It is currently 19 Mar 2024, 01:17 |
Customized
for You
Track
Your Progress
Practice
Pays
FROM NewsUCLA: Another Great Consortium Orientation Program (OP) |
Last Wednesday I returned from another successful Consortium Orientation Program (OP). This year's OP was held in Phoenix so we had incoming Consortium students travelling from all around the US to join us. Here is a picture of our amazing incoming UCLA Anderson Consortium students. If you are not familiar with The Consortium, "The Consortium for Graduate Study in Management is the nation's largest diversity network, linking top tier students, leading MBA programs and corporate partners, including Fortune 500 companies." The mission of The Consortium "is to reduce the underrepresentation of African Americans, Native Americans and Hispanic Americans in education and business." Now let's get back to OP. OP, as the full name indicates, is the orientation program that takes place every June for incoming Consortium students who will begin their MBA program in the fall. OP is more than just an orientation program, it's an opportunity for all of the incoming Consortium students from the 18 universities to come together, get to know their classmates from their respective MBA programs, meet incoming Consortium students from all of the universities, and grow personally and professionally through a series of seminars, workshops, and networking opportunities. I always look forward to OP because it is the first event where I finally get to meet all of our incoming Consortium students. It's great to see our students bursting with energy and enthusiasm as they prepare to begin their MBA. It's amazing to see how quickly they bond with one another and start building life-long friendships. The overall OP experience is always memorable, but one of the really memorable moments of this past OP was meeting Mrs. Lonnie Ali. Not only is Mrs. Lonnie Ali a successful business woman and entrepreneur, a very active philanthropist, and an ardent advocate for Parkinson's Disease research, but she is also a UCLA Anderson Alumna who volunteered her time to meet with our students. It was an incredible opportunity for them to learn about her story, her passion, and also get some advice as they begin their own journeys. We were even fortunate enough to take a picture with Mrs. Lonnie Ali. I'm looking forward to many more memorable moments at next year's OP! If you support The Consortium's mission and are interested in learning more about the organization, please visit their website. |
FROM NewsUCLA: MLT Summer Seminar: Why it's worth the exhaustion |
I'm happy to say that I have survived another MLT Summer Seminar! I say survived because it was a jam-packed weekend where we (my colleague Frankie Sandoval and I) interacted with 290 MLT Fellows and connected with our counterparts from other MBA programs. Before I delve further into explaining why the weekend was so exhausting, yet rewarding, let me provide some information on the MLT organization. MLT is an organization that is focused on "equipping high potential minorities with the winning playbook and personalized coaching that allows them to reach their full leadership potential". MLT offers four different programs to their members and we work specifically with prospective MBA students through their MBA Prep Program. The MLT Summer Seminar is a demanding weekend that begins at 7:00 AM on Saturday morning, goes all day, and then resumes on Sunday morning at 7:00 AM again. This year's MLT Summer Seminar took us to Boston over the weekend of June 19th - 21st. We had a great time meeting with MBA Fellows (as they are referred to), speaking with them about the general benefits of an MBA, providing greater insight about UCLA Anderson specifically, and helping to steer them in the right direction as they continue down the path to one day being active and successful students in an MBA program (hopefully ours). The weekend consists of shared meals between MBA Fellows and school representatives, speed networking sessions, panels, and a school fair - every opportunity is an opportunity to connect and learn. In addition to everything that I just mentioned, Fellows also have to attend events organized by the host school(s), professional development sessions, and meet with their MLT coaches! This may all seem a little daunting but it's definitely worth the time invested. Fellows walk away with a greater understanding of why they want to pursue an MBA and how to go about reaching their goals; while school representatives walk away feeling excited about the work that we do and looking forward to hopefully having some of these accomplished Fellows join our programs in the near future. Here we are, starting the day off right with a little continental breakfast and conversation. If you would like to learn more about MLT, please visit their website. |
FROM NewsUCLA: new essay question for 2015-16 |
As our new MBA application goes live on August 1, you will find a new question for our 1 required essay: 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? The best essays show that you understand our school's culture and how to use it to optimize your future. As shown in our UCLA Anderson video, three principles form our foundation. First, we SHARE SUCCESS within our community as we collaborate to achieve goals. While working together, we THINK FEARLESSLY to go past the obvious, to go around the obstacles — with our sights set on making a real impact. And with the opportunity for impact comes our desire to DRIVE CHANGE as a result of all that we do. What does this mean for your specific plans? Ideally you start by thinking about your long-term goals and work backwards to show what you would do to "hit the ground running" at UCLA Anderson. For example, if you want to head up marketing for a technology company, you could drive change by helping the firm to discover and respond to niches in the market. Thinking fearlessly might entail taking international assignments to gain experience meeting global demands. Serving on cross-functional teams is also a good way to share success across boundaries on the way up. Naturally you should do research on potential career paths in order to feature details that resonate with you, so the admissions committee can sense your contagious excitement. Demonstrating your excitement for UCLA Anderson is a key element as well. Student groups are natural venues to share success and are a vital part of any career search, so in this example it is smart to highlight the Marketing Association and High Tech Business Association. Thinking fearlessly about the future with the help of TED talks here can complement mentoring via your Anderson Career Team. To learn to drive change in the real world, UCLA Anderson's Applied Management Research (AMR) program can't be beat, and you can even affect future generations of students through the Admissions Ambassador Corps (AAC). As always, the most compelling essays are the ones that weave together student opportunities at this school with clear goals for the future. Whatever your target may be, 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. Students thrive in our culture as they undertake their metamorphosis, so just explain how this would work for you and what exhilarating long-term results you will see. |
FROM NewsUCLA: Application Tip - Letters of Recommendation |
Hi readers, following our last blog post by Craig about our new essay question, today's post is all about the letters of recommendation. This year, we made the decision to increase the number of recommendations to two based on feedback from our applicants, who said this would give them a chance to provide multiple perspectives on their strengths and readiness for b-school. We also noticed in the last few years that many candidates ended up submitting two recommendation letters anyway. We will monitor how useful the additional recommendation is for the admissions committee as well as for applicants to determine if we will continue with this policy in future application cycles! 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. We prefer a letter from your direct supervisor whenever possible. However, we understand that circumstances may prevent you from asking your current supervisor; in this case an indirect supervisor (people who have overseen projects you’ve worked on, a manager from another department, etc.) is a good option, as well as former employers, clients (especially for those of you who are self-employed) and supervisors from extracurricular organizations. Academic references (i.e., a professor from a class you took) are not very helpful because the questions on the recommendation form are best answered by someone with whom you work(ed). I would also steer away from family members as recommendation providers, so if your direct supervisor is someone you are related to, consider one of the other options above as an alternative. In free-response questions, generic answers will not be as helpful as detailed ones with specific examples. As such, having an executive with whom you have little direct experience working for write your recommendation is less beneficial compared to a manager you work with daily, who has seen your professional growth and impact firsthand. After selecting your recommendation providers, it's very important to spend some time prepping these folks on the letter's purpose and what we're looking for. This is the only part of the application that you don't write yourself (I hope!) but you can definitely provide input by discussing your reasons for going to business school and post-MBA career plans, and by refreshing your recommender on your accomplishments in the workplace. It's a small investment of time on your part, but your recommenders will absolutely appreciate your insight because it will make their job easier! What are your questions about the letters of recommendation? Let us know in the comments or send us an email. |
FROM NewsUCLA: Application Tip - Academics |
Continuing with our blog series on application tips, it's time to discuss academics. Academics are an important component of the application process because it is necessary for every admitted student to have a strong academic profile in order to do well in the MBA program. In considering the academic potential of each applicant, the admissions committee evaluates prior academic experience as well as tests, either the GMAT or GRE, as well as the TOEFL or IELTS (for applicants who earned their degree/s in a foreign country where the official language is something other than English). Although this blog will focus on academics, such as prior academic work, next week's blog will cover tests so make sure to check back in with us. When we evaluate prior academic experience, we thoroughly review undergraduate transcripts as well as graduate transcripts (if provided). In evaluating transcripts there are several things that we consider, including: the rigor of the school, the courseload associated with each major, as well as grade trends. So don't worry too much if you got off to a slow start as long as you were able to improve your grades with time as you learned new study methods and got more comfortable with your major. In general we try to give applicants the benefit of the doubt, so a few lower grades can be offset by higher ones. Although not required, graduate coursework can contribute to a candidate's academic profile, as can additional classes taken post-undergrad. Courses such as accounting, statistics, or economics are usually the best ones to show good academic preparation, but not required since we always want to admit students with diverse perspectives, including diverse academic backgrounds. In terms of how we evaluate transcripts from universities around the world, we are familiar with the grading systems and relative rigor for each country, so we understand the context for each applicant's performance. It is not necessary to convert grades to a 4.0 scale since we will examine transcripts according to the grading scale for the school attended. As I mentioned in the beginning of this blog, academics are only one part of the application process. To learn more about our application process, feel free to read our earlier two blogs covering our new essay and letters of recommendation and check back in with us over the next few weeks as we continue with our blog series on application tips. Good luck! |
|
||
Hi Guest,
Here are updates for you:
ANNOUNCEMENTS
R2 Decisions Are Coming Out - Join Chatrooms!
✅ Duke Fuqua : Mar 12, 2024
✅ UVA Darden : Mar 13, 2024 ✅ Dartmouth Tuck : Mar 14, 2024 ✅ Michigan Ross : Mar 15, 2024 ✅ IESE: Mar 15, 2024 ✅ Johnson (Cornell): Mar 15, 2024 ✅ Georgetown McDonough : Mar 18, 2024 ✅ Emory Goizueta : Mar 20, 2024 ✅ UT Austin McCombs : Mar 21, 2024 ✅ Chicago Booth : Mar 21, 2024 ✅ UC Berkeley Haas : Mar 21, 2024 ✅ UCLA Anderson : Mar 22, 2024 ✅ Yale SOM : Mar 26, 2024 ✅ Wharton : Mar 26, 2024 ✅ Kellogg : Mar 27, 2024 ✅ HBS : Mar 27, 2024 ✅ Stanford GSB : Mar 28, 2024 ✅ UW Foster : Mar 29, 2024 ✅ USC Marshall : Mar 31, 2024 ✅ MIT Sloan : Apr 5, 2024 ✅ Cornell Johnson : Apr 5, 2024
Tuck at Dartmouth
|