The MBA Student Voice

First Impressions of LA

Finally- the first blog post actually from Westwood! We arrived late Sunday night and spent this week getting settled in to our apartment (ie. building hordes of IKEA furniture). Here are some of my first impressions of LA: 

Anderson people KNOW their social media:

Before I came to LA, I thought I was hip to the tech scene because I used Google Drive. How foolish and naive of me! I can barely count all the different ways Anderson 2017 people communicate, socialize, and organize events with one another: GroupMe, Slack, WhatsApp, Facebook groups (probably missing a couple other platforms here). Section assignments and fall class schedules were released late this afternoon via email and within seconds the Anderson 2017 GroupMe was blowing up my phone with classmates announcing their sections and talking trash about the best section (clearly Section B- so step off, Jordan Stone from Section E whoever you are). 

Take advantage of the days before orientation starts:

Before we continue any further, let me just say that I'm an introvert. I spent the majority of my undergrad freshman orientation week squirreled away in my dorm room with the shades drawn playing online poker. And not going to lie- I enjoyed it thoroughly.

But honestly, any academic on-campus experience is at its essence about the people you meet and the relationships you build. Not taking the time to get to know my neighbors, classmates, and hallmates really set me back a ton in me getting the full college experience, and I was determined not to repeat my mistakes this time around for business school. The days and weeks before Anderson orientation starts provide ample opportunity to get to know your classmates. I would hardly say I'm a social butterfly, but I'm planning on attending / have attended a social Anderson event each day since I finished setting up IKEA furniture:

- meeting up with a group of 6-7 Anderson people at Philly West for a beer Wednesday night

- spending today at Six Flags with a group of 15 classmates and significant others and then getting ramen on Sawtelle Boulevard. Thanks Angela for organizing such a great trip and to Sicong for driving! We all learned that Andry has the ultimate selfie stick (ask him when you meet him) and that Ean and Natasha know a thing or two about cross-continental road trips. Check out this group of photogenic characters to the right at the end of a long day of riding roller coasters (also happy birthday Lucia!):

- going hiking at Sandstone Peak for an Anderson pre-orientation day trip on Saturday

- heading to Qs on Wilshere Saturday night for a meet-and-greet with more Anderson 2017 people

Indeed, if there's one thing you learn as a teacher (or any professional job for that matter), it's that a vast amount of your effectiveness as a professional depends on your ability to make and sustain meaningful relationships with the network of people around you.

The middle of America is absolutely underrated: 

We traveled through Nebraska, Iowa, and Utah on the way to California, and all three states feature breathtaking landscapes and the nicest people you will ever meet:

Looking at Ghost Rock at a rest stop in Utah. I mean seriously, this is the view from a rest stop. Imagine what it's like in a national park!

A rain shower and partial dust storm in Nebraska.

LA drivers are just as crazy as their NYC and Massachusetts counterparts:

Only with less honking. But with an equal disdain for turn signals- there, I said it.

The Perks of Being in LA

Classes started last Thursday, and I am not sure about my classmates, but I feel like I am drinking out of a fire hose.  Stats, Econ, Accounting, Marketing, ACT Groups, Parker, clubs, Amazon Case Competition... WO.  Even though it has been a little stressful, it's been a great week!  Outside of class, on Monday, Google came and did their company presentation, it was pretty exciting.  To follow that up, Amazon was here on Tuesday.  

Later that night, after the Amazon presentation, just a couple miles away from campus, Google's Executive Chairman and former CEO, Eric Schmidt, and former Senior Vice President of Products at Google, Jonathan Rosenberg (currently serving as an advisor to Google CEO Larry Page), spoke to a small group of about 200 people.  A few of my fellow Anderson classmates and I were lucky enough to have the opportunity to attend and listen to them speak.

It was a fantastic experience!  They gave the audience a pretty unique prespective of Google, and also some great general leadership insights as well.  One of the things that stood out to me most was when Eric Schmidt spoke about "thinking 10X."  To quote from Eric and Jonathan's book, How Google Works,

"Too many people are stuck in the old, limited mindset... 'Think 10X' – helps fix that.  It encompasses the art of the possible... and the impossible."

"The obvious benefit of thinking big is that it gives smart creatives much more freedom.  It removes constraints and spurs creativity.  Astro Teller, the head of Google[x], notes that if you want to create a car that gets 10 percent better mileage, you just have to tweak the current design, but if you want to get one that gets five hundred miles per gallon, you need to start over.  Just the thought process - How would I start over? - can spur ideas that were previously not considered."  

This was just one of the many golden nuggets of wisdom Eric and Jonathan shared.  It was very inspring.  There aren't many other cities where you would have the opportunity to be less than 30 feet away from and get to hear such influential business leaders.  Definitely one of the many perks of being in LA.  You can check out the interview in its entirety here.

- James Huntington, MBA '16

Follow me on Twitter @jhuntington14 and UCLA Anderson @UCLAMBA

Update from Los Angeles

Things are starting to pick up speed here in Los Angeles. (No, I am not referring to the traffic conditions..) A bunch of students have been moving in and settling down over the past few weeks, so let me share with you some quick updates on some of the local action as things start to heat up!

Over the summer, the Parker Career Management Center does a great job getting incoming students toned, ripped, and into shape for the Fall. In addition to introspective self assessments that would make Warren Buffett second-guess his career choice, 360 degree feedback that would make Shaun White's head spin, information interviews with a thoroughness rivaling that of Bob Woodward, career industry and function research exercises, resume writing guidance with more action-bullets than Grand Theft Auto V, and technical skill building, there's room for some fun preparation too! The Summer Mixer Series hosted by the Anderson staff and Student Clubs is one example.

Dean Judy Olian speaking at the Summer Mixer event at Shutters on the Beach

The End of Two Years, The Beginning of a Lifetime

A little over six weeks ago, I graduated. Almost two years ago to the day, I moved to Los Angeles. 

Wow. 

I felt prepared for business school before I had started - I'd been given advice by recent grads, read blog posts, done some prep work, but there is nothing that can truly prepare you for the transformative experience that takes place over two years. Even by the end of year one, when I thought "Ok, now I know what to expect in year two", I didn't appreciate how much could be packed into the remaining 50% of my time at Anderson. 

Now that I've had a chance to step away from school and decompress a little bit, I wanted to write one final post to share some lessons learned and thoughts, along with a good collection of photos from my Anderson journey. The thoughts are in no particular order of importance, but the pictures start from pre-Anderson and end at graduation.

Enjoy!

Pre-MBA / Starting MBA advice

(Statue of John Anderson at the entrance to school)

If you are considering applying to business school or have already applied, you've probably spent a lot of time thinking about what getting an MBA means in the context of your career. Yes, an MBA is a means by which you can career switch or advance further in your current field, but a full-time MBA is also a two year experience that has a significant personal life impact. 

Arrived in LA!

Hello again! There are so many things to share since my last post, so let me start with the biggest update: I made the cross-continental leap from East Coast to West Coast and will be posting from Los Angeles from here on!

The move went pretty smoothly, but it's not quite complete... Most of our stuff is actually in storage in NY and will follow us here once we move into a permanent apartment in early August. Our cars arrived here separately via truck, in one piece! (The various minor bumps/scratches accumulated from tight, NYC parallel parking "squeezes" are still there - right where we left them!) For now, we are staying at Ruti's parents' place in Central LA. (Because Ruti's parents live here, we decided to do apartment-hunting post-move. More on the apartment question in a bit...)

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.

Another year over, a new one has begun...

I know this is a few weeks late to qualify as a new year post but hey, I go by the Chinese New Year so technically I'm a few days early yet! ;)

Seriously, can you believe it is the year 2014?! It just sounds so futuristic to me... I didn't think it was possible but fall quarter second year went by even faster than it did first year. Looking back I realize I was a pretty big slacker on the blogging front so here's a quick photo recap of the last few months:

AnderCanadian Thanksgiving brunch with bottomless mimosas at Le Soleil Westwood

Earned the MB, working on the A. 2/3 of grad school complete!

First off, I have to credit the incredible Fran Benjamin, the MCA President for the tag-line of this blog post. 

As I sit here during my last school-related winter break and enjoy some quality holiday time with family and friends, I began reflecting on one of my favorite parts of my Anderson experience to date - all of the teams I've had a chance to join. 

Over the past four quarters, I've been placed on teams, created teams, and applied to join teams. At Anderson, teamwork is emphasized as part of the academic and student life experience. It's truly one of the best ways you can learn about yourself and get challenged to grow as a person and a professional. 

Below is a sampling of some of the amazing teams I've had a privilege to be on over the course of my experience to date: 

Orientation for the Class of 2015

The Orientation Board (as the team is called) was formed towards the end of my first year at Anderson. The team was formed in two steps. First, the Orientation Co-Directors interview with the Co-Directors from the prior year. I was fortunate enough to fill that role with the lovely Shweta Kapoor this year. 

Second, Shweta and I had to interview our classmates who were interested in participating in orientation and, along with input from Student Affairs, identify 10 section leaders (two for each of the five sections) and event co-directors (responsible for orientation's social activities). 

Here's a photo of our team at the beginning of orientation, and then dressed up for the end of orientation party. 

Guest Post - UCLA Anderson Wine Club

Just in time for the holiday season, today's guest post comes to us from Emily Scadden, MBA '14 and member of UCLA Anderson's highly popular Wine Club.  The group's mission is to educate members about all things wine-related, for both personal and professional development.  

Standing in front of a label-free bottle of Bordeaux, I think to myself, “It’s go-time.” I give my glass another tilt and let the smooth red swirl from the tip of my tongue to the back of my throat. After two failed attempts to discern the main characteristics of this lovely blend, I’m determined to redeem myself in this blind Bordeaux tasting. I’m confident it’s a medium-bodied wine, with a vintage between 2008-2012. But as for dominant varietal and flavor, clearly the complexity of the wine is getting the best of me.

Hmm, what can it be?

I faced this challenged to my palette at the Bordeaux Matchmaking event at Monsieur Marcel in Beverly Hills last night. The event brought together more than 200 wine enthusiasts from UCLA Anderson School of Management and USC Marshall School of Business. And with more than 20 wines from Bordeaux being poured, the region showed off the diversity and complexity of its offerings.

As the grand-père of the blend, Bordeaux reds take their flavor mainly from cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, merlot, and malbec grapes. The whites from sauvignon blanc and semillon. After answering a survey of my tastes and preferences before the event, I was matched with a flight of whites from Bordeaux including a Chateau de Caulet, Lys de Cournillot, Chateau Marac, and Monsieur Marcel, Entre-Deux-Mers. Nearly a dozen custom-designed flights satisfied the tastes of the other revelers.

The mystery pour that had stumped me? Turned out to be Chateau Peylaby, Medoc, an earthy, medium-bodied, 2010 dominated by cabernet sauvignon grapes. Good thing you don’t have to be a sommelier to appreciate a great glass of Bordeaux. All it requires is good company and a taste for adventure.

To learn more about the Wine Club, check out this Daily Bruin article and head over to their website!

Life as a 2nd Year

It's official - now I understand why I didn't see that many posts from 2nd year students on this blog last year. Upon returning from summer, 2nd years have been doing any number of the following things: 

- Taking a full load of electives for the first time

- Working on their Applied Management Research (AMR), Business Creation Option (BCO), or a special project that in effect serves as a master's thesis

- Diving back into the recruiting cycle

- Maximizing what could be their last year in Los Angeles by hiking, going to the beach, or enjoying the wide variety of multi-cultural options available in the city

Given how quickly a schedule can fill up, it's extremely easy to look down one minute... and look up the next and realize the quarter is almost over!

I'm going to focus on two aspects of the fall quarter so far - my AMR project and the additional schedule freedom you have as a 2nd year to take advantage of Los Angeles. 

Applied Management Research Project

As a quick overview, AMR is a requirement for 2nd year students. As mentioned above, there are 3 options for students to fulfill the requirement. They can choose Business Creation Option and help start a business; they can choose a special project (lots of options exist here); or they can go the route that the majority of students do, and participate in the AMR Field Study. For more info about AMR in general, check out the AMR website. 

My team is doing the AMR Field Study option. 

Here's everyone! From left to right, our team consists of Bo Pulito, Lindsay Todd, Devin Scott, Briana Kelly, and myself.