The MBA Student Voice

17000 miles worth of goodbyes...and hellos!

I am finally home. After nearly 2 months worth of travelling, hellos and goodbyes, and new beginnings, I am back to square one writing my first blog post and waiting for the next big leap over the pacific.

I am Arindam Das; a Class of 2017 MBA Candidate at UCLA Anderson School of Management from India. I had been working with a steel giant in the country for 4 years until I decided to pursue ‘the experience’. I have been in touch with a number of fellow Bruins and am so looking forward to meeting everyone that my eyes might just pop out like The Mask. But, jokes apart, it has been a nice experience knowing the fellow admits already and I cannot wait to meet the others.

MBA certainly is not a walk in the park...the months leading up to it aren't either. I am just listing a few things I have been up to:

1. Getting the Visa: Starting from streamlining the funding for MBA, waiting for i20 to interviewing etc. I am pretty sure I lost a few pounds until I had my Visa in my hands.

But wait there’s more...

2. Going through the accommodation options: The debate of university housing vs off-campus living went on for ages until I gave up and opted for university housing. The rooms are allotted according to lottery results, (and I did not get through in the first round.OUCH!), and then you start looking for room-mates. If you are too lazy to find one, UCLA matches room-mates randomly. I will share my 2/2 apartment with an Economics PhD candidate. How ‘bout that!!!

3. Facing the family: If you have any idea about Indian families you would know about the Bollywood-style emotional stockpile any parent possesses. No actually they are like the Zeus waiting to use his ultimate weapon. I am pretty sure the time has come when my family will say...

Meet Your Classmates (Part II)

The next member of the Class of 2017 is a former management consultant from Australia looking- like many incoming students at Anderson- to make a slight career transition and to get back in touch with his inner tech side during business school. The man also takes some tremendous selfies, as you'll see below.

 

Name: Ankit Pandey

Hometown: Melbourne, Australia

 

Prior to Anderson:

I was a management consultant at Ernst & Young, within the Supply Chain & Operations practice. My projects and clients varied over my 4 years in the practice, giving me the opportunity to work across the following industries: financial services, mining & metal, telecommunications, consumer goods, construction, government and not-for-profit.

 

Why Anderson:

A key influence in me applying for business school for this Fall was to move into an industry where I could get back in touch with my engineering education. As such, California was very attractive, with the Silicon Valley and a rapidly emerging technology base in LA.

 

Also, Anderson's reputation as a consistent Top 20 business school, a technology leader amongst business schools, and an institution with strong collaborative culture, made for a very strong case. Hence, when I received my offer call at 1:30am (won't be forgetting that anytime soon!) I was more than happy to accept.

 

What is one cool/interesting thing about yourself that others would not be able to tell upon first meeting you?

I'm Indian. Now, although my name may give this away, my 'fairish' skin colour, freckles, accent and red hair that has darkened over the years, usually throw off most new acquaintances. 

  

One thing I hope to accomplish by the end of my first year at Anderson:

Is to have competed in at least one case competition.

 

One piece of advice for prospective applicants:

Brace yourself for a cliché: "You have to be in it to win it." One should not let any self-doubt of whether their application will be strong enough to result in an offer influence whether they apply. 

Diversity @ Anderson

One of the main reasons I chose UCLA Anderson was the diversity of its student body. Anderson’s admissions committee truly does a great job in building a class filled with candidates with different professional backgrounds, life experiences, and interests. This helps to make our MBA journey a lot more enriching as we learn from one another. In this post I wanted to introduce three of my future classmates to give you an inside look into what the Class of 2017 has to offer.

Iacopo Giuliani, Italy

I worked for almost five years at Commerzbank in London. I was a member of the EM Structured Credit Trading team as an EM Repo trader. My job was to price and structure financing deals with various counterparties across the globe. After I resigned, I embarked on an adventurous and extremely rewarding two-month travel that started in LA with A-days and ended up in Peru. I travelled throughout Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Colombia and Peru. The highlight was a 4-day trek that brought to me to the incredible Machu Picchu. Apart from the amazing things I saw, the best and most enriching experiences were meeting fellow travelers and locals and learning about their different values and thoughts.

Across the Narrow [Pacific Ocean]

Hello, world and hey, MBA Student Voice readers! My name is Kathleen Uson and I'm thrilled to be part of the new batch of Anderson student bloggers for the Class of 2017. I was born and raised in Manila where I graduated with a B.A. degree in Organizational Communication from the University of the Philippines. For the past 5 years, I devoted my career to the advertising industry in which I specialized in integrated media strategy and negotiation for multinational clients ranging from CPGs to banks.

In less than two months, I will fly over 7,000 miles to the other end of the Pacific Rim. I'm staring at the 3 suitcases and 1 backpack where I'll be stuffing 25 years of my life in as I type this. (Really, sorting out 30+ pairs of flipflops has never been so painful!) It'll also be my first time (gasp!) to finally visit UCLA in person. It's true that most MBA admissions tips strongly recommend visiting schools to gather info and assess campus culture before applying. I'd certainly encourage you to follow this if you have the time and resources to do so, but don’t feel discouraged if otherwise—more so if you live far away. There are a multitude of other sources you can tap (i.e. attending off-campus and online info sessions, reading blogs, and reaching out to student ambassadors) and still be able to exhibit your enthusiasm/resourcefulness to the admissions committee.

That said, joining this group is my way of paying it forward and sharing my international student perspective/overall Ander-love. I'll be on Instagram for the most part (visuals and microblogging are more of my thing!) but will also pitch in here from time to time.

So folks, without further ado, if you want [literal] snapshots of how student life is at UCLA Anderson, do follow @uclamba and check out #WhyAnderson on Instagram. We’ll have a bunch of great content out there in the next several weeks. So stay tuned and hope you have a good summer—or rainy season, in my part of the world—ahead!

And speaking of snapshots...

Capping off with my last pre-MBA summer in El Nido, Palawan. Here's to more beautiful sunny days in LA!

California, here I come!

March 8^th about 3pm in the afternoon, after reading that there was an admit wave on the “Calling all UCLA Anderson Applicants” thread on Beat the GMAT, I got the call. I was IN!

My name is Lucerna, and I am from Lima, Peru. I will be a full-time MBA student at UCLA Anderson and I am very thrilled to have the opportunity to share my story with all of you and, of course, to connect with you if you have any questions about my experience with the admissions process, relocating to LA from abroad, and about being a student at Anderson.

I graduated from the University of Missouri-St Louis with a degree in Business Administration, and have dedicated myself fully to marketing, brand management and sales ever since.

I am currently leading the marketing and sales department of the family business, a manufacturer and retailer of maternity clothing and baby accessories in Peru.  Managing these two departments made me realize that I was passionate about two aspects of my work: problem solving and human capital management. Therefore, at Anderson I will pursue a switch in careers and focus on Management, Human Capital Consulting, and Human Resources.

Anderson offers a great array of clubs to join. From a career standpoint, I will definitely be involved in the Management Consulting Association and the Strategy and Operations Management Association, and for some fun I am still undecided since there are a lot of options and they all sound great.

Above all, I am excited to meet all of my brilliant and incredibly helpful future classmates. The class of 2017 has been very active in setting up ways to connect with one another and to help each other through all sorts of topics: visa issues, housing, career, and more.  

Outside class, I plan to attend as many sporting events as I can and explore the city and state.

I hope you enjoy reading about my future adventures and please do not hesitate to connect with me via e-mail at [email protected] or you can follow me on twitter.

Lucerna

 

Ready to go back to the US and not have to suffer from extreme weather (Me in St. Louis)

It only took me 3 years to learn about Baseball, so now I am so ready to root for the Dodgers all the way! And hang out with my BFF Yasiel Puig

 and enjoy beautiful sunsets 

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Cambodia: A dark history with a bright future

I dedicated this summer, between quitting my job and starting business school, to expanding my global perspective. Five countries in two and a half months was Southeast Asia 101.  Luckily I’m just getting warmed up. I plan to continue my global education with the Anderson Center for Global Management, making global management one of my MBA specializations.

During this summer’s adventure, I took a special, personal interest in Cambodia. While it is rich in natural resources and now offers cheaper labor than China, the recent and horrific chapter of Khmer Rouge has created a distinct business environment, both economically and culturally.

On April 17, 1975, Pol Pot rode through the streets of Phnom Penh as the new dictator of Cambodia and leader of the Khmer Rouge, the Communist Party of Kampuchea. He was only in power for four years, but managed to kill one fourth of the country’s population, roughly 2 million people, in a societal experiment gone terribly wrong. I feel a unique connection to this genocide – my father's best friend in high school was one of only six Americans captured and killed by the Khmer Rouge during their reign. Chris Delance was a sailor in the wrong place at the wrong time off the coast of Cambodia in late 1978. He was taken to the infamous S-21 prison, tortured, and killed shortly before the Vietnamese liberation in 1979. 

When I arrived in Phnom Penh just over 39 years later, I had no idea what to expect from Cambodia. I found a vibrant country eager but struggling to offer a quality of life comparable to its Lao, Vietnamese, and Thai neighbors. To get a better sense of its economy and people, I had the priveledge to sit down with the U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of Cambodia, William Todd. We discussed economic opportunities and if Cambodia is ready for outside investment. The conclusion? Now is the time. There is too much instability and uncertainty for public companies to make large investments in Cambodia, but now is the time for entrepreneurs and private companies. Other places in Southeast Asia, like Singapore or Hong Kong, have extremely overinflated prices. Investment capital will go much farther in Cambodia because of the accessibility to inexpensive land and natural resources. However, investors should be prepared for a "rough and tumble" way of conducting business. Many deals are made off the books and paid with cash. 

We also discussed mobile technology (an industy I am passionate about) and how it is changing Cambodia. Since the government heavily regulates all national media, people now turn to the Internet for a more unbiased news source. Facebook and other social media in the palm of one's hand is becoming a powerful tool for organizing on both sides of the political spectrum.

I left Cambodia feeling hopeful. It is up to the future generation of global business leaders to help Cambodia develop in a sustainable and prosperous way. After gaining a solid global foundation from Anderson, I look forward to being part of that solution.

      

Left Photo: My dad on the left and Chris Delance on the right at a Long Beach, CA lifeguard stand in 1962.

Right Photo: S-21 photo of Chris Delance taken in 1978. (Documentation Center of Cambodia)

Below Photo: Ambassador William Todd and I at the U.S. Embassy in Cambodia.

 

Learning to Pace Myself - Post by Nikhil Punnoose

Posted on behalf of Nikhil Punnoose, who was unable to post from his mobile. 

 

Walking through beautiful St. Mark's Square in Venice, taking one last look at the magnificent sculptures and buildings, reflecting on the end of my wonderful month-long trip through Europe, and simultaneously looking through my mail and staggering at the incredible number of things I am supposed to finish even before orientation, one thought keeps running through my head: what have I gotten myself into for the next two years?

Alright, I exaggerated. For one thing, nobody can do all that at the same time. For another, this place (I am really writing this while waiting in a hour long line for St Mark's Basilica) is so chock full of tourists that if you don't pay attention you're bound to stumble into somebody (or get your pocket picked). Most of all, I feel confident that UCLA would not have admitted me if they didn't think I could handle it (you can't kick me out now, right? Right?).

 

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?!

Guest Post: Lessons Learned to Make the Most of your MBA Experience

With a little over one week left in my 5th quarter out of 6 at Anderson, I've begun getting a little nostalgic. When I look back at my first year and where I was prior to starting school, I'm amazed at the number of experiences I've been through and how much I've changed personally and professionally. 

I started thinking of lessons learned to share with prospective MBA students, but was saved by a classmate of mine, Nathan Adelman. 

He recently wrote the below 5 lessons learned for The Anderson Exchange, our student newspaper. 

Keep in mind that these lessons are Nate's view on how to maximize your MBA experience at Anderson, and thus might not all be applicable to those of you who are reading this for fun and might not attend our program. 

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As I approach the home stretch of my Anderson MBA, I have had some time to reflect on some of the most meaningful lessons that I have learned as both a student and as a Teaching Assistant.  I believe the following ideas apply to most Anderson students, regardless of your career track.  Here is my list of the top five things to help you make the most of your time at Anderson.