The MBA Student Voice

Guest Blog: Social Life at Anderson

Today's guest blog comes from David Wang, Section E social chair and my fellow section-mate. Read on to learn about his transformative experience at Anderson and his tips for how to make the most of the only two years you'll have at business school!

 

Name: David Wang

Hometown: Columbus, OH
Undergrad Institution: Cornell University
Pre-Business School: Cancer Research
Summer Internship: Product Manager at Renovate America (Clean Energy)
Post-Anderson (industry): Tech

Whenever I’m asked about business school, I always describe it as being more work but also way more fun than I expected. What you will quickly learn about the MBA experience is that it’s absolutely what you make of it. That is true not only for academics and recruiting, but also your social life. One of the biggest regrets I hear from graduates, and even students finishing up their first year is that they wish they invested more time into going out to social events and getting to know the people in their class.

As a natural introvert, I knew this would be a challenge, so I put myself in a position where I would be forced to mingle – I ran for section social chair. This turned out to be the single best decision of my Anderson career. Was it a lot of work? Yes. Was I obligated to turn up on many occasions when I’d rather be in bed watching Netflix? You bet. But looking back, the benefits far outweigh everything else. From happy hours, football tailgates, section dinners, skydiving, bubble soccer, fundraisers, to a mind-blowing Vegas weekend for graduating second years, I got a chance to meet virtually every other student in the program (my future network). This was also a great opportunity to work on my leadership, teamwork, planning, and organizing skills within a diverse and amazing class.

You don’t necessarily have to run for social chair to have an incredible time. Rather, realize that building relationships within the Anderson community is an integral part of the MBA experience. As each of you prepares to embark on this life-changing journey, I hope you make up your minds right now to say yes more often than no, and to prioritize your social life amidst a hectic schedule. It may turn out to be the best decision you make in business school.

Meet Your Classmates (Part I)

Sometimes, the best way to get to know your future classmates is to just ask them. This week, I messaged several other Anderson '17 classmates to briefly answer some questions about themselves, their goals, and why they chose to come to Anderson. I'm sure we're all excited to find out more about the people we'll spending time with, so without further ado, our first '17 classmate profile hails from Russia and (no big deal) just a casual polyglot looking to learn Spanish and surf...

Name: Petro K

Hometown: Moscow (for the last 8 years); I was born in Ukraine.

Prior to Anderson: I am (still employed!) a corporate finance senior manager at one of the largest Russian banks. My role and responsibilities from the financial advisory side include: financial restructuring (aligning debt repayments to company’s future cash flows), business valuation, financial modeling, due diligence and buy/sell side M&A (both debt and equity deals).

From a consulting point of view, my responsibilities are: advising C-level executives on immediate and long-term remedial actions (identification of bottlenecks, hidden internal resources and market opportunities) required for turning struggling companies around and proposing to the bank's top managers the best exit strategies. The most exciting part of my profession is that it brings me much sought after satisfaction and meaningfulness (sometimes I even feel like a doctor!). Prior to that I worked at Deloitte (Transaction Services) and PWC (Financial Advisory).

Why Anderson? I was most attracted by UCLA Anderson's three defining principles (Sharing Success, Thinking Fearlessly, and Driving Change) – this is exactly how I love to live my life. Anderson’s entrepreneurial spirit, very supportive culture, and nice weather are other reasons why I am really excited about my choice!

What is one cool/interesting thing about yourself that others would not be able to tell upon first meeting you? I am fluent in four languages: Ukrainian, Russian, Romanian and English. I have basic knowledge of German and upon arrival to LA will begin studying Spanish. So, I would love to connect with anyone speaking Spanish fluently who wants to learn one of the languages I speak fluently.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years? In 10 years I want to be an impactful entrepreneur in technology.

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

Professional goal: for my summer internship, I want to receive two job offers: one in tech and another one in consulting and manage to do both of them!

Personal goal: I want to learn to SURF– it’s really amazing to slide on the crest of a wave!

Cultural goal: I want to fully immerse myself and my family into American culture/life.

One piece of advice for prospective applicants: Do your own research: learn about both UCLA Anderson AND yourself (dig really deep). Build your network and speak to UCLA Anderson alumni and current students, and join the GMAT Club for help, advice, or latest rumors. 

MBA application tips for fast approaching deadlines

It is that time again – less than two months until the first MBA application of the year is due! Hopefully by now you are already knee deep in the application process, but if not don’t fret because some careful planning and committed execution can get you into the school of your dreams.

In this post I want to focus on three factors – the GMAT, application essays, and interview.

GMAT: If you have already taken the GMAT and scored in your school’s target range, then stop reading here and move to the next section because retaking it and getting those 10 extra points won’t give you near as much of an advantage as having carefully crafted, articulate essays. If you have yet to take the test, or achieve your target score, then you better rethink what you are doing this Friday night and set a library date with your study materials. My recommendation: select the Manhattan GMAT guides that correspond to your four weakest areas and master one a week for the next month. It is difficult to overstate the importance of the GMAT in the application process.

Essays: In my applications, the essays were by far the most challenging aspect. How could I package my life story into 750 words or fewer? The simple answer is I didn’t need to, and neither do you. What you do need to do is paint a picture for the admissions committee – provide them with a story or a tidbit that will force them to remember you and leave them no choice but to invite you for an interview to hear more. Who are you more likely to remember; the accountant who graduated with high honors and a 750 GMAT, or Caroline the girl who used her passion for accounting and education to help a Brazilian nonprofit locate $200K in misallocated funds that were reapportioned to help build a new school? Everyone has a story that makes them unique, find yours and use it.

The second part of my essay advice is something I wish I had done more of – show the schools that you know what makes them unique….and let me tell you the culture, curriculum, and great professors are not enough! Dig deeper and find something that the students are proud of and use specific examples. At UCLA, our orientation period is extremely important to develop the relationships that make our class so cohesive. And we are extremely serious when it comes to Challenge 4 Charity (which can be seen in our participation and sports day domination this year), so read up on specific topics that interest you and write about them.

Interviews: Once we get closer to releasing interview invitations I will do a separate post on interview tips, but for now my advice would be as soon as you click submit on that application, start practicing for your interviews. Develop a clear, concise story for every question you may be asked, and practice delivering them to friends, family, or the mirror because the interview is now the last hurdle standing between you and two of the best years of your life.

UCLA Anderson doesn't mess around at C4C!

Matt Harris

Class of 2015

Forte Women's MBA Conference 2014

Aside from Commencement, another exciting event that took place on campus in June was the annual Forte Women's MBA Conference. This was the second time UCLA Anderson hosted the conference (the first time was in 2012).  Among the hundreds of attendees from around the country was incoming UCLA Anderson Forte Fellow Sarah Wolf who shared some insights on the event below.  Read on to learn more!

EA Conference highlights

This post comes courtesy of the UCLA Anderson blog and was written by Asmi Shah, Class of 2014. 

The 2014 Entrepreneur Association Conference: The Evolving Entrepreneur is the best thing I’ve done at Anderson. Since October, I had been working with Kristina Bidovec (’14) and Bo Pulito (’14) to organize the event. This year, we created a partnership between the Entrepreneur Association (EA) and High Tech Business Association (HTBA) to expand the reach of the conference. Countless hours were spent brainstorming themes, new initiatives and of course – keynotes. We knew that keynotes pull a crowd and sell tickets, so there was a lot of pressure to get this right. Judging by the response last Friday, we indeed got it right: Sean Rad, Founder & CEO of Tinder, along with Anderson’s own Emily Taylor; Kelly Perdew, CEO of TargetClose; and Mohanjit Jolly, Partner & Managing Director at DFJ Venture.

Kristina, Bo and I also worked with a group of 25 students to organize panels and content, obtain sponsors, market the event and run operations.  It was a lot of work, but I was inspired by the passion and energy our team brought.  We were the managers  — thinking strategically about the event, the Anderson brand name, and how to maximize community engagement. We motivated the team when the end goal was months and months away. The three of us rallied together when ticket sales seemed slow, so we reached out to additional media sponsors, emailed personal contacts, and physically canvased co-working spaces and the rest of the UCLA campus. 

I’m proud of our entire team, as the conference was a resounding success. We sold more than 500 tickets, received media coverage from prominent L.A. press, secured new sponsors, and hopefully sparked a few new investments. By working on the conference, I not only formed lasting relationships with my classmates, I also gained experience in management, negotiation, marketing, sponsorship, operations, finance and decision-making. I felt like a mini-CEO! The Evolving Entrepreneur has made a splash in Los Angeles, and I’m proud to be a part of it.  

See photos of the EA Conference here.

Guest Post - High Tech Business Association

An increasing number of UCLA Anderson students are pursuing careers in tech after business school, so it's not surprising that the High Tech Business Association (HTBA) is one of the most popular professional clubs on campus.  The HTBA hosts numerous networking and professional development activities for members, one of which is highlighted below by 1st year student Leslie Kwoh. Read on to learn more!

As we learned during orientation, technology is an increasingly popular career path among UCLA Anderson students, with one-quarter of last year's class entering the field upon graduating. 

The trend appears to be continuing this year; nearly 120 students, including myself, attended the High Tech Business Association's Fall Career Night in November. Representatives from 11 tech firms, including Amazon, Microsoft, LinkedIn, LiveNation and AT&T, joined us for the networking event.

Career Night was so popular this year that HTBA said it had to draw up wait lists for both students and companies alike. "Companies were knocking down HTBA's doors to meet Anderson's best and brightest tech talent," said Ashley Mallinson, president of the club.

The event follows a roundtable rotation format, and each of us were assigned to three company tables for the evening (I sat with Amazon, LiveNation and LinkedIn). Over the course of three hours, my classmates and I gained a better understanding of each company's mission, culture, workflow and strategic direction.

One of my favorite parts of the evening was a keynote speech by Symantec senior product manager Rafael Alvarez, who gave a humorous but candid glimpse into the life of a tech employee. The job isn't always easy, he said. Ideas sometimes don't move as quickly as one would like, and the process can be bogged down by the need to get buy-in from many different divisions. A simple task like redesigning a webpage, for example, can require many iterations -- so knowing how to build consensus across functions is extremely valuable. 

But the final product, he assured us, is almost always worth it.

Learn more about the HTBA on their website.

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!

Guest Post - Marketing Association

Today's guest post comes from Craig Rosenkranz, First Year Director of Admissions for the Marketing Association (MA). The MA, with over 150 members, provides networking and professional development opportunities for students interested in marketing careers.  Read on for highlights from one of these recent events with General Mills!

 

Aside from all of my classmates and me studying like crazy for our first 2 midterms, last week was a pretty eventful and exciting week here for members of the Marketing Association (MA) at UCLA Anderson.

To start things off, representatives from General Mills came to campus and held informal “coffee chats” with small groups of first year students. We had the chance to sit down with two UCLA Anderson alums and talk candidly about their career experiences and what life is really like working as a Brand Manager at General Mills.

That afternoon, the MA kicked-off a series of lunch time marketing workshops led by General Mills reps Doug and Brad. The first one entitled “Putting Marketing into Real-World Practice” was led by marketing guru and UCLA Anderson alum, Doug Martin. We took a look at some current marketing campaigns and broke down what we think they’re doing well and what we think they could be doing better. This Smart ad really stood out (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0dkjtQdJzI) and was a crowd favorite.

Brad led the next workshop, entitled “Marketing in a Connected World” which focused on how brands can connect and provide value to their consumers beyond simple needs like good taste. Brad ran through a real life General Mills example of the rebranding of the classic kids cereal, Kix. It was great to get an insight into how Brand Managers approached a problem and turned around a brand.  

Both workshops were super engaging and highly interactive. I can’t wait to see what the rest of first quarter brings!

To learn more about the MA, visit their website.

Guest Post - UCLA Anderson Joint Venture Club

Today we have a guest post from Neel Bhattacharyya, Co-President of Joint Ventures, UCLA Anderson's club for students with significant others (or "Sig-Os" for short) and families. Read on to learn more about this organization and one of their recent events!

One tremendous perk of going to business school in Los Angeles is our ideal location – a stone’s throw from Latin American and Asian markets.  From a professional standpoint our location provides benefits we take full advantage of with guest lecturers, Distinguished Speakers, and global recruiters actively engaging with Anderson.  From a personal standpoint, we leverage our location to have some fun and engage our Significant Others (or “Sig-Os”) in the Anderson community!  While some parts of the country are already experiencing snow, heavy rain, and the leaves are turning brown, we at Anderson are on the beach in Santa Monica! 

The Joint Ventures Club -  Anderson’s club for students with Sig-Os and familes – hosted a Beach Day on Saturday, October 19^th!  It was a great event for over 50 of our students, Sig-Os, and kids.  Despite the foggy start to the day, the sun eventually shone-through, giving us perfect 75-degree weather, ideal for a quick dip in the ocean, game of catch with a football, and competitive (but fun) games of “cornhole” and volleyball.  The Anderson Joint Ventures Club will continue to organize great events like this to support the development of our student community and their loved ones.

 

To learn more, check out the Joint Ventures website.  Also, follow blogger Sunny Ba, who writes about life at UCLA Anderson from a sig-o's perspective.