and comments regarding UCLA Anderson. Check back in soon for more from me throughout the summer! Cheers!
You can follow Zubin at
Twitter: @ZubinDavar
Instagram: @mr_zubs
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zubindavar
