The MBA Insider's Blog

International Students Play “Big Role” at UCLA Anderson

Working as a marketing director in Mexico City, Ron Friedman decided it was time to earn an MBA – in the U.S. In addition to wanting to open new doors in his career and gain a better understanding of the marketing field, he also wanted to follow in his brothers’ footsteps by going to a top school in the U.S.

We asked Ron, who graduated last May and works as a senior brand manager for L’Oreal, to talk with us about why he chose to come to UCLA Anderson and to share some of his experiences as an international student. Here’s what he had to say:

“I decided to come to Anderson because it was the best cultural fit. I felt a different energy here that was very welcoming and vibrant. Also, Anderson is known for its collegial atmosphere and that fit both with my personality and also my line of work in marketing, which is more team oriented.

“After interviewing with an alumnus in Mexico City, I was admitted and my wife and I moved to LA. Immediately upon arriving, Anderson held a special Orientation program just for international students, which was really helpful. It turned out that around 40% of my class was from all over the world. We even have six other Mexican students as well as many students from throughout Latin America. Our study groups always included an international student or two so that we were exposed to American students and vice versa.

“As we got into the school year, I became president of the Latin American Business Association and we held a ton of academic and social events that focus on the Latin American region like a Brazilian Carnival party last winter. International students play a big role at Anderson and all students are impacted by and benefit from each of our cultures.

“On the academic and career side of things, there is a lot of support for international students. We can participate in programs to help with things like improving our language skills and we have our own staff member in the Parker Career Management Center who works with students who have international career interests or need assistance with Visa issues. The school really puts an emphasis on taking care of the international students.

“Living in Los Angeles was a great experience as well. With a big international airport, we could easily fly home to Mexico City, but we also had access to great restaurants and cultural events in the city. LA is a microcosm of the world and it’s easy for international students to find places of comfort that remind us of home.

“During the last two years, I’ve met an incredible number of interesting people and had so many opportunities both in terms of my career search and future endeavors. Coming here from Mexico was completely worth it – it’s been the best experience so far in my life.”

UCLA Anderson Spotlight: Dual Degree Student Finds Global Healthcare Opportunities at UCLA Anderson

After consulting in the healthcare field for several years after college, Shravya Kidambi decided that she needed an MBA to progress further in her career. She wanted to learn more about the area of healthcare as well as explore her long-term goal of working for a global healthcare nonprofit.

“I hoped to find a business school that offered plenty of hands-on learning opportunities and as many experiences as possible in the healthcare and nonprofit fields so that I could better determine what I enjoy and where I want to go after graduation,” she says. When she visited UCLA Anderson, she knew she had found the right place.

Not only did UCLA offer a concurrent degree program with Anderson and the School of Public Health, it also offered ample opportunities to explore her areas of interest in classes, clubs, volunteer programs, and internships.

Now in her last year of the concurrent degree program, Kidambi – who is originally from India but grew up in Abu Dhabi -- has taken advantage of many of those opportunities. On the club front, she’s served in a leadership role for the Healthcare Business Association and as copresident of Challenge for Charity, the largest MBA-run charitable organization in the world. Last year, Anderson students in the club volunteered over 5,000 hours and raised over $105,000 for the Special Olympics, Project Echo, and Junior Achievement.

She also volunteered to spend three weeks at UCLA’s Medical Center in the Radiation and Oncology Department where she analyzed clinic room utilization and patient wait times. Afterward, Kidambi began an internship for the UCLA/Johnson & Johnson Healthcare Executive Program, which gave her an opportunity to visit South Africa and Ghana to help teach strategy to managers at HIV/AIDS non-profits.

And through her Applied Management Research project (AMR) supervised by Prof. Victor Tabbush, she visited Tanzania where her team researched ways to address the need for more surgical staff in sub-Saharan Africa. “I talked to doctors in rural hospitals, government officials and patients about what has worked in terms of providing incentives for doctors and alternative ways to address the problem,” she says, noting that her team’s findings were presented at a surgical conference in Kenya.

This past summer, she went to Switzerland to intern for the World Health Organization, studying how establishing public-private partnerships can deal with health security issues such as the radiation leaks in Japan.

“If you know what you want to do and look for those opportunities at Anderson, you’ll find them,” says Kidambi. “Anderson is about trying new things, thinking outside of the box, and not always sticking to a pre-existing structure. I’ve had leadership opportunities, hands-on learning experiences, and internships all in the areas of healthcare and nonprofits   – I’ve gotten everything I hoped for out of this program and much more.”

Introducing our new Social Media Ambassadors

We are excited to announce a fresh group of students on The MBA Student Voice  and on the UCLA Anderson MBA Twitter feed.  Some are familar faces whom you might remember from last year and our summer blogger group, while others are brand new additions to the group.  These students, designated as our Social Media Ambassadors (SMA), will share their insights on business school to showcase what it's like to be an MBA student at UCLA Anderson.

 

Charlotte Baxter, Class of 2013 - blogger
Hi, I’m Charlotte Baxter, a member of UCLA Anderson Class of 2013. I moved to LA from Palm Beach, FL, where I own a home and lived with my fiancé and our cat. I grew up in Atlanta, GA, attended Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, and worked at a bank in New York City prior to moving to Florida. For the last six years I was a Real Estate Developer of hotels in the top MSAs on both coasts, developing products such as Residence Inns in places like DC, Seattle, and San Diego. In my spare time I’m an avid marathoner and triathlete.

 
 
Matthew Camp, Class of 2012 - blogger
Matthew Camp is a second year MBA candidate at the UCLA Anderson School of Management with a focus on marketing and strategy.  Matthew was a Summer Associate at ZS Associates, where he will be returning as a Consultant after graduating from Anderson.  Matthew is studying abroad during the Fall 2011 quarter at FGV in Sau Paulo, Brazil.

 

Steven Chang, Class of 2013 - Twitter
Born and raised in Texas, I took the scenic route to an MBA -- working as a management consultant in New York before transitioning to a career in television as a writer in Los Angeles.  I landed at UCLA Anderson to revisit my interest in entrepreneurship.

 

 

Yael Davidowitz-Neu, Class of 2013 - Twitter
Yael Davidowitz-Neu is a first-year MBA student at UCLA's Anderson School of Management. Prior to starting her MBA program, she worked for Google in a variety of roles including global sales strategist. She grew up in New York and lived in Boston and San Francisco before moving to Los Angeles.

 

Tara Egan, Class of 2012 - blogger
Tara is currently in her second year at UCLA Anderson, concentrating on nonprofit marketing and management. Before coming to Anderson she spent 4 years in marketing and sales at Ligne Roset, a boutique furniture company. Tara has also worked with several nonprofits, helping develop creative solutions to various fundraising, outreach, and marketing challenges. Over the summer she interned at Planned Parenthood Los Angeles, evaluating and improving marketing and development strategies. Tara graduated with honors from McGill University with a B.A. in History and a minor in Economics.

 

Jesse Ferlianto, Class of 2012 - blogger
Jesse is a 2nd year student at UCLA Anderson with a concentration in Marketing and Strategy.  He previously worked in distressed investment banking with Alvarez & Marsal and Morgan Joseph, and interned in Chick-fil-A's marketing department over the summer.  Married to his college sweetheart, he's also a tennis player, swing dancer, musician, and board game enthusiast.

 

 

 

Dustin Goot, Class of 2012 - blogger
Dustin is focusing his MBA studies on product strategy and business alliances in digital media. He has 10 years’ experience in media, serving as a writer and editor before transitioning to online product management at such publishers as Hearst, Hachette Filipacchi and Time Out New York Partners. He has led projects to implement eCommerce capabilities, negotiate interactive gaming partnerships, craft custom digital marketing programs, establish content syndication partnerships and generally optimize a website’s functionality and revenue potential. Dustin oversaw a tripling of unique Web visitors at Time Out New York within 18 months. He has been published in Wired, MBA Jungle, The Real Deal and Sports Illustrated. At UCLA Anderson, Dustin serves on the board of the Entrepreneurship Association, as VP of Educational Programs, and the Entertainment Management Association, as VP of New Media & Gaming.

 

Connie Kim, Class of 2013 - blogger
I've worked as a broker and financial consultant for the last four years and now trying to venture into securities analysis or management consulting.  I also speak Korean and Japanese and consider myself a purveyor of all things related to Asian culture.  I'm definitely looking forward to blogging about my UCLA Anderson experience!

 

Babis Makrynikolas, Class of 2013 - blogger
Babis graduated from the American College of Greece and the Department of Banking and Financial Management at the University of Piraeus. He participated in the Erasmus Exchange program studying in the city of Gent, Belgium.  He also completed an internship with the Hellenic capital market committee and worked for the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. After fulfilling his military service, he traveled to India to join the PwC Entrepreneurship Project.  After returning to Greece he co-founded Whiztech, a start up offering consulting services on web-based business models, web development, online marketing and social media. Currently he is an MBA candidate at UCLA Anderson and an editor-in-chief for the International Journal of Young Leadership. His main interests are technology, music and writing.

 

Willem Suyderhoud, Class of 2013 - blogger, Twitter
Willem is currently a first-year student at UCLA Anderson. Prior to arriving at UCLA, Willem worked as a television sports anchor and producer in Butte, Montana, Medford, Oregon and San Francisco. There, he went by his television name, Will Southwood. Suyderhoud was simply too difficult to pronounce. Willem decided to come back to school not because he wanted to go by his true name, but because he found himself increasingly drawn to television’s future and the role digital technology will play in it. He's excited to develop the business skill set that UCLA Anderson will provide and even more excited to share his experiences through social media.

New summer bloggers on the MBA Student Voice

We are excited to announce a new group of summer bloggers to our MBA Student Voice blog!  Eight incoming first-year students will chronicle their summer experiences as they make the transition into business school this fall, as well as share their respective journeys that led them to pursuing an MBA.  These students showcase a wide range of backgrounds, professional and personal experiences, and future career plans and truly exemplify the diversity that UCLA Anderson is known for.  Read on to learn a little more about each of these students, and be sure to follow them on the MBA Student Voice!

 
Rahul Bala
I am working in Goldman Sachs as a senior technical analyst with the Program Trading equities team. I like sports and have played Badminton since '94. I have been involved with many community service initiatives since college. 

 

Charlotte Baxter
Hi, I’m Charlotte Baxter, a member of UCLA Anderson Class of 2013. I am moving to LA from Palm Beach, FL, where I own a home and live with my fiancé and our cat. I grew up in Atlanta, GA, attended Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, and worked at a bank in New York City prior to moving to Florida. For the last six years I was a Real Estate Developer of hotels in the top MSAs on both coasts, developing products such as Residence Inns in places like DC, Seattle, and San Diego. In my spare time I’m an avid marathoner and triathlete—I already bought a full-body wetsuit in anticipation of swimming in the cold Pacific instead of the Atlantic! I’m extremely excited to be attending UCLA this fall!
 
Anna Dickstein
Born and raised in the Ukraine. Currently working in pharmaceutical market research / consulting and living in the San Francisco Bay Area. Interested in meeting people from different paths of life, marketing, scenic photography and my newly-acquired M1 license. Extremely excited to start Anderson this fall!

 

 

 

 
Connie Kim
I've worked as a broker and financial consultant for the last four years and now trying to venture into securities analysis or management consulting.  I also speak Korean and Japanese and consider myself a purveyor of all things related to Asian culture.  I'm definitely looking forward to blogging about my Anderson experience!

 

Karan Kumar
Geek, optimist, opportunist, motivator (to myself). Marketer, analyst. Guitarist, drummer, music extremist. Teacher, learner. Future student at UCLA Anderson.

 

 

Evan Shuster
Canadian moving Stateside for the first time. Using my pre-MBA summer to strengthen passions for food, golf, travel and red tape. Join me for tales of cross-border move headaches, missed putts, Southern California 'WOW' moments and introductory lessons to four-down college football. Can't wait.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brian Sim
Lifelong Philadelphian, heading out west to find my name in the California cement. Or at least in the Anderson student directory.

 

 

 

Graham Cloke (guest blogger)
Graham's career background is in investment banking.  With a total of 13 years of experience in the industry, he has lived and worked in New York, London and Hong Kong, and has traveled on business to 22 countries.  His most recent employer was Citigroup, with whom he spent the last 7 years.  Prior to Citigroup, Graham worked for Credit Suisse, UBS and HSBC.  Graham obtained his undergraduate degree in economics from the University of Bristol, England.  Sensing an enormous opportunity for the outbound Chinese tourism industry and deciding to act upon several life-long ambitions, Graham most recently embarked on a 3-year adventure that led to explore much of China, learn Mandarin Chinese and travel to over 30 countries.  Born in Hong Kong to a British father and a Chinese mother, Graham has decided to combine these ambitions with a surging enthusiasm for entrepreneurship, ultimately leading him to pursue an MBA at UCLA Anderson.

 

UCLA Anderson Spotlight: From LA to the Rainforest - AMR Project Provides Unique Consulting Experience

When Deborah Yim applied to UCLA Anderson’s MBA program, she knew that hands-on learning was a big feature of the academic experience. Her plan was to transition from accounting to consulting after graduation so the more real-world experience she could gain in her new field the better. She particularly looked forward to the Applied Management Research Program (AMR) in which second-year MBA students can work on consulting projects for actual clients.

However, when she learned that her AMR project would be for Conservation International to help save the Amazon Rainforest, she was blown away. She had never expected to have an opportunity to work on such a unique consulting project much less conduct research in Suriname, but that is exactly where the AMR took her. Now that her project is wrapping up, we asked Yim to tell us about her AMR experience. Here’s what she said:

“Conservation International gave our AMR team a fairly broad question related to tourism in Suriname, which is a small country above Brazil mostly comprised of untouched rainforest. It wanted to know if tourism could provide the country with an alternative lucrative industry in place of ones such as mining that would be destructive to the rainforest. 

“Since there is hardly any information available on Suriname on the Internet, we were fortunate that we had the opportunity to visit the country for on-the-ground research. During our team’s visits, we conducted in-person interviews, studied the current infrastructure, and even tested out tourism products such as hotels and tours. We then used our data to do a value chain analysis as well as a comparative analysis to other countries like Belize and Costa Rica.

“During my last visit, we presented our findings that tourism could be a sustainable source of revenue, but that it’s very early and they have a lot to work on. This confirmed what many involved in the tourism industry in Suriname have long believed, but now they have data from our project to back it up.

“My AMR project has been a unique opportunity to not only gain consulting experience for a real client, but to apply my business skills in such an interesting and remote setting. The project really encouraged independent, out-of-the box thinking. We pulled from various aspects of our classes into this project, making it a different and effective way of learning.

“It definitely helped me achieve my goal of gaining a broader business education to transition into consulting – I’ll be working in M&A consulting for Ernst & Young after graduation.”

- MBA Admissions and Financial Aid

UCLA Anderson Spotlight: Women’s Business Connection Club President Sees Growth Opportunities

An associate consultant at a marketing firm in Los Angeles, Lindsey Walter had a unique insight into the culture at UCLA Anderson. Because her company exclusively recruited Anderson MBA students for its Los Angeles office, she got to know plenty of alumni and liked what they had to say about the school.

At the time, she was considering pursuing an MBA herself in order to move to the next level in her career, improve her communication and leadership skills, and round out her understanding of other business functions. Having heard all about Anderson’s entrepreneurial, collaborative, and student-driven environment from her coworkers, she knew it would be an ideal school for her.

When she arrived at UCLA Anderson, Walter was happy to discover the Women’s Business Connection Club, which organizes professional, social, and personal identity activities and programs.  “I thought this would be a great opportunity to meet more female students from all of the programs at Anderson as well as faculty and alumnae,” she says.

Signing up for the club’s Mentor Program, Walter’s assigned “buddy” happened to be the club’s president who not only encouraged her to become more involved with the club, but also to run for president when her term ended. Walter was excited by the idea, as she thought it would be a great opportunity to develop her communication and leadership skills as well as to help the club grow its presence on campus.

Walter, who was recently elected as the club’s president, is now working on implementing additional career events, increasing interactions with UCLA undergraduate students, conducting more community outreach programs, and organizing health-related events to benefit women’s causes. She also wants to ramp up the program that matches local alumnae with club members.

“Being involved in the Women’s Business Connection Club has really strengthened my relationships with other females on campus,” says Walter. “It’s very valuable to be able to get to know other women students, faculty and alumnae and build stronger connections with everyone. Having the opportunity to lead this club is a great example of the collaborative and student-driven environment that attracted me to Anderson in the first place.”

- MBA Admissions and Financial Aid

UCLA Anderson Spotlight: MBA Program Helps Platoon Commander Transition from Military to Consulting

As a platoon commander in the U.S. Marine Corps for four years, leadership was a big part of Jonathan Um’s day-to-day job. Heading his platoon both in the U.S. and in Iraq, he analyzed intelligence reports, acted on limited information, and worked with parties having different agendas. During that time, he became increasingly interested in gaining a more formal understanding of the management process and challenges of leadership. So when his military service ended in 2009, pursuing an MBA was the next logical step in his career path.

“UCLA Anderson was a great fit not only because my wife and I wanted to stay in southern California, but because it has such a strong focus on management and leadership principles,” he says. “I already had a law degree, but being a lawyer is very different from being an executive and I knew when I finished my military service that I wanted to go into management. The lessons I learned in the military have turned out to be very applicable to the MBA program where we work with data and facts to support business cases and projects. I’ve found a lot of commonalities between what I did in Iraq and in the military in general and business.”

Um, a native of New York, adds that he’s found UCLA to have a very military-friendly campus. “There are quite a few veterans in the MBA program and one student is actually still on active duty in the U.S. Airforce. The administration really supports veterans with things like the Yellow Ribbon Program and a special boot camp for veteran entrepreneurs in the summer. Plus, there’s a pretty big veteran military community in southern California so we have a big network.”

As for the transition from military life to school, Um says that the rigor of the first year was very challenging. “I was surprised because there is a conception about business school that it’s all about networking and transitioning into your next career. It is about those things, but UCLA Anderson gives you much more. We learned so many concrete tools through the curriculum that even after the first year, I felt like I was thinking differently and approaching problems differently.”

He notes that a highlight of his second year has been working on an independent study project with Prof. Jeffrey Dubin for the Mayor’s Office of Los Angeles. “We studied the market for electric vehicles in LA, conducting a survey, collecting data, and presenting our results to the client. It’s been a great learning experience using the actual tools we learned from the curriculum, building models, and applying techniques for real-life business issues.”

Um, who plans to work for McKinsey as a consultant after graduation, credits his UCLA Anderson education with opening the door to the business world. “Without UCLA Anderson, I wouldn’t have built this network or had these learning and business opportunities. I’ve really boosted my career here – there was no better place I could have gone to start this next phase of my career,” he says.

- MBA Admissions and Financial Aid

UCLA Anderson School of Management

UCLA Anderson Spotlight: Study Abroad Program in Brazil Gives Consultant Competitive Edge

  Erica Good in Patagonia during her International Exchange

 

While working as a consultant in Atlanta, Erica Good saw the increasing demand for consultants with Portuguese language skills to staff Brazilian projects. Having travelled there as a tourist, she was interested in learning Portuguese and about Brazil’s emerging market in greater depth. So when she started UCLA Anderson’s MBA Program last year, she started looking into study abroad opportunities in Brazil.

“At UCLA Anderson, students have an opportunity to study at a wide range of International Exchange partner schools. The school is in a network of top business schools that promotes exchanges around the world. And because we’re on the quarter system, it’s particularly doable since students aren’t gone an entire semester – you don’t miss as much of the Anderson experience in LA,” says Good, who studied abroad last fall at COPPEAD at the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro where she took classes on  intercultural negotiation, international logistics, and brand management.

“It was such an amazing experience,” she says. “I really wanted to learn about doing business in Brazil and I got a strong handle on that. I also really enjoyed meeting the other Brazilian students and I got to see quite a bit of South America by travelling on the weekends to places like Patagonia and Machu Picchu.”

The biggest challenge, notes Good, was learning a new language. “I had some Spanish skills before I left and thought that would help me learn Portuguese, but they are very different languages. After being in Brazil for a quarter, I can now read Portuguese pretty well, but because of my accent I think I understand others better than they understand me.”

Since she was studying abroad last fall during recruiting season, Good had a more customized experience looking for a post-graduation consulting job. “Before I left, I did all of my networking by talking to recruiters, meeting with Anderson alumni at consulting firms, and talking to current students who had interned at those companies over the summer. In Brazil, I did the first round of interviews by phone and flew back to LA for final round. When I interviewed with McKinsey, I actually went to their Rio office and did a teleconference with their LA office,” she says, adding that recruiters were especially interested in her study abroad experience because of the demand for consultants on Brazilian projects.

Having accepted an offer to join McKinsey’s LA office after graduation, Good says that her study abroad experience has been a highlight of her time at Anderson. “It really gave me a chance to see business in practice in a completely different cultural context. I would definitely recommend that other students do a study abroad during their time at UCLA Anderson to learn about business from a different perspective and experience a new culture.”

UCLA Anderson Ranked #1 in Best Campus Environment

This past Tuesday the Princeton Review published the 2011 edition of its annual Best Business Schools guidebook, ranking UCLA Anderson as #1 among 300 outstanding institutions for best campus environment. The ranking is based on student answers to survey questions concerning the safety, attractiveness, and location of the school.

At the Princeton Review Site there is a “Survey Says” section that highlights some of the topics about which UCLA Anderson students universally agree. You can also find answers to FAQs about the book, the survey, actual rankings, and a "User's Guide to our Business School Rankings and Ratings."

First Year UCLA Anderson MBA Student selected to receive John Wooden Leadership Fellowship

Joanna Schochet, first year UCLA Anderson student, MBA Class of 2011, is one of this year’s two recipients of the John Wooden Leadership Fellowship award along with Archana Rajan, EMBA Class of 2011. The $25,000 prize is offered in recognition of student academic merit and special leadership contributions.

Joanna’s most recent position was with Chrysalis, a non-profit social services agency assisting homeless and low-income individuals.  In her role as Executive, Outreach and Volunteer Coordinator, she grew volunteerism by 50% in six months and improved development strategies, resulting in an increase of $50,000 raised for the organization.  She has assumed several leadership roles within the Anderson Student Association (ASA), including her newly elected position as ASA Vice President, External Affairs.

You can learn more about Joanna by viewing her MBA admission audio essay which we animated on our homepage (look for “The Comedian” under audio Animations).

Archana, a Senior Manager at Symantec Corporation, founded the Southern California chapter of Child Rights and You (CRY) in 2004 and currently serves as chapter leader.  She has raised over $50,000 in the past five years in support of basic rights for underprivileged children, and has played an active role in the organization since founding of the chapter.

Congratulations Joanna and Archana for this very special honor. 

Adrian Aguirre
Associate Director of Admissions
UCLA Anderson School of Management