The MBA Student Voice

2nd Year @ UCLA Anderson is Off and Running!

Geez, how time flies! So, I decided to look back at my old posts and made myself laugh because of all the discussion on finding an internship. Now it all seems like ages ago. Just to update you all, I had an awesome internship in the Bay Area this past summer, working for a well-known tech company in the investor relations department. I had a blast, because I got to work on many projects and collaborate with several executives. My first year at Anderson really prepared me for the internship, including how to approach a problem, prepare a well-thought/crisp presentation, and present to a room full of people with calm and poise. Things went so well that I got an offer at the company - woohoo! But, like any good pragmatist, I am planning to go through the full-time recruiting process to see what other options are out there. I must say, this year's recruiting turnout is tremendous - I've already lost count of the number of companies recruiting here. Perhaps the recession really IS over or at the least improved.

From my previous blogs you saw a taste of the frenetic 1st year life: jam-packed core courses, internship recruiting up to your neck, networking events, and the delicate art of finding time to breathe through all of this madness. And, while you're wondering how you could ever survive the demanding schedule, you are loving every minute of it (or most minutes) because you are busy in a fun way - making new friends and learning something new every day.  But, that's all over now - sigh.

So you might now be wondering what the second year is like. First, I must mention that during my first year, the second-years seemed like wise sages. They had this calm, cool demeanor. Nothing phased them, not their master's thesis or class grades. They were like James Dean on a motorcycle, man. Simply awesome. So now that I'm a 2nd year, do I feel too cool for school? Well, the fact that I just said "too cool for school" automatically makes me not cool. But I must say that I have calmed down a little from my first year. I do actually feel a bit wiser, I think because I've learned to go with the flow - enjoy rather than fear any new experience that comes along. Because believe me, at MBA school you will be operating outside of your comfort zone on many occasions. I've also decided to make the most of my time here from a non-academic point of view. I previously took guitar and dance lessons and plan to continue with the guitar and also learn drawing, archery, rock climbing, and strength training, to name a few. The sky's the limit. 

So with good ol' optimism and excitement, I am ready to face my 2nd and last year at UCLA Anderson School of Management. The master's thesis (aka Applied Management Research Program) is going to be tough, but I'm sure it will be another great experience. I have to keep telling myself to savor every moment because I know it will be over in a flash. Here I go..........

UCLA Anderson - MBA Struggles and Rewards

Hey Everybody! Oh my gosh - how long has it been? Sigh, no I didn't drop off the face of the earth and no the big scary MBA program didn't swallow me alive. I just had to get through first quarter finals, which were a bear! However, I survived relatively unscathed.

So, I finished winter break, and it was sooooo fun! Good time to catch up with family and friends in the Bay Area. But it wasn't ALL fun and games. No, our diligent student club put together some DOJs (Day on the Job) for several companies in the Bay Area. A bunch of us visited some awesome companies like Apple, Google, HP, Adobe, Cisco, and on and on and on. Each company gave a presentation about their products and positions and then we got a chance to network with the employees. It was a hectic schedule but very exciting and worthwhile.

The DOJ took up a good 3-4 days of my time and after that I headed off to Reno with family. I gave myself a $30 budget and proceeded to lose it all.....but hey, I had a fun time losing it! Now I'm back in LA and have already completed the first week of the second quarter. What have I accomplished so far this quarter you might ask? Well, I participated in a case competition and had a job interview. Not a bad way to start of the new year. I didn't win the competition, but had lots of fun. We worked something like 20 hours straight analyzing the case, got two hours of sleep, and then presented our recommendations to executives at Deloitte. It was a one-of-a-kind experience and something I recommened all MBA students try at least once in their lives. Btw, my team didn't win the competition, but quite honestly we felt like we had because of the feeling of accomplishment after such hard work.

The second quarter class schedule has been much more manageable, although I can see it getting really hectic once interviews pick up. Well, that's about it thus far.

I know many of you out there must be thinking about MBA school, whether it's the right thing to do, or how to get through the application/interview process. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.

Until next time!

Anderson is in the House - Get Going on Your Career

Hey Everyone,

Hope all of you out there in cyberspace are doing well. It is getting harder to come up with a catchy article title - hopefully I didn't disappoint. I have been getting emails from some of you (you really like me, you really really like me! .......sorry, I just had to pull a Sally Field). Okay, what was my point? Ah yes....I have been getting emails about my blog and general questions about the application and MBA environment; I am glad some of you got some use out of this. Feel free to contact about me about anything like the application process or why the heck you should even care about an MBA or whatever else is on your mind.

My week has been has been a little less hectic, although I am still writing this blog at 10pm, so not sure what that means. I'm a night owl I guess. I have been spending a lot of time working on my resume these days. The Parker CMC and my lovely ACTgroup have given me some good tips and pretty much inundated me with comments and revisions - but it's all good. It's amazing how much you improve with a little constructive feedback. My resume has gone through three revisions and will be seen another two times before I submit my final version to the career management center. Company recruiting has been picking up lately too. It's getting near that time when we will be applying for upcoming summer internships - oooh scary! I have also been practicing my 30-second pitch in the shower - hey! practice makes perfect - don't judge. FYI:  a 30-second pitch is a succinct and memorable way of describing yourself (in 30 seconds) to recruiters at company events. Now comes the next hard thing - coming up with a list of companies I am interested in working for. Yikes. Again, my ACT teamcomes to the rescue. They gave me some templates for how to evaluate companies and how best to pitch to to them. For those of you who haven't been reading my previous posts (I shudder at the thought), the ACT group is led by two second year students who have been there and done that when it comes to first year recruiting. They lead a session every week or every two weeks and basically keep you on track. With all the fun college times to be had, we definitely need people to keep us in check. The ACT coaches, which are the 2nd year students, guide you through all the elements of recruiting from learning to handle yourself at company presentations, preparing a rockin' resume, marketing yourself, to grabbing an interview, among so many other delicious things. I am part of the Strategic Ops and Management ACT team. There are also a gazillion databases available to Anderson students (including our large and helpful alumni database). These databases contain every company known to man (or woman) based on industry or location or whatever other manner of search criteria you choose.

Okay, some of you may be wondering what this poor blogger does for fun. Is she all about resumes and internships? I must dispel that opinion at once! Aside from getting some exercise on the weekends and checking out the town, I joined Riordan Scholars on campus where I will be mentoring high school students. I've also attended so many fantastic workshops offered through many campus clubs. One in particular that I just attended yesterday was titled "Launching an Internet Business in One Hour." How awesome is that? The speaker had launched several of his own companies and basically gave us an insiders look at some of the most common pitfalls to avoid and some of the great resources to take advantage of.

I am also itching to try the indoor rock wall at the John Wooden campus gym. It looks awesome. I just need to carve out some time and go.

Alright folks. It's been a pleasure as usual. Until next time!

Anderson Guide to MBA

Hi Everybody!

I'm back again for yet another delightful post - okay, I'm a little bit chipper today even though it's 11:37pm and I am catching up on some homework and also writing this blog. Now for those of you who are freaking out as to why I am up so late, let me tell you now that this is not unusual - well not for me. You see, as most of you might have read in my previous posts, I am a little unsure of what my career focus should be. Therefore, I ended up joining a ton of clubs to learn a little bit more about various industries and job functions. So, instead of having some nice quiet afternoons with my books, I've been in one company presentation after another. Don't get me wrong - I have enjoyed each and every meeting and only wish it were humanly possible to attend all of them. But the art to being successful in anything is having a good balance. So today, I decided to forgoe my club events and company meetings in order to catch up on homework.

There are still more events to come so I don't think I missed out too much. So, I'm feeling good because I have a better handle on my classes and ALSO because I just finished my ACT group meeting. ACT stands for Anderson Career Teams and is a small group that every student is assigned to based on their interests. I picked the strategic operations ACT group because I have an interest in operations and figure that this group paired with all my other clubs will nicely round out my plethora of informational sources. We just practiced our 30-second elevator pitches for potential recruiters. It was a really great session in that we discussed the pros and cons of different approaches and I received some valuable takeaways.

So back to the main goal. I laughed when I read my earlier posts because I sounded utterly lost. But surprisingly, due to the lack of time, I have quickly narrowed down my focus. There is simply no time to manage classes and eight different professional clubs. So, I've had to pick and choose which club sponsored events were more important to attend. It's amazing what you learn about yourself when you don't have a lot of time to waste making a decision. So here it is - the career options I am interested in: Strategic operations, finance, and business development (entrepreneurship). The industry I am most excited about is renewable energy - simply because it is cool to be part of the future (I got inspired during a recent club event). But I am also happy with high tech, manufacturing, or bio tech. Pretty much any industry will do.

My next task is to reach out to 2nd years and alumni for their take on the internship experience as well as any advice they might have. The great thing about Anderson is that the student body and alumni have been extremely helpful. I have not come across this degree of helpfulness in any other place - it really feels like family out here. Alright.....I'm getting a littly mushy. That means it's time to go to bed.

Until next time!

Another Adventure in the MBA Career Search

Hi Everyone,

As you all know, I am a first year MBA student and already riddled with questions regarding what career I should focus on. If any of you read my previous post, you'll know that I am still in the process of deciding - sigh. Yes, I am a bit overwhelmed. But like all those before me, somehow I will manage to get through this, especially with support from my fellow students and faculty at the UCLA Anderson School of Management. Yes, that was a plug for my school, but hey, when it's the truth what does it matter?

Okay, let's get real. With my background in accounting, I could fair reasonably well in consulting (would be like working for the Big 4 - long hours but a variety of interesting projects and clients), finance (but then why did I come to MBA school when I could have found a finance job on my own), entreprenuership (not exactly sure what this is but it sounds cool), and a whole assortment of other areas. I think the areas that would instantly get me labeled a career switcher if I chose them are Marketing, Investment Banking, Human Resources, or say, Sports Management. Nothing against these avenues, but I decided that I need to pursue a field where I can leverage off of some of my skills. That's not to say I couldn't switch completely if I wanted to, but quite honestly I enjoyed being an accountant - at least parts of it. So why go off on a completely different course?

So, I just completed my second week of orientation. There were so many fun events! We did a ropes course where you have to basically compete with yourself the whole time and learn to trust your team members. You learn a lot about your determination and courage and also learn that your class is comprised of many awesome individuals. I came over my fear of the dreaded 40 foot log (or however high it was) and stood on top of it. Then I jumped off of it and sucessful grabbed a trapeeze bar several feet away - my legs were shaking the whole time. Sheer determination kept me from falling I think. Okay, enough sap. For the readers who are still with me, thanks for hanging in there. Back to business. Suffice it to say that I met a lot of people because Anderson put together these amazing events that just naturally made you bond with members of your team. After talking with several of them, I realized that I am not the only one confused about which career path to take.

I attended a one-on-one Parker Career Management Center (CMC) meeting last week and had the chance to talk to a counselor about my career options. It was really helpful. She gave me a guide as to how to do some introspection and see where my skills and desires align. The Parker CMC also put together this really comprehensive and insightful package explaining all the different career options, tips/tricks for recruiting and resumes, and quiz sheets and assessment tests to help me figure out what types of careers migh be suited to my interests and skills. I have my work cut out for me.

This coming week is going to be fun as well. After doing some community service with Junior Achievement we all get chance to pick our Anderson Career Team (ACT). This team will provide all sorts of career guidance throughout the MBA experience. Will let you know how that goes.

Until next time!

UCLA Anderson - Choosing a MBA Focus

Hi Everyone,

Welcome to my first official blog. I am a first year MBA student at the Anderson School of Management. School has not yet begun, but I just attended a one-hour Q&A session at the Parker Career Management Center, which is a group that helps MBA students find internships as well as choose a career specialty (for those of us, like me, who are still not sure in which direction they want to go). The information session was informative to say the least. The discussion touched upon things like recruiting timelines, recruiting tips and tricks, and research tools and people that might help students decide on a MBA focus.

So, yes, the session was informative. Do I feel completely overwhelmed now? The answer is YES. You've heard it before, but I will say it again, students who know what they want to do with their careers have an easier time in MBA school. What the Q&A session reminded me is that B-school moves fast and decisions like career focus (and by extension the clubs you want to join) must be made within the first few weeks of starting school. The reason being that the summer internship recruiting process starts in the fall/winter.

So what am I to do? Some might call me a career-switcher, but I like to think of myself as an explorer - which still doesn't make it any easier but sounds cooler. I am not sure what I want to do, and I came to B-school to, dare-I-say-it, explore my options. Well, hope is not lost. I am not the first MBA student to feel this way, as the folks at the Q&A session reminded me, and I won't be the last. Countless students like me have made it work, so why can't I? The one great thing was that UCLA Anderson made me feel like they were there to support me in any way possible through one-on-one counseling sessions and other events. They also have second-years and a huge alumni network who are there to share their experiences and advice regarding summer internships and careers.  

I invite you all to join me on my quest in determining which career direction I should go. Will it be finance, entrepreneurship, marketing, strategic operations, consulting, or back to my previous career in accounting? I will describe the events I attend, the people I talk to, and the research I do to help me make a decision.

Until the next blog fellow explorers!