The MBA Student Voice

Days on the job!

UCLA Anderson students storm New York's Times Square

Anderson has been keeping us busy: between on-campus company presentations, homework assignments, midterms and our upcoming finals we had to squeeze in a week for days on the job (DOJ). For the uninitiated, DOJ week is when all first-years take a week off school to visit various companies we are interested in working for. A lot of folks travel all across the country to visit potential employers, and some even travel to international locations such as Hong Kong, Singapore and London.

My trip began in New York on Monday when I flew in with six other Anderson students. We had a few hours to get settled in before our early start the next day so we made sure to visit the very famous Halal Guys food truck for a late-night dinner.

During the trip we were graciously hosted by several New York banks, the likes of which included Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America Merill Lynch, Citigroup and many more. We spent our days shuttling on the subway between one bank to the next while sneaking in lunches and taking in all that New York had to offer. In two days, we covered 15 banks and we were tired and exhausted — but that didn't stop any of us from sending out our thank you notes to everyone we met. On the final leg of our New York trip, we got a special invite for an alumni mixer at the Yale Club, where we reconnected with some of the alumni who took the time to meet with us.

We used Wednesday as our travel day to travel to San Francisco. After checking into our hotel briefly explored the city for the few precious hours we had to ourselves. The next day we kept our momentum from New York and visited a host of banks in downtown San Francisco. Here, too, we met at prestigious banks such as Credit Suisse, Qatalyst, Deutsche Bank, Barclays and Piper Jaffray. Again we were welcomed with open arms at all these banks and at each event we had Parker representatives present to provide us with some much-needed support.

It's worth mentioning how much Parker cares about our career prospects and the lengths they go to to ensure we sustain and nurture these relationships that have been years in the making and will serve future students for years to come.

Overall, our DOJ trip was a great success and we covered about 30 banks over a span of five days. This experience could not have been possible without my fellow students who handled the logistics of the entire trip, and without the support demonstrated by our alumni who make an effort to support and hire Anderson students. I gained insights into the inner workings of various banks, got a feel for the team I could be working with and even bonded with other students who might be working alongside me during my summer internship.

 

Anderson has been keeping us busy: between on-campus company presentations, homework assignments, midterms and our upcoming finals we had to squeeze in a week for days on the job (DOJ). For the uninitiated, DOJ week is when all first-years take a week off school to visit various companies we are interested in working for. A lot of folks travel all across the country to visit potential employers, and some even travel to international locations such as Hong Kong, Singapore and London.

My trip began in New York on Monday when I flew in with six other Anderson students. We had a few hours to get settled in before our early start the next day so we made sure to visit the very famous Halal Guys food truck for a late-night dinner.

During the trip we were graciously hosted by several New York banks, the likes of which included Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America Merill Lynch, Citigroup and many more. We spent our days shuttling on the subway between one bank to the next while sneaking in lunches and taking in all that New York had to offer. In two days, we covered 15 banks and we were tired and exhausted — but that didn't stop any of us from sending out our thank you notes to everyone we met. On the final leg of our New York trip, we got a special invite for an alumni mixer at the Yale Club, where we reconnected with some of the alumni who took the time to meet with us.

We used Wednesday as our travel day to travel to San Francisco. After checking into our hotel briefly explored the city for the few precious hours we had to ourselves. The next day we kept our momentum from New York and visited a host of banks in downtown San Francisco. Here, too, we met at prestigious banks such as Credit Suisse, Qatalyst, Deutsche Bank, Barclays and Piper Jaffray. Again we were welcomed with open arms at all these banks and at each event we had Parker representatives present to provide us with some much-needed support.

It's worth mentioning how much Parker cares about our career prospects and the lengths they go to to ensure we sustain and nurture these relationships that have been years in the making and will serve future students for years to come.

Overall, our DOJ trip was a great success and we covered about 30 banks over a span of five days. This experience could not have been possible without my fellow students who handled the logistics of the entire trip, and without the support demonstrated by our alumni who make an effort to support and hire Anderson students. I gained insights into the inner workings of various banks, got a feel for the team I could be working with and even bonded with other students who might be working alongside me during my summer internship.

And so it begins

Tomorrow is the first day of orientation and I am still recovering from a Vegas trip organized by Anderson students with about 50 or so students in attendance. I hope that tomorrow I am not the guy in the picture above.

In the past two weeks I have travelled 8500 miles from India, moved all my stuff into boxes, shipped my 10 year old car across 4 states, fought with my movers on multiple occasions, rejoiced after touring my new apartment, hiked the Sandstone peak on a pre-orientation trip with students, attended happy your events with my classmates, experienced anxiety over my summer deliverables and worked through 40 pages of assigned readings not including 3 "optional" books. All this and school isn't even in session.

Last Friday was also international orientation, a full day of cultural onboarding solely for international students. The event gave us an overview of all the resources available on campus to us. For instance, the UCLA recreation facilities provides a gamut of facilities such as the graduate only Kinross gym, the Wooden center of recreation, and a new 14,000 square feet fitness center set to open this fall. The Dashew center for international students makes sure that students feel at home by hosting events that include LA bus tours, speed dating for internationals, food festivals and more. There are plenty of spots to eat on campus but most Anderson students usually limit themselves to the Il Tram cafe, centrally located in the Anderson courtyard and that serves an exceptional Chicken special sandwich. In summary, UCLA is pretty much a small town onto itself. 

The event ended with roundtables which were intended to mix-up the students and give everyone a chance to network with each other. We also had student panelists address the gathering and share their insights on recruiting and how to land that elusive full time job offer at companies such as BcG, Mattel, Microsoft and more. Our work is cut out for us and the key to success is to continue following the advice of our Parker Career center advisors who continue to work closely with us making sure we progress along the career search process.

No one told us it was going to be easy and going into orientation I can feel the pace quickening. We are expected to stay on top of things regardless of how the week progresses. We are already juggling multiple priorities and need to flex our time management skills constantly. The only way to keep up with all the activity is to prioritize your work. Anderson has so much going on at any given time that you could miss it if you blink. 

Navigating the admissions process by failing fast

With the admission process in full swing I wanted to take a break from my usual "Why Anderson" posts and help out Anderson hopefuls. 

Planning for success seems sequential but as I recently learnt after reading the "Startup of you" that is not always true. To achieve success in our new chaotic, interconnected and increasingly competitive landscape we need to constantly evolve. Entrepreneurs have learnt this lesson the hard way and have become increasingly aware of the what-if scenarios. The What-if scenarios force you to focus on your shortcomings and prevent you from indulging in wishful thinking. 

As you navigate the admissions process embrace the new adage - "Fail fast and fail often". If you have started the process it's imperative to get a lot of feedback at this juncture so that you have a strong foundation to build upon. Start off with an initial draft of all your essays and get as many eyes on it as you can as opposed to waiting towards the end. Get your colleagues, friends and family to review your half-baked essays and keep making iterative changes. 

Use the online resume tool Vmock to upload your resume to ensure it's upto the mark. Quantify your accomplishments and showcase the results of your work. Find resume books of students at b-schools and model your resume on the acceptable format. Recommendations are another critical component that need be tackled early on. Connect with your recommenders and remind them again of your accomplishments, career growth and leadership potential before they put pen to paper. Send your recommenders a short summary of your successes, and even failures, so that they can portray you as accurately as is possible.

As a software tester I learnt the art of exploratory testing - explore a system, analyze results and create a plan of attack based on information gleaned. In a similar vein, the MBA process needs to be structured and explored because your time is finite and in order to get the best ROI on your effort it's important to address the areas that need the most improvement.

Best of luck!

So you want an MBA?

Whenever I share the news that I was admitted to UCLA Anderson my friends, colleagues and well wishers alike usually ask me one question - "What was your GMAT score?". Wrong question. The right questions are - what were your responsibilities at your workplace, how did you demonstrate initiative, what was your leadership experience like, how did you differentiate yourself in a highly competitive applicant pool?

As you can surmise from the picture above, success is an iceberg. Anything worth having requires a lot of dedication, persistence, a few failures but most important of all a plan of attack that is executed upon with consistency. A majority of us assume that an admission to a MBA school must be a few months of hard effort. I beg to defer. The final admission offer was YEARS into the making starting from an individual's undergraduate school, maybe high school even. Getting into a top MBA program is a marathon, not a sprint.

To any Anderson hopefuls out there or for that matter any of you even remotely thinking of getting an MBA - start planning now. As any gym instructor might tell you half the battle is just showing up. If you visit cities with MBA schools in the vicinity make it a point to drop by and take a look around. Start reaching out to anyone with an MBA in your current network to get a perspective. Even if you do not know anything about the GMAT start tackling a few questions just as a puzzle that needs solving. Assess the opportunities at your current workplace and be more pro-active in seeking out the activities that demonstrate your potential. Start detailing a plan of attack and lay out a 3 month, 6 month and 1 year plan - goal visualization and planning are critical to success.

I end this post with one last sagely advice - The worst mistake you can make is to assume that you will tackle the admission process when ready. Small incremental changes can lead to monumental exponential progress.

Until next time...

Col-LA-boration

 

"Our students are very collaborative!" - Anonymous student at any MBA program

If you reach out to any potential student at an MBA program you are bound to hear the word "collaborative". Although a lot of students say that their schools are collaborative I feel that Anderson was the most collaborative school out of all the schools I reached out to.

Applying to Anderson was no easy task and I needed all the help I could get. The application process was arduous to navigate and between trying to give the GMAT, researching essays, networking with currents students help was sorely needed. I reached out to multiple students at various schools and most were willing to schedule a phone call or two or answer a question over email. 

In contrast, my experience interacting with Anderson students was phenomenal. Students at Anderson not only answered my questions but some also proofread my essays and setup multiple mock interviews with me - not an easy task for a first year student at the school. Everyone was open to sharing information freely often giving me more than what I needed. Students went the extra mile to make sure that I felt comfortable about Anderson and making sure that I apply. 

The pre-Anderson MBA trip to Binsar, India

As soon as I was accepted I got consumed by a flurry of activity. The current class of Anderson was engaging not only through Facebook and WhatsApp but also through Slack, a networking platform intended to promote collaboration across multiple teams. Students were constantly informing each other about articles read, upcoming deadlines for summer deliverables, rate plans for health insurance, cheering their sports team and even recommending movies worth a watch. Furthermore, students were taking the initiative to setup trips even before setting foot at Anderson. I personally had the chance to meet my fellow students in India at a Pre-Anderson trip to Binsar, Uttarakhand and made some great friends with whom I will be spending my next few years at school.

All this indicated to me that at Anderson collaboration isn't just a buzzword and that Anderson's three principles - Share success, drive change and think fearlessly, are embodied at every student attending the school.

Culture shock!

 

 

Culture shock!

Culture shock is an all too familiar experience for international students that visit the United States for the first time. Although most cultures have mass consumed the culture of United states via Social media, television and various other avenues nothing prepares you for the real deal.

I have spent most of my adult life in the US when I came here at the age of 17 and have been meshing with the US culture ever since. I have spent the last six years working for a Fortune 200 company where I have experienced these differences first hand. So when I decided to spend my summer working for a company in India I started to notice the miniscule differences in my country’s work culture and my findings both delighted and intrigued me. In this context the findings of social psychologist Geert Hofstede are mentionable.

Hofstede laid out what he calls 5 dimensions on which you can compare the national culture of two countries. The three key metrics that stand out are Power distance, Individualism and Indulgence,

• Power Distance is defined as the extent to which the less powerful members of institutions and organizations within a country expect and accept that power is distributed unequally. A higher power distance number means that indicates an appreciation for top-down hierarchy. For instance, unlike the United states where you can relate to your boss on a first name basis it would be considered disrespectful in India to do so. 
• The Individualism dimension represents the degree of interdependence a society maintains among its members.The United states scores high in this regard. In combination with the Power distance metric this means that in the US employees are expected to be more forthcoming and to seek out new opportunities. 
• Finally the Indulgence dimension shows the extent to which an individual can display restraint. A higher score in this regard would demonstrate low level of restraint.

It is important to be mindful of such differences as you try to navigate the hiring process and network with students, alumni and recruiters alike. The Dashew center at Anderson provided ample resources to international students to get them prepared and polished prior to recruiting season. Even before school starts international students are on-boarded by a Parker CMC advisor (shout out to Qilin He!) and we are signed up for mandatory iStart sessions along with international orientation sessions. 

Prepare yourself for the corporate culture in the US. Find out how your country’s culture compares to the United States? Check out today at http://geert-hofstede.com/countries.html

 

 

A-days!

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