FEMBA Speaks

SuperSaturday Experience

SuperSaturday is coming soon and I think its a good time to share my SuperSaturday experience as it happened in January 2013. After spending several weeks/months on my essays and other admissions materials, I was just happy to submit them and was looking forward to the SuperSaturday interview. If you are like me who prefers to talk rather than write then you'll enjoy the interview process. Its around 25-30 minutes long and conducted by current students and alumni. My interview was on Saturday at 1pm and I decided to fly in from San Jose in the morning. On Friday night, when I was getting ready with my resume printouts and reviewing my notes I realized that I could not find my tie. I blame Silicon Valley for the casual dress code! I called a friend and drove to his home at midnight to borrow a tie. TIP – Plan what you are going to wear and make sure its ready a day in advance to avoid running around like I did.

The actual interview day was fun. I arrived an hour early at the Anderson campus, checked in with the friendly volunteers and chatted with other interviewees. Fast forward 30 minutes and the interviewers came one by one and called the candidate names. It was a short walk from the waiting area to the actual interview room. My interviewer was an alumnus of the class of 2007 and very friendly. She made sure I was comfortable and we then went through the usual questions talking about my professional background and my short term and long term goals. Time just flies so make sure you talk relevant stuff and don't drag too long. She asked a few questions from my resume and it felt more like a conversation than a Q&A session. Towards the end of the interview, I asked a couple of questions about life as a student at Anderson and a few student clubs I was interested to join. And we were done! She escorted me back to the waiting area and that was really nice of her.

I still had a few hours left for my return flight from LAX. Thankfully, SuperSaturday was not only about interview sessions. They had campus tours, forums and other networking events arranged as well. A few interviewees had signed up for class visits as well. I headed down towards the courtyard area and met a few people from the admissions team. Current students were also volunteering and willing to share their experiences with everyone. We were then taken on a quick campus tour by one of the current students. You might already know this – the campus is really impressive and it also made it to one of those top 10 beautiful B-school campus ranking list. It was fun to chat with everyone there and learn how they balance school, work and personal life on a daily basis. I believe you will have similar or even more number of networking opportunities during the upcoming SuperSaturday.

After returning the rental car at LAX and the flight back to San Jose, I reached home in the evening. I was tired but extremely relaxed to have completed the admissions process. I deserved a high calorie scrumptious Indian lunch buffet on Sunday!

Good luck everyone with your interviews and enjoy the admissions process!

Cheers,

Sandeep Shah

FEMBA Flex Section

Class of 2016

IBM

Fall Quarter COMPLETE!

Hey Everyone,

Tim from the Saturday section checking in here, we took a bit of a break from blogging as we had Thanksgiving and we all had to enter crunch mode for finals!

Both Jennifer and Sandeep finished earlier in the week, and I took my last final yesterday (12/14, Saturday) and I know we are all stoked that we've completed our first quarter!

I wanted to share with you a bit of my perspective as a "Saturday" student and what life has been like for me this past quarter.  When I first got into the FEMBA program (Round 1 applicant) I was working in San Diego and after speaking with a few students, I decided to choose the Saturday section over the FLEX.  The more I thought it over, the more I realized the next few years would be really valuable in being near campus.  I then started looking for new jobs in Los Angeles and was able to find a great one in West LA.  While I could have switched to Tuesday/Thursday I wanted to make sure I could give the new job I was starting my proper attention, as well as maintain the balance in my personal schedule (married w/ no kids...yet).

What my regular Saturday schedule for the last quarter has looked like is something similar to this:

7:30-8:15 Go for a run
8:15-9:30 Clean up/Get to class
9:30-12:45 Statistics
12:45-2:00 Lunch (possibly a meeting with a club or some type of seminar)
2:00-5:30 Organizational Behavior
5:30-? Socialize/Happy Hour 

Now, what's unique about the Saturday section is all the different places people are coming in for class.  In my own group, I had one guy flying in from Seattle and another from the bay area.  What's nice about this is being able to really truly see a diverse group of people you wouldn't see during the week and being encouraged by the level of commitment and effort people put in. 

I also like how it is a whole day experience.  The professors are good about giving us breaks so that we can stay focused during class, and having lunch together with other classmates really is a great time to network and/or commiserate over the latest case or midterm.

In summary, it's not an easy thing to do to give up your Saturdays to go to school, that much is true, but it's well worth the effort when the things you are learning and the people you are meeting push you to become an even better version of yourself.  But then again, if you are reading this post, I'd bet you are the type who likes a challenge, am I right?

Hope this helps out any of you who are considering FEMBA and are wondering what it's like to be a Saturday student.  Feel free to reach out to me, I'm more than happy to chat about anything!

Have a Happy Holiday!

Tim

Flex FAQs

Hi Everyone,

 

I would like to address a few FAQs related to the Flex section. Here we go -

 

Q. Are the online classes sync or async?

A. Majority of the classes are async and can be seen at your convenient time. Class recordings are done by the professor and TA and uploaded on the learning website. There are online office hours scheduled by the faculty once in a week and they are usually short (an hour or two). You can see the professor via video conference solving problem sets and ask questions if required. These are not mandatory to attend. Most of the video recordings in the first quarter have been async so far. You can also adjust the speed of the video i.e., 1x, 1.5x, 2x and so on.

 

Q. Does the Flex class have any students from LA and surrounding areas?

A. Yes, lots of them! Several classmates live near the LA area or Orange County but attend the flex section because they either travel frequently in their current jobs or have other commitments. The flex schedule provides them enough flexibility to stay out of town for business purposes and still be able to keep up with the demanding program. We have students coming from Northern California, LA, Orange county, San Diego, Portland, Seattle, Phoenix, Idaho, Las Vegas and even Houston!

 

Q. How often does the class meet on campus?

A. Once every 3-4 weeks

 

Q. Where do out of town students stay on Saturday nights?

A. A number of students stay at one of the guest houses in the UCLA campus. Others prefer hotels near the campus area and some have friends/relatives in the LA area.

 

Q. How do you keep up with the curriculum when you are not visiting campus every week?

A. There are assignments, quizzes and papers that need to be submitted almost every week. Some of them are individual assignments while others are group assignments. Learning group members meet each other via video conferencing tools to discuss these assignments during non-campus visit weeks. 

 

Q. Is it a pain to travel from long distances?

A. I find it manageable because its only once every 3-4 weeks. During a normal on campus weekend, my day starts at 6am CT to catch a 9am CT flight to LAX. I reach campus around noon which gives me enough time before the classes start at 2pm on Saturday. The class ends at 7:30pm and several classmates meet outside campus (usually Westwood) during happy hours set by the social representative of the class. Next day - Sunday, everyone meets for breakfast on campus between 8-9am. Classes go on till 3pm with a lunch break in between. Time for another happy hour after class! Students who do not have to rush immediately to catch a flight hang around a bit longer. I usually catch a 7pm flight back to Houston and arrive home at midnight. Yes, its a long tiring weekend but its time well spent. Otherwise, I would have just wasted my entire Sunday watching NFL. Now, I only get time to watch Red Zone highlights :)

 

Feel free to reach out to me if you have more questions and I'll be happy to answer them. Have a great weekend!

 

Cheers,

Sandeep Shah

FEMBA Flex Section

Class of 2016

IBM

Fall Quarter - Part 1

The first month of school has really flown by, but the experience has been so intense that I can barely remember what life before FEMBA was like (except that I had more time to sleep). 

First quarter core classes are stat and OB.  It’s been a really long time since I’ve had to attend lectures so switching into school mode after being away for so long was challenging to say to the least.  There was (and still is) quite a bit of homework and reading so it took a few weeks for me to figure out the best way to prioritize my tasks and manage my time.  Before the quarter started, I talked to all my friends who had already taken stats and nearly all of them said that it is one of the more difficult classes.  I went in knowing I’d probably need to put in a lot of time to keep up with the material.  I dedicated 75% of my study time working on stats and 25% on OB.  After week 3, I realized that I needed to reallocate my study time so that I could spend more time on OB.  I still do spend more time working on stat (since it is more of a challenge for me) but now it’s probably closer to 60% stat and 40% OB.

Now that I’m in the second half of the fall quarter, I’ve realized that I’ve gotten a lot more efficient and effective with the time I spend studying.  The first half, I felt like I only had time for work, class, and studying.  Now, I feel like I have a bit more free time for non-school related things.  Making to-do lists has helped me keep track of the things I need to get done and when and entering all my appointments in the calendar on my phone so I don’t double myself for events (which has happened a few times this quarter). 

The #1 question I get from my non-FEMBA friends is some variation of “how do you stay awake in class?”  Like everything else, some nights are more draining than others and of course caffeine definitely helps (coffee, tea, and other refreshments are provided!) but I’ve found that lectures and discussions have been engaging.  For me, class has been refreshing change from the day-to-day work grind.

Highlights: Professor Unzueta’s lectures, Leadership Foundations, happy hours, and Halloween party.

I’m really enjoying being a FEMBA and look forward to sharing my experiences with you as I work my way through my first year.

 JH

Greetings from this 2013-2014 FEMBAssador Social Media Team!

 

Who are we and what can we do for you?

Hi and welcome!  We are 3 current Anderson FEMBA students, representing each of the various schedules available to students (Tuesday/Thursdays, Saturdays and Flex).  

We are here to connect with you and share real stories from real students about life in the UCLA Anderson FEMBA program.

As a team we have committed to keep the content on this blog fresh, meaning doing our best to have regular updates on a weekly basis.

So we wanted to use this first blog to introduce ourselves, we've also included our emails/linkedin, so if you have any questions, want to grab coffee or just would like to chat feel free to connect with us!

 

Tim Hong - Class of 2016 (Saturdays)

Connect with Tim!

Where do you work?

Sr. Producer/Product Manager - Activision Blizzard

 

Where are you commuting from?

Santa Monica, CA

What has surprised you most since starting school?

If I had to choose one, I would say that it is definitely the people I have met since starting the program.  Before starting b-school I had an idea of what I thought the typical MBA student would be like (finance, consulting, suit and tie, all type A).  However since starting Anderson, I couldn’t be more wrong!  I’ve met so many different people who are not only at the top of their fields, but are also friendly, willing to help and challenge my own ideas and perceptions.  It’s a great feeling to know that we’re all here to better ourselves by taking on this large endeavor together.

What would you like to tell potential future Anderson FEMBAs?

Regardless of where you are at in the admissions cycle (just starting research on schools, actively applying, waiting to hear back, etc…) it is always a good thing to consider what your personal story is.  Namely, “Why do I want to get my MBA?”, “Where do I want it to take me?”, “Why is the Anderson part time program the best fit for me?”  Not only is important for you to know internally the answers to these questions, but also to be able to communicate it to others as well.  No one is asking you to have all the answers, but we want to get to know you and what you bring to the table.  Who knows, your next best connection could be one conversation away…

Hobbies?

Anything related to the Golden State Warriors, 49ers, or SF Giants (can you tell where I’m from?).  Also love walking with my wife and dog, talking technology trends/innovations, playing hoops and finding the best food around.

Jennifer Hsu - Class of 2016 (Tues/Thurs Nights)

Connect with Jennifer!

Where do you work?

Manager - 21st Century Fox

 

 

Where are you commuting from?

Downtown Los Angeles

What has surprised you most since starting school?

I get fewer hours of sleep but am so much more efficient with my waking hours.  I'm also surprised that I look forward to going to lecture (on most) Tuesdays and Thursdays.  It's a nice change to get your brain to shift gears and think about big picture stuff.

Hobbies?

Travel, food (eating not cooking), and spending time with family, friends, and my dog

 

 

Sandeep Shah - Class of 2016 (FLEX)

Connect with Sandeep!

Where do you work?

IT Customer Engagement Lead - IBM

 

 

Where are you commuting from?

Houston, TX!

What has surprised you most since starting school?

24 hours used to be a lot of time before school started. Not anymore. The fun part is that there is always something to do – assignments, quizzes, learning groups and so on. I used to waste a lot of time doing non-productive stuff but this schedule has just forced me to be super efficient. You just become better at multi-tasking and quick decision making.

What would you like to tell potential future Anderson FEMBAs?

Come visit the school campus and the various open houses and other admissions events. Enjoy the admissions process and give your best shot to the essays and let your personality shine through. Talk to current students at events, talk to us and ask anything you want to know. Once admitted, you might need to give up your favorite TV show or hobby for a while but it will be worth it because this journey will be rewarding. Open up and socialize/network with everyone around you – at school, work or in day-to-day life. Lastly, be ready to gain a few pounds and attend a million happy hours. Don't cancel that gym membership! Good luck!

Hobbies?

Hiking, traveling, pig out at food trucks and restaurants, sports, current affairs and anything to do with 'Breaking Bad' and 'House of Cards'

FUMBA (Fully Unemployed MBA)

Many FEMBAs choose to be or end up being unemployed for part of their MBA. Fully Unemployed MBA (FUMBA) is a somewhat sarcastic term coined for this brave lot. I myself chose to be a FUMBA and will talk about the reason for my decision and the common struggles and joys of being a FUMBA.

FEMBAs looking to switch careers usually quit their jobs towards the end of the 2^nd year and part or whole of the last year. Usually taking up an internship at the end of 2^nd year is an impetus to taking this step. You can either land an internship through the On Campus Recruiting (OCR) process or outside of it. The OCR process requires FEMBAs to quit their jobs before accepting the internship. If you land an internship on your own outside the OCR process then there is no such requirement. In the latter case I have known FEMBAs who have taken a sabbatical for the summer and returned to their jobs in Fall. In rare cases I have known FEMBAs who continued working full time with the companies that they interned with.

FUMBAs are able to immerse themselves in the full time experience and also use this time to find their next gig. Some activities include, playing leadership roles with the clubs they are associated with, attending on campus events as well as industry and alumni events.

One common concern I hear is how to manage expenses without a pay or a lower pay. Here are some methods that are possible:

1. Consider downgrading vehicle insurance to liability only.
2. Consider downgrading medical insurance to catastrophe only. Possibly get rid of it totally and rely on public clinics such as Westside Family Health Center in Santa Monica. Unfortunately you don’t qualify for university sponsored insurance offered to Full Time MBA students.
3. Pursue internships in the industry and function that you are interested in.
4. Consider moving into University Apartments (http://map.ais.ucla.edu/go/1002103 ).

Three years of FEMBA can take a toll on you, especially if you have a spouse or a steady relationship. Taking some time off allows you to focus on what is best for your family and reenergize yourself before getting back in the workforce.

Submission by Saurabh Khurana

Bio: Saurabh is a FEMBA 2013. He is an avid outdoor enthusiast and a Lakers fan. His background is in technology and is interested in Big Data and Digital Marketing Technologies. He was VP of the HTBA club and an active member of the MCA club. You can find him on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/saurabh-khurana/0/787/459

 

Tips/Advice from graduating FEMBAs

After a short but sweet Spring Break, I'm sure most grad students are getting ready to hit the books again as the quarter kicks off. For the 2013s though, we're feeling the senioritis and looking forward to graduation in a few weeks! 

Looking back on the last three years, it’s amazing to see how much time and effort went into completing the program, even for those who finished early. Along with a few gray hairs from late night studying, endless group projects, and devoting 6 months to a “little” project called GAP, there is an awesome sense of accomplishment.

But what if we could have saved ourselves a little bit of stress and some of the headaches? I would have loved some candid feedback and advice when starting the program or even as I went through it so I asked some of my 2013 classmates for the advice they have for current and incoming students. Here is what they said:

 "It doesn't get any easier, but that's not what you signed up for. It stays fun if you give it a chance."
– Charlie Aldave

 "…fully embrace the opportunities ahead because these short three years are for you. Never lose focus of the overarching reasons why you joined the program and build as many working relationships as possible - these will carry you through the next few decades of your career."
- Grace Chang

 "Go to more social events if possible because those memories are what matters at the end. Pick a good team that you can get along with for GAP - it's more important than the other factors." 
- Pete Santhappan

“My advice is to embrace this crazy new schedule, which will quickly become your "new normal." Adjust your schedules accordingly. Make time for family, friends, travel, and also quiet time for yourself. Balance is key!”
- Jamie Greenspan

“My advice is motivated by regret. Ironic, because I say skip the regret. Do you want to switch careers?  Quit your job, hit summer internship recruiting hard, land the offer, and don’t look back. Also, remember to enjoy the company of your FEMBA classmates – and often – because the student life party will be over before you know it.”
- Daniel Kim

 "Avoid scheduling back to back classes as much as possible! You won't realize it but having that day between classes is just the amount of breathing room you need. Anything less is suffocating." 
- Jerry Sun

 “Time and time again, the opinion I hear is that team dynamics is key to a successful GAP experience.  From my experience, I completely agree.  Look for group mates you have worked well with.  Leadership Foundation group and study groups are good places to start.” 
– Bob Park

Other students had general comments as well. One student told me, “You can handle more than you think,” and I wholeheartedly agree. It’s not easy to balance a full-time job, part-time school, and life but somehow you find enough hours in a day to do so. Or as classmate Alex Valente urges, “Get involved. It's more fun to have a voice and a great way to meet people outside your section.” Great ways to do this are to get involved with student council and join clubs. You can also take your professors out to lunch to get to know them.

For those of you who are looking to switch jobs, my classmate Bob Park advises, “Start the process early. Meet all career center recruiting requirements in the first year and begin recruiting at the start of the second year. If you wait to recruit until your third year, GAP will add significant demand on your time.” Even if you don’t plan to go through the formal recruiting process, it can be good practice as another classmate told me, “OCR workshops are good exercises to go through even if you have no plans of actually going through with the recruiting.”

And if any of you are interested in the study abroad trips, you should definitely sign up! It’s a great a chance to meet people outside of your section and do something different outside of the classroom. As a classmate told me, “I think one of the things I wish I would have known is how awesome the study abroad trips are. I didn’t take one until my last year and it was a really awesome experience and I wish I would have signed up for more of them earlier.”

Perhaps one piece of advice that sums up the FEMBA experience is as classmate Alex Valente simply puts it, “The more you put in, the more you get out... increasing marginal returns baby!”

-Renee Eng (FEMBA 2013)

Surviving the First Quarter of B-School for the Non-Quant Student

So, I may be a little a-typical for a business school student in that my job and career doesn’t really require a lot of quantitative rigor. In fact, as someone who works in environmental policy and public affairs, I’m probably a better candidate on paper for law school. Yet, when I decided to go back to school for a master’s degree, I intentionally picked something that was outside of my comfort zone. I also knew that if I wanted to work outside public affairs, I would have to learn about business operations, finance, econ, etc., and this meant building my math muscles.

Even though I looked forward to the challenge, I had a lot of anxiety going into my first quarter math class at Anderson. There was good reason for this anxiety; while past performance certainly isn’t an indication of future results, smart money wouldn’t have put my grades in the top 10-25% of my Q1 stats class. The fact that statistics was up first also didn’t help. Statistics, and especially probability, were not strong areas for me on the GMAT and I got a ‘B-‘ in the one stats class I had in undergrad (something that was noted during the admissions process). Still, I felt that I wanted to be successful in business school badly enough that I decided to make this a personal challenge and a priority. So, I set a goal for myself: Straight A’s in my first quarter. I wrote down the goal, put it on my to-do list and created a couple of sub tasks that I thought would help me get there.

I started by getting myself as ready as I could for that first quarter by doing the following:

1. I took a “Math for Managers” class at UCLA Extension taught by Dr. Bijan Raphael, and I wasn’t the only 2015 FEMBA in that class (I figured this out after-the-fact during a conversation with a classmate at Leadership Foundations).

2. I watched several Kahn Academy videos on statistics to re-familiarize myself with the subject.

3. I completed the beginning Udacity.com course on statistics before starting the program (free 5 min lessons that I did on my lunch breaks).

4. I took the Statistics Workshop offered by Anderson.

5. I took the Manhattan GMAT Excel workshop (free for anyone who took their GMAT prep class).

Once I got to class, I did everything I could to learn the material, even though it was painful at times. I did all the practice problems and problem sets. I went back to the book and my notes to make sure that I knew what the right answers were and how there were derived when I got them wrong (which was often). Probably most importantly, I reached out to fellow students and joined or formed study groups. It turned out that I wasn’t the only one who was struggling and that there were people who were good at math who were willing to help. Moreover, I managed to convince myself that I was a math person and that I really liked doing it. It helped that Prof. McCardle was a good lecturer and had amusing examples to make a dry subject more interesting and relevant.

It was a lot of work, but totally do-able. I put in about three hours a day, which I broke up between before work, lunch break and after dinner, Sunday through Thursday, so that I could spend Fridays enjoying dinner and a glass (or bottle) of wine with my girlfriend.

My final grade in stats: A- (I also got an ‘A’ in Organizational Behavior.)

I accomplished what I set out to do for my first quarter. My friends in the program, the staff and the faculty all helped me to get there. If math is something that makes you hesitant about applying to Anderson, just know that it’s up to you if you want to excel. And to quote Adam Sandler’s The Waterboy, “You can do it!”

- Alex Pugh (FEMBA 2015)

Welcome to the FEMBA Speaks Blog!

Wait – there’s a blog?  Why did we create a blog?

FEMBA Speaks is a place for current FEMBA students to share our academic, social, and professional experiences as we journey through the 33-month FEMBA program at the UCLA Anderson School of Management. From core to electives, Anderson clubs to football tailgates, and case competitions to promotions, our goal is to bring to you glimpses into the life of a FEMBA as we strive to make the most of this incredible experience.

Stay connected and follow this diverse group of writers as we explore and bring to you different facets of the FEMBA experience.  To get regular updates from the blog, bookmark this page or add our site (http://blogs.anderson.ucla.edu/femba/) to your Google Reader subscriptions or other favorite RSS reader app.

We hope you enjoy the blog and come back often for new perspectives on the FEMBA student experience!

Your Student Bloggers,

Kali Falk, Amber Jackson, & Prashant Talwar

FEMBA Class of 2015

It's FEMBA Flex!

Hi everyone! This is a brief post to tell you more about the new Flex program at the UCLA Anderson School of Management!

In addition to offering the full-time MBA program, UCLA Anderson also offers a Fully Employed MBA (FEMBA) program on a part-time basis for working professionals. Flex is a new education platform that leverages a hybrid format (part of the education delivery takes place online, and part on campus).

Check out THIS VIDEO to learn more about Flex!