humorous incident at ucla session

Question

Yesterday, I attended the UCLA session. It was all good, except for one applicant's really funny and "not thinking before speaking" question that took the cake.

After all the usual banter about recommendation letters, GMAT scores, GPA, how many times I should take GMAT, blah blah blah.. one applicant (female, brunette, smart looking) opened her mouth and said to the deputy director of admissions.

Could you tell us about the MBA program at USC? How does USC Marshall School compare against UCLA and what programs are better than those of UCLA?

The look on the ad-com guy's face was priceless. He did not expect anything like that.

Naturally after being off-key and going umm umm for 10 seconds, he said I do not wish to say anything ill about that school but I do not know anything about that school. They had a good real estate program but we stole their head of the real estate program.

USC and UCLA have a huge rivalry that makes Israel-Palestine or India-Pakistan relationships pale in comparison... so it was a big gaffe asking a question like that.

Thought I would post this for laughs...

:wink:

nervousgmat · Answer

WoW! This makes pasting a wrong school name in the application essays pale in comparison. I'm happy that she wasn't blond

that poor girl!

kryzak · Answer

yeah, it's like asking about Stanford at a Haas infosession or vice versa...

aurobindo · Answer

I never knew about this rivalry

kryzak · Answer

It's been going on for almost 100 years now... Cal vs Stanford just isn't as well known because their football teams generally aren't as popular as UCLA or USC...

piper41955 · Answer

The Stanford / Berkeley rivalry goes back ages. I usually go to the football game that we have once a year, the winner takes home "The Axe", a trophy that is passed back and forth as each school wins. Usually it just involves getting drunk and making fun of the Berkeley folks (Hey, what can I say, I work for Stanford

).

ncp · Answer

Come on. The bears are light years ahead of the cardinals. If you are a stanford fan and if you aren't drunk, you wouldn't be able to watch the horrific performance on the field.

No, I dont work for UCB. But I am a big fan of the golden bears.

piper41955 · Answer

The actual football game is secondary to the real point of the exercise, camaraderie. Besides I don’t often get to see my Director get drunk and swear like an Irishman the rest of the year

ncp · Answer

I know. I just enjoy dissing stanford because they will definitely ding me if I apply.

aviroop · Answer

+1.

I didnt even venture to the Stanford website. Actually one of my friends suggested, I laughed, he laughed, we both laughed. For me, getting into Stanford is a futile exercise. There are some things I should just not do.

piper41955 · Answer

I'm going to give it a shot, but I know going in that my profile has no chance and I really don't know anyone at the GSB to edge my odds up. A few good reco letters from high level folks at the university wont make up for the fact that I'm 32 and academically speaking my record is less than perfect.

kryzak · Answer

haha, Cal has had the Axe for the last 5 years, unfortunately, we lost SEVEN years in a row while I was a student, both undergrad and grad... nothing beats having your Stanford friends make fun of you while you're a grad student there when you're still losing, losing, and losing... At least now I can make fun of them again

shmegs · Answer

Wow, I'm laughing now but that's something I would do if I wasn't thinking. Just to make sure I may have to write notes like "You are at the BU reception NOT BC" Lol, I just hope that adcom chalked it up to a momentary brain freeze.

ishcabibble · Answer

Wow. Just...wow. That's almost like going to a job interview and asking a prospective employer if it would be better to go work for their competitor instead!

Although if we want to talk about college rivalries, I'm a Buckeye and although Michigan has a better MBA program than OSU, and I've even been to their website to research it, I just have this gut reaction that I could  never  go to the University of Michigan! Maybe it was just too many years spent going to kegs and eggs at 5 am and seeing all the "Muck Fichigan" signs on Michigan game day weekend...

 I mean no offense to any Wolverines who might be on these boards, but if you are one, I'm sure you know what I mean!

aceman626 · Answer

Yes the Cal-Stanford rivalry goes way back. Not only do they compete in football and all sports, there's also a very fierce academic rivalry. Even the professors get into it. I still remember my econ class at Berkeley, when Laura Tyson (dean of Haas, dean of LBS, econ advisor to Clinton) was the prof and first thing she said was "I was the advisor to Clinton. The econ prof at Stanford was advisor to Bush. Well we all know who did better."

(If you don't know, during Clinton's administration it was boom times.)

Basically like Havard-Yale of the west.

kryzak · Answer

Haha! i didn't know that about Laura Tyson, that was great!

Well, even with all the competition, MANY Cal and Stanford undergrads go to the other school to do their graduate work, especially in engineering. Both are wonderful schools, no matter which one you came from or which one you learned to "hate"

lepium · Answer

I don't think the vice versa works...
L.

gixxer1000 · Answer

Asking UCLA about the specifics of of USC's program probably wasnt the best idea but I think asking them to compare there program to a close competitor is a valid question. If I'm going to spend $80k at your school you better be able to tell me why your better than them.

kryzak · Answer

lepium: well, that girl at UCLA asked about USC... so the situation is similar to asking about Haas at Stanford... since Haas and USC are a tier below STanford and UCLA, respectively.

lepium · Answer

True, I'd better get back to those CRs! :lol:

L.

humorous incident at ucla session

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