Ever since I got that admit call the only thing I was excited about was A-days! I had the pleasure of attending the Anderson admit day weekend aka A-days which was held on 4/24 as an optional event for all UCLA admits. The weekend is intended to give you a glimpse into what life at Anderson is like and I wanted to share my own A-day experience with everyone.
A little bit about myself first, my name is Nitesh Mehta and I will be one of your student bloggers for the summer of 2015. I came to the United states to pursue my undergrad and have been here ever since. I was working for a Fortune 200 company for the past six years and decided to quit that job to further my education and Anderson seemed like the next logical step. I felt that an MBA would not only equip me with essential business skills but also help me grow both on a personal and professional level.
The weekend started off with student hosted dinners where admits were invited into the homes of current students. My dinner was hosted by Jarrett Fein, Alex Glanz and Monica Bari who would be interning at Apple, Medallia and Mattel respectively in summer 2015. I was surprised to learn that companies such as Google would be on campus on Day 2 of classes! Talk about drinking from a firehose. If that wasn't enough students are expected to attend the Days on the job (DOJ) tours, do informational interviews, take out professors on dinners (which Anderson would pay for, sweet!) and meet CEO's via the Vistage program. Oh, and don't forget to get involved with clubs, perfect your case interview skills and attend classes. That last part might be important.
(ABOVE) Student hosted dinners with Jarrett Fein, Alex Glanz and Monica Bari
The second day was packed with even more information. I attended a session hosted by the Parker career management center (CMC) and they outlined the various career paths available to every student at Anderson. It was clear why Parker is rated #2 in satisfaction ratings. Multiple informational sessions with the various Anderson clubs followed. The informational with the Investment Finance Association (IFA) included a presentation by students involved in fields such as Investment banking, Investment management, Venture Capital, Private Equity and Corporate finance. The students also mentioned that they were about to start managing the Student Investment Fund (SIF) which would be transitioned over to them by second years. Managing a $2 million fund is a challenging proposition for any student.
Class of 2017 is the best class!
The final leg of the event was a faculty spotlight event on campus followed by a visit to the beautiful Santa Monica beach. As UCLA is located in the heart of LA a lot of students stay close to campus in the Westwood/Brentwood area but some transition to beautiful Santa Monica for the beach views.
I am super excited to be joining the Class of 2017 and A-days was the perfect opportunity for me to meet everyone I will be spending my next 21 months with.
