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 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. 

Ready for the next two years

In the words of the late Christopher Wallace, “I’m going going, back back, to Cali Cali.”  Ever since making the decision to attend Anderson a few months ago, I am pretty sure that song has been playing on repeat in my head.  I am so excited to return to my home state and start my journey at Anderson!

My name is James Huntington, and I am grateful for the opportunity to be one of the UCLA Anderson Class of 2016 student bloggers.  I hope I can offer even a fraction of the insight that I was able to gain through reading the posts of bloggers from the Class of 2015, as well as other past student bloggers.

Anyway, a bit about me.  I was born in Okinawa, Japan.  My mother is Japanese and my father is from the U.S.  Contrary to most assumptions, my father did not serve in the military.  They actually met in Idaho of all places… and the rest is history.  I lived in Japan for a total of about eight years.  Other than that, I primarily grew up in Northern California.

In 2003, I moved to Provo, UT to attend Brigham Young University.  I graduated in 2008 with a BA in Japanese.  Post-graduation, I worked at The O.C. Tanner Company, an HR consulting firm in Salt Lake City as an International Operations Analyst for just over two years.  I then transitioned into my current role at Goldman Sachs, where I will be for a few more weeks until we moved down to LA the beginning of August.  I have been working as an Operations Specialist for a little over two years now, and have been focusing on risk management related to futures and options trading for the firm and our clients.

Joint Ventures Winter/Spring 2014 Calendar

Sorry it's taken half the quarter to get our calendar for the new year sorted out but we've got some fun things happening over the next few months so stick this on your fridge, RSVP for the hike & picnic next Saturday, then come out to happy hour tomorrow night from 7-9pm at Taberna Arros y Vi in Santa Monica (90min free parking in all city lots)! :)

Looking forward to seeing many of you soon,
Neel, Tyler, Sunny and your Class of 2015 section reps, Carla, Brian, Andrew, Dan & Amir

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

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. 

 

Year Two: The Saga Continues

Gosh, has it really been six weeks since my last post?! Summer always seems to fly by (and September too) but lately I honestly don't know where the time goes and I can't believe that Mike is already in the second year of his MBA.

Part of the reason we're feeling a bit scrambled, I think, is that Mike's internship went right through to the week before classes began so, unlike most of the other 2nd year kids, we haven't had a chance to decompress and reflect on the year that lies ahead.

I don't know about you, but when I'm feeling scatterbrained & disorganized, I make lists and then put things on my calendar. So here's what I'm really looking forward to this year:

1. Living by the ocean
   Did I mention that we've moved to Santa Monica? And not just anywhere in Santa Monica, but into this building right here, which is, oh, about a minute and a half to the beach. I know, it's kind of ridiculous, right? Living in Westwood for the first year was absolutely the right thing to do: we didn't have a car yet and Mike needed to be within walking distance to campus (where he spent most of his days/nights), but who knows when we'll get a chance to live by the ocean again? So here we are... and so far? So amazing.
   
   
   

MBA Orientation 2015: We Belong Here

Four days ago, we stepped foot on the UCLA Anderson campus with a few friends, some butterflies, and buckets (briefcases?) full of questions. Who knew in such a short time, we would already feel right at home?

Four days of Orientation in, two weeks until classes, we can already feel that we belong here.

I belong at UCLA Anderson because…

Aimee Musil: I belong at Anderson because, even though my classmates are amazingly diverse, we’re already showing signs of the engaging, supportive, collaborative, and open-minded community they talk about in those shiny admissions brochures.

What exactly does that mean? As for engaging, over the past four days we’ve spent more than 9 hours watching presentations on what some might consider dry material - ethics, technology services, and the Anderson library (I apologize in advance to my mom, former librarian). However, from Jackie Reynolds, the Chief Technology Officer (and Anderson alum!) who had us cracking up to the saucy Angela Horne, newly appointed head of the Rosenfeld Library, the staff consistently impressed with their charm, wit, and genuine interest in helping us succeed during our time here.

Our collective open-mindedness came into play later, during our class photo scavenger hunt, when the accomplished and successful professionals of the class of 2015 literally ran around campus sweating profusely, planking, twerking, and screaming at tour guides/undergraduates, “Where’s the tree of knowledge?” All in all, I’ve been so impressed by the people I’ve met both on the staff and student side, and am excited to spend the next two years with this great group of people.

The MBA Student Voice: Sig-O Edition!

Hello! My name is Sunny, I'm a Taiwanese-Canadian florist/calligrapher and I'm turning 30 in a few weeks! I'm also married to a 2nd year MBA student—his name is Mike, I met him in the 7th grade, he's a structural engineer & wannabe real estate developer—which is what brings me here: to share with you some of my experiences as a Sig-O ("significant other") at Anderson.

This time last year, we were walking around in Westwood looking for a place to live so that we can get settled in before orientation began. Mike was preparing himself mentally to being a student again and I was trying to come to terms with this new supportive housewife role I'd apparently signed up for. My point is, we've been there/done that, and we get what you’re going through: this whole moving to L.A. and going down to one income so your husband/wife can get their MBA thing is interesting, isn’t it?

But you know what, it is pretty cool actually. Besides the fact that you now live in Cali-freakin'-fornia where it's all sunshine & blue skies every single day, this 2-year transition period also creates one of those rare gaps in your life where you get to leave that job that you don't 100% love, start over in another city, try new things, meet people from all over, and just take some time to figure out what you want to do with your life, all while taking credit as the awesome amazing person who made these huge sacrifices so that your spouse can pursue their dreams.

For the MBA with a Significant Other...

Husband.  Wife.  Partner.  Significant Other.  Sig-O.  Better Half.  The list goes on...Before applying to UCLA, I was a little concerned about going back to school with a wife and new baby.  I had heard the misconception that most MBA students were single and that I would be the part of a very small minority of students with families or significant others.  I was worried that one of two things would happen--I would either end up diving too deep into the MBA social scene and lose out on "family time" or I would overcompensate for being gone so often that I would miss out on the MBA experience.  Fortunately, that isn't the case at UCLA Anderson.  

15 years ago, only about 25% of incoming MBA students had spouses/families.  Now, the number is reaching 40% or higher at some schools.  This makes sense, since the average pre-MBA work experience each student is around 5 years, making the average student age 27-28.  In response to this growing trend, UCLA Anderson, and many schools for that matter, have created well-organized programs/clubs aimed at the significant others of the MBA student.

At UCLA, we have the following resources to involve our families in the program.  Believe me, if they want to be busy and involved, there are plenty of activities to choose from!