Calling UCLA Fall 2008 Applicants

frantically preparing for it right now... it got moved from 9am to 5pm, giving me some time to go over last minute stuff.

I'll post a report either tonight or tomorrow to let you guys know how it went.

All the best, man!

knock em dead!

Sorry I've been off the boards for a couple of days. Looks like I'll be too late to help you kryzak, but hopefully others will be soon to follow.

The interview was very casual. It was with an AdCom member, but very laid back. No "difficult" questions per se, but be very prepared to answer the "Why UCLA?" question. Got a couple of questions like "so what classes would you like to take? what extracurriculars would you like to be involved in" so you have to know UCLA well but other than that, I wouldn't worry too much.

I had heard some horror stories about interviews with UCLA AdCom so I was pleasantly surprised. Hope this helps!

Just finished my interview. I *think* it went well. My interviewer was an alum my age, very friendly but stoic guy (hard to tell if he's happy or not), in the Bay Area. The interview was VERY relaxed and conversational, but it did have one tough question (I'll list it below).

The alum first started by introducing himself and telling me about his background and career path. Then he asked me questions:

1. Tell me about your career progression

- during which, he asked a few simple questions to clarify and jotted down a lot of the stuff I said.

- I might have gone a bit long... probably 5-7 minutes, since I have a lot to cover.

1.5. Implied: What are your short and long term goals?

2. Why UCLA?

- I thought I blanked on this one, after talking about their entrepreneurship and international programs, along with their culture and class size. But upon coming home and looking at my list, I actually covered everything, just more succinctly than I thought I could do.

3. Since you're interested in entrepreneurship, where would you want to work for your internship?

- I told him about some established startups and roles I would do.

4. Since you're interested in the wireless industry, what are some companies you want to work for or products you want to make?

- I'm SO glad I studied up on wireless stuff the past few days. I had two ideas that I just thought up today (well, the ideas have been floating around my head for years, but I was only able to verbalize them today after reading up on all the news).

5. (Zinger) What do you believe that UCLA does NOT have compared to the other schools you are applying to? (he emphasized that I do NOT need to tell him what other schools I'm applying to)

- This was a HARD question, given the schools I'm applying to. I honestly believe UCLA probably provides the best practical learning experience out of all the top schools, with the numerous internships (during the year), their Applied Management Research 2 quarter program, and constant real world applications of what you learn in class. Thus, for me, it was very hard to give him a good answer.

- I wanted to say something about how the school should market themselves better. Because with what they have to offer, UCLA can easily become a top 10 school like Tuck, Ross, and Haas (outside of the M7). But I did not want to bring that up since it's a risky answer.

- I ended up talking about how UCLA and the LA region might not provide me as many tech startup opportunities as the Silicon Valley would. But it will provide me a more diverse range of industries to do startups in if I wanted to.

- I also told him a superficial answer (I even said that literally) about how I would have to move if I go to UCLA, but immediately followed it with, "but that's expected, as it's such a minor reason and I would easily move to go to Anderson."

6. In what ways will you improve upon Anderson as it is?

- Again, I wanted to say the admissions office marketing, but bit my lips on that one.

- I told him some clubs I would join how I would improve them.

Then I asked him 4 questions related to AMR, his experiences at Anderson, and his least favorite things. Also asked if he did an international exchange program, but he didn't.

Afterwards he told me that Anderson really values "Excellence without Attitude", and the adcom will reject anyone who has an attitude, even if they are very qualified.

He also mentioned that Anderson *might* release a few decisions before Xmas, but with the holidays coming up (shutting down next week), it probably won't happen.

We had a good chat walking out about random things, and that was it.

I guess I'll have to wait until January for any news then!

P.S. Oh yeah, one of the snafus was I ALMOST slipped and said, "Since Stan... um, I mean, Anderson, provides X and Y services..." I hope that didn't just kill my chances there.

I also found out I called one of Anderson's programs the name Haas calls their equivalent program in my essays. Good thing I didn't read it again until now!

Guys,

What's the competition in UCLA? I've heard something about 15% of admitted. Is it true?

This year picture is going to be different because of change in admissions process... so figures are going to be a bit off...
So the acceptance rate.. no idea

The acceptance rate used to be somewhat high, in the mid-20's. But like Avi said, no clue about it now.

PS.. I went to UCLA yesterday.. to hassle admissions office...

The school is open next week too and interviews will be sent out next week also and throughout winter break....aparently the ad-com is still reading a lot of applications... quite did not follow that logic between reading apps and interviews.. but neways.. there is hope.. and then there will be despair

What changes are you referring to?

last year,
applicants scheduled interviews...this year interviews are by invites only....

if u get called for an interview.. there is >50% chance of getting into UCLA.. unlike last year, when an admissions interview was not a weeding out process (some folks got into ucla last year without any interview)

Avi, thanks for the great news (that the office is open next week). I *really* would love to get a decision (one way or the other) by next week... if UCLA is on the ball. (crosses fingers)

Good luck dude. I will bet you that you will get an interview from them, mark my word!

I am holding out hope for a decision next week as well. The AdCom member I interviewed with said that they would do 1 batch on admits before Christmas and the vast majority after the holidays until the deadline. Good luck everyone!

great info red_s4! Good luck to you bud! Maybe we can be classmates if we both get in!

That's good to hear that they'll try for one batch of admits before Xmas. I really hope my interviewer submitted his summary and that it's good (or at least not bad enough to hurt my chances).

Well we are applying to all of the same schools so we may very well be classmates next year. Getting one admit before Christmas would definitely make for a less stressful holiday season. Hopefully we will both hear some good news!

Guys, taking in account the UCLA employment stats below, can I position myself as a future IB or an entrepreneur? Don't want to be a consulter or a real estate/ media worker....

What are my after-MBA prospects if I go to UCLA? What, in the end of the day, are the UCLA's strengths?



More details - https://www.anderson.ucla.edu/documents/ ... Report.pdf

IB is strong in UCLA. AFAIK, a chunk of folks go into IB or do their internships in IB. Since UCLA is a west coast school and LA is a hot bed for real estate development, the numbers will look skewed.

But ya, there are lots of opportunities for IBers...no worries on that...the AMR program is one where u can do a 6 month project with IBers