Calling all UCLA Anderson Fall 2010 applicants!

I was gonna try to give describe the people but then after reading it, it was became just a list of regional stereotypes. I've been here most of my life and compared to other cities I really don't see a lot of difference because it is such a diverse community of people, I know people with all sorts of personalities and interests that there really isn't much of a specific culture (that itself might be the culture, everyone likes to do their own thing, there's always so much to do).

With that said there are a couple things to note different from Ross, the only program of these ones you listed I was interested in and visited.

LA is no Ann Arbor, people here live all over the place, even within the Business school. You are not gonna have the walk over to your neighbors house cuz the whole business school lives in one building type of thing. People live by the Beach (yes you will appreciate it when Ann Arbor is -20 F), people live in the valley, some in westwood with the undergrads. It's not a community where everyone does that same thing (IE the city does not go dead just because Michigan is playing Ohio St at home). There's just so much to do and sometimes relaxing is it's own thing, drinking coffee and people watching in melrose, walking around venice beach.

LA is a CAR CITY, there is absolutely no way around it! Unless you want to have no social life, you need a car and with that brings a culture that you need to drive to people's houses, no stopping by or running into a classmate on the road type thing. (Funny thing about it was on friday, I got bitched at by my coworkers because I refused to drive them from panda express across the parking lot petsmart. There were in the SAME MINI MALL! I've once driven 3 blocks to the gym) There is no public transportation unless you want to spend 3 hours in a bus.

The people at both schools are really nice though.


One thing to note is that at the tier you're talking about the schools are regional, UCLA pretty much has all it's recruiting within Cali. 79% so if you are looking to move to cali, UCLA is the best bet. Michigan and Duke have almost no prestige within Cali. Business schools in general don't have much prestige here as it does in the northeast.

To echo GoBruins comments, LA is very much a car culture. I don't know much about the business school students, but everyone always seems to have their own thing going on. Despite the large number of alumni, the network doesn't seem too strong. There isn't something common that unifies all students and alums (i.e. football at Michigan or Texas, or isolation at Virgina or Dartmouth)

As far as living, there are tons of apartments more affordable yet within 10-20 minute drive from Westwood.

Thanks everyone for the input on what LA is like, especially it being a car necessary city. I would definitely prefer a more centralized city with good public transportation, but the weather alone might be enough to entice me to apply later on.

I'm in but for part-time.

I applied to Anderson's full time program last year but got denied. However, since then, I was able to change careers into the field of work I wanted, so it only makes sense to go part time now.

Only bummer: I have to re-write my essays since I'm applying to a different program. Bummer town.

Seems like there are alot of LA fokes here, anyone interested in doing an LA meet up.

I'm in for R1, as a reapplicant though. Thank goodness...no video for me. Would love to hear some of your essay ideas in my other thread though! The 2 reapp. essays are very similar:

reapplicant-essays-for-ucla-anderson-2010-and-elsewhere-84214.html#


Great idea. How about a lunch or drinks after work. I am in Santa Monica for work and am downtown on the weekends in case anyone else is interested in this get together idea.

Also, for the folks with Finance interest, I heard Prof Garmaise teaches a VC/PE class that is amazing - I really want to make a class visit sometime soon if anyone wants to join. Hoping he teaches a night class but might just leave work for a bit to go sit in.


I guess that's kind of the culture in Los Angeles that people are friendly and caring up to the point it doesn't inconvenience themselves. I know it's a generalization but just something I've observed since moving here from Texas. There's just so many people we meet in passing that maybe it's too difficult to establish real connections?

Is the lack of student connection at UCLA so low that students really don't get involved in clubs/events and pretty much disappear from campus as soon as their classes are over, or is this more just a comparison to schools that are completely campus-centered?

If I ended up at UCLA, I'd be moving across the country, so I'm hoping that it is not a total commuter school and would be tough to meet other students through normal after-class activities.

The students still have great connection with each other and UCLA is not a commuter school, most people live around school. You just need a car. Don't worry too much, we are all like splitting hairs between the schools, they are all quiet similiar (except weather).

Wow, does this thread indicate a lack of interest in UCLA this year?

Anyway, another forum member asked what I learned from my initial application. I'm reapplying this year after being turned down in 2008. Here are a few points I wrote him, figured I'd share and get your thoughts.

--Strength of the finance curriculum. A lot of people in LA want to work in media; it's natural. But UCLA's finance faculty is top notch for the west coast. There were a handful of names that kept coming up as I spoke to alumni, mostly finance prof's.

--In talking to a handful of UCLA (Anderson) grads, I felt everyone was really laid back, so I can imagine the learning environment being more collegial and non-competitive and the student body being less pretentious than other schools.

--To that same point, I feel that Anderson students like SoCal for all of its culture and diversity. Personal interests and hobbies cross over into professional conversations a lot when I spoke to these people. Point being, having a personality outside of your profession is important too. There are social events every night of every week at Anderson.

hehe I am the other forum member mentioned above by duuuma.

Hey everyone I live in LA and Anderson is my top choice. I went to UC Berkeley undergrad (horrible GPA, but maybe my story can cover it up). Anyway, good luck everyone!

Good to see we finally got this thread to two pages.

I'm going to be in LA this weekend and I originally extended my trip into the week so I could stop by UCLA and sit in on a class. Monday was supposed to be the first day they let prospective students visit a class, but I talked to admissions and they're not sure when they're going to start class visits this year because professors haven't signed off on it yet.

I still plan on visiting the campus, but they don't have tours or anything so I will probably just be walking around myself. For people who have been to campus before, any recommendations on things I should check out while I'm there?

Where are you coming from? What do you want to see? The Anderson school itself is just 4 buildings, nothing special about it really. Westwood is really the life of the area, full of restaurants, stores, cafes...etc.

Looks like there is gonna be a LA meetup, I can show you around campus, it's saturday 10:30 right now, let me know if that works?

Just curious - what's the meet-up for? ucla applicants?

I just submitted my Anderson application today. Nice to be done with the app.

Congrats man - good luck.

Looks like I'm pushing my reapp to Round 2. My recommender is on the verge of getting laid off (his hedge fund blowing up) and I didn't want to push him.

Is anyone doing a roll call for UCLA?