It looks like Piyush and I are either on the same wavelength. That or we are both incoming students excited about Anderson! Anyway, let me get started. After the long grueling b-school application/interview process, I was fortunate enough to have been accepted to a few of the top schools in the country, including Anderson. Having poured almost every ounce of my energy over the past two yar into the GMAT, applications, essays, and interview prep, I felt so relieved to know that I would be attending b-school at one of my top choices. However, I didn’t realize how much effort it would take to decide which one of these school I wanted to attend.
Once I had heard back from all the programs I applied to, I revisted all the research I had done when deciding to apply to these schools. I made pros and cons lists, read more blogs, visited websites, and spent countless hours discussing my options with my wife. I was torn. One day I would feel good about one school. Then the next day it would be another. I knew I needed a better understanding of what life as a student would be like at each one of these programs, and I knew I wouldn't be able to get a complete feel of that just by visiting school websites. I began contacting as many current students as I could. After talking to a couple students from each school, I was still feeling torn. However, as time went on, and the more students I talked to, the clearer it became that Anderson was the place for me.
One of the first thing that impressed me about Anderson was, out of all the schools I had been researching over the past two years, Anderson was the only school where 100 percent of the students I reached out to came back to me. I could feel the excitement everyone of them had for Anderson. They were welcoming, down to earth, friendly, and extremely helpful. Many of them gave me tips on what I could do as an incoming student to hit the ground running. They got me excited about the program. They helped me figure out useful pre-MBA prep classes, housing, schooling for my kids, etc. One student even offered me a place to stay while I looked for housing myself. In the end, I knew that through Anderson I would be able to reach my professional and academic goals. I knew that I would be able to build a strong network in the area I wanted to be post-MBA. There were many other factors that went into my decision as well, but it was the students that made my decision to attend Anderson an easy one. Thanks Kate, Zak, Ryan, Edward, Colby, Tyler, Nick, and the many others that endured my endless emails and phone calls! You guys are great!
- James Huntington, MBA '16
Follow me on Twitter @jhuntington14 and UCLA Anderson @UCLAMBA
