UCLA Anderson School of Management Blog

UCLA Anderson 2016 Application Available August 1

 

On August 1, 2015, UCLA Anderson’s MBA application for admission in fall 2016 will be available online — with a new essay question and the opportunity to submit two letters of recommendation.

“The letters of recommendation are very helpful in providing a third party's perspective on your leadership and management potential, readiness/fit for business school, interpersonal skills and teamwork abilities,” Jessica Chung, associate director of admissions for the Full-time MBA program, writes in Anderson’s MBA Insider’s Blog.

While letters of recommendation provide insight on applicants’ readiness for business school from outside parties, the essay question Anderson has formulated will measure their direct understanding of our school’s culture and gauge how candidates might use it to optimize their future:

We believe that the best results are achieved when you share success, think fearlessly and drive change. With this in mind, what are your goals at UCLA Anderson and in your short-term and long-term career?

Craig Hubbell, director of operations for MBA admissions, writes, “Your essay is the platform to distinguish yourself with your passion, clarity, planning and eloquence. Refining your career plans once you get here is fine, but first your application should make a compelling case for how you would use the UCLA Anderson MBA to build on your transferable skills to reach a distinctive future.”

REVIEW ANDERSON’S REQUIREMENTS AND APPLY ONLINE

Anderson EMBA Commencement an Event to Remember in Historic Royce Hall, with Address by Alumnus Charles Harrington

Enjoy the full gallery of EMBA Class of 2015 commencement photos

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By Sylvia Haas

Charles L. (Chuck) Harrington (’87), began the 2015 Executive MBA commencement speech by reminiscing about his days as a Fully Employed MBA student at UCLA Anderson and how much he learned from his classmates. He said his MBA classes prepared him to “always be present” and to “live in the now.” There were also life lessons that business school did not prepare him for, but he found that “the greatest challenges enjoyed the greatest rewards” and that he had clearly learned more from his failures than his successes throughout his career. He mentioned a time that he turned in his resignation at work after a big mistake he made and the CEO refused to take it, telling him, “It’s not that easy to get out of fixing the problem.”

Other courses business school did not teach: classes on being sued, having an employee kidnapped, or on work/life balance; but he said the MBA curriculum did guide him through the tough tasks, the tough decisions.

MLT Summer Seminar: Worth the Exhaustion

Vickie Euyoque (CERT ’11), an associate director in Anderson’s MBA admissions office, reported another successful if whirlwind weekend at the MLT Summer Seminar. MLT (Management Leadership for Tomorrow) works to equip high-potential minorities with the winning playbook and personalized coaching that allow them to reach their full leadership potential. As Euyoque explains, “MLT offers four different programs to their members and we work specifically with prospective MBA students through their MBA Prep Program.”

In June MLT convened in Boston with 290 young MLT Fellows for shared meals with business school representatives, networking sessions, panels, events organized by the host schools, professional development sessions, and meeting with MLT coaches.

“Fellows walk away with a greater understanding of why they want to pursue an MBA and how to go about reaching their goals,” says Euyoque, who was accompanied by her colleague Frankie Sandoval. “School representatives walk away feeling excited about the work that we do and looking forward to having some of these accomplished Fellows join our programs in the near future.”

Read Euyoque’s full blog post on the MBA Insider's Voice.

MBA Class of 2017 Celebrates International Student Body

“One of the main reasons I chose UCLA Anderson was the diversity of its student body,” blogged admit Lucerna Huayanay (’17) in the Anderson MBA Student Voice. “This helps to make our MBA journey a lot more enriching as we learn from one another.”

Huayanay, who hails from Lima, Peru, and earned her B.A. at the University of Missouri-St Louis, wrote, “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.” She contributed to that effort by taking the opportunity in her blog post to introduce other MBA Student Voice readers to three of her international colleagues headed to Anderson this fall.

“Anderson’s admissions committee truly does a great job in building a class filled with candidates with different professional backgrounds, life experiences, and interests,” Huayanay wrote. With her background in marketing and sales leadership, Huayanay is coming to Anderson to focus on management, human capital consulting and human resources. 

Read more about Lucerna Huayanay in Anderson’s MBA Student Voice.

Anderson FEMBApalooza a Hit with 18 Class Years Represented

Enjoy the whole photo gallery from UCLA Anderson FEMBApalooza 4!

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UCLA Anderson celebrated another successful FEMBApalooza, with nearly 1,000 people in attendance, 131 of them kids. The fun-filled annual event brought together Fully Employed MBA students and alumni from 18 classes, starting with members of the Class of 1995 right on up to 187 students in the recently admitted Class of 2018.

“Great job Fembapalooza!!! The best one yet — thank you! ‪#‎fembalove,” wrote Kelly Stelbasky (’16) on her Facebook page. And Ed Duess (’18) posted, “FEMBApalooza was incredible; it was such a great day and so well executed. I am looking very forward to FEMBApalooza 2016!”

The Class of 2018 includes 35 nationalities, 26 active-duty military personnel or veterans, an Olympic gold medalist, and 108 women, the most in a FEMBA class.

As with Paloozas past, Teaching Under the Trees sessions proved popular — with Anderson Professors Ian Larkin, Miguel Unzueta, David Cooley, Corinne Bendersky and Gonzalo Freixes handling the teaching honors this year — as did photo ops with Dean Judy Olian. The show-stopper came when alumnus Abhilash Patel (’12) broke the exciting news that he sold two companies for $60 million.

These and other highlights of FEMBApalooza 4 are listed in Assistant Dean Dylan Stafford’s What I Love about UCLA FEMBA blog, starting with number 10, “No Rain.”

Professor Mike Hanssens Honored with INFORMS’ Buck Weaver Award

Professor Mike Hanssens has been honored with the Buck Weaver Award from the INFORMS Society for Marketing Science for his lifetime contributions to the theory and practice of marketing.

Hanssens, who has been recognized by the organization before, is humbled by the honor. “The Weaver award is special, as it includes a criterion of impact on business practice.” In Hanssens’ case this refers to the widely disseminated use of market response models, or “marketing mix models,” in industry. His econometric models help companies and brands understand what works and what doesn’t in their marketing strategy, ultimately helping to better allocate their scarce marketing dollars. “It is particularly gratifying for me to see this material put in practice by companies and other organizations around the world.”

Anderson Admit Knuckles Down to Prepare for B-School — and Photographs His Favorite Musician along the Way

Matthew Becker detoured to the UK on his way to Anderson to photograph music legend Bryan Ferry.

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“I decided to get my MBA because I wanted to make a career change to management consulting, and a city change to Los Angeles,” says Matthew Becker (’17). He adds, “Growing up in North Dakota gave me enough cold weather to last a lifetime.”

The former Capitol Hill communications director said his acceptance call from Anderson is a blur because he was so excited to get it. Once he regained his focus and understood he’d really been accepted, he began building a list of business books to read between then and his arrival at UCLA.

But he would have another major reality check right after A-Days when he flew to London to photograph his favorite musician.

“Concert photography has been my side passion for the last six years, and through a combination of luck and networking I ended up as Bryan Ferry’s tour photographer for 16 shows throughout the U.K. I had to pinch myself — a lot.”

After the tour ended, Ferry asked Becker to stay another month at his countryside estate outside of London and edit his career retrospective photo book.

Has he managed any of that b-school prep he planned? “The quiet countryside has proven to be a highly productive place for getting the all-important summer reading done,” he blogged. “I started with general business and lifestyle books like Capital in the 21st Century and The Power of Habit, and as school gets closer I'm moving into more specific reading like Case Studies and Cocktails and Case in Point.”

Read more about Matthew Becker in Anderson’s MBA Student Voice.

Jeff Tennen (EMBA '16) Continues His Service as EBV Fellow

By Paul Feinberg

Earlier this month, UCLA Anderson hosted — for the eighth time — the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities (EBV). Following completion of a three-week online curriculum, participants complete an intensive nine-day program at UCLA Anderson, learning the essentials of business ownership from Anderson faculty and practicing entrepreneurs. In addition, EBV participants learn from EBV fellows, current Anderson students who serve as de facto teaching assistants. One such fellow in the 2015 edition of EBV is Jeff Tennen (’16), a student in UCLA Anderson’s Executive MBA program.

Tennen recently retired from the United States Marine Corps, where he served as an infantry officer and international affairs officer for East Asia. Concurrent with his studies, Tennen is consulting with Asia Taktik and doing business development for Mojave Gold LLS. A UC Riverside graduate who played rugby for the school, he also played rugby for the All Marine team and is now a volunteer assistant coach for the UCLA rugby squad.

“Professor George Abe (’71) asked me if I’d be a fellow for the program and it seemed like a great opportunity to help and get involved,” Tennen says.

Tennen says he felt he was a good match for the program and its participants. Hosted in partnership between the Institute for Veterans and Military Families at Syracuse University and the Harold and Pauline Price Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at UCLA Anderson School of Management, the EBV program helps post-9/11 veterans with service-connected disabilities develop skills and tools needed to launch, grow and lead successful businesses.

National MBA Tour Gives Prospective Students Face Time With UCLA Anderson Admissions Team

This weekend, UCLA Anderson’s Full-time MBA admissions team kicks off its participation in The MBA Tour — a series of MBA fairs nationwide tailored for prospective students — at events in San Francisco and Los Angeles (today).

Interested applicants who attend The MBA Tour events have the chance to meet directly with admissions officers and alumni from various universities, learn about different programs and get a better sense of the culture of each school.

“You’re able to really ask us questions, probe a little deeper than perhaps you could just by looking at a website, and find out if the school that you’re targeting or thinking about is the right match for you,” says Adrian Aguirre, UCLA Anderson associate director of MBA admissions and financial aid.

Aguirre also offers some tips and “questions to avoid” for those planning to attend. For instance, come with a 15- or 30-second pitch, be ready to talk about your post-MBA plans, and avoid questions about rankings. Watch his short video of “MBA Fair Do’s and Don’ts” here.

UCLA Anderson’s admissions team will participate in The MBA Tour throughout the month of July, with upcoming events in Houston (July 21), New York (July 25), Chicago (July 27), Washington, D.C. (July 29), and Boston (July 30).

Find details about today’s Los Angeles event, as well as upcoming events, on The MBA Tour site. 

In the Service of Design: EBV Helps Entrepreneur Get Down to Business

Orion Design Group’s best-selling product, modeled here by founder and CEO Brian Bishop, is a hybrid helmet cover equipped with the appropriate attachments for “mission-essential gear.”

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By Carolyn Gray Anderson

“I was always the kid with the lemonade stand,” says former U.S. Marine Platoon Sergeant Brian Bishop. At age 12 he wrote to Subway HQ asking for information about buying a franchise and urged his parents to open the first Subway restaurant in their Wyoming town, but they balked at the cost of the investment. Two years later, Bishop analyzed the nascent snowboarding market and determined that with a $6,000 loan he could launch a successful enterprise with 20 boards in a mobile shed — but none of the relatives, friends or passersby he avidly approached wanted to front a 14-year-old any money.

Fast-forward to 2010, when Bishop founded Orion Design Group, an outdoor gear and clothing company he launched with $10,000, which was every bit of his savings. This year, he entered UCLA Anderson’s Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities to learn to write a business plan so someone might finally invest.

“My business plan is inside my head,” Bishop says. “It comes from knowledge of my industry and a decade as a design consultant. But I felt like my business acumen was getting stretched. I knew that if we’re going to stay competitive in the marketplace, we’re going to have to source capital.”