The MBA Student Voice

C4C 2012 - Bigger Than Ever

This year, demand for Challenge 4 Charity weekend tickets was overwhelming.  The 1,300 available tickets sold out several weeks in advance to the surprise of many.  As co-captain of the Anderson C4C tennis team, I was sad to hear that two of our players, Alex and Pam, were not able to secure a ticket before in time.  Last year, Stanford man-handled our tennis team up and down the line up, and we really wanted to put up our best possible team to make things more competitive.  Thankfully,  Stanford (the hosts of this widely popular event), had a secondary market in place so that people could have a second chance through the wait list.  

A few days before the event, both Pam and Alex fortunately secured a last minute ticket off of this secondary market.  With their help, I'm thrilled to say that we won the tennis event.  In fact, Anderson won the entire sporting event of the weekend, also securing 1st place finishes in co-ed football, table tennis, men's soccer, men and women's volleyball, and squash.  We came painfully close to clinching the men's A basketball title when Stanford's point guard drained an off-balance 3 with less than a minute to go.  Nonetheless, I am very proud of the way our guys stepped up and challenged the highly talented Stanford team (e.g., 2-time NBA champion Mark Madsen was their center, and Graham defended him really well).  The atmosphere in that Arrillaga gym was nothing short of electric.  Let's just say that it did not feel like an MBA event!

If there's anything I learned from that weekend, it's that MBAs love playing sports and cheering for teammates.  Thanks to all my fellow west-coast MBAs for the great memories.  Many bonds were formed and new friendships created during this epic weekend -- I'm pretty sure we all can agree that this result is a win-win for everyone.

Jesse Ferlianto '12
Twitter: @jferlianto

UCLA Anderson Tennis - C4C 2012 Champions!
(Photo courtesy of Lorenzo Mah) 

TED's Takeover of Our Campus

Today marks the final day of TED's four-day Takeover of UCLA Anderson.  This partnership was TED's first with an institution of higher education.  The "takeover" was designed to immerse the UCLA Anderson community in the TED experience, and I must say this event has to be one of the most memorable on-campus events of the quarter.  I'm sad to see the splashes of TED's signature velvet red go, but it's been quite a run.  Bold ideas, lively discussions, insightful panelists, challenging calls to action -- we students were treated to a highly concentrated dose all of these things as we wandered into the brightly decorated student lounge in between classes to see live recordings of various TED speakers from the 2012 conference in Long Beach.

One of the featured speakers was Jim Stengel, former Global Marketing Officer at Procter & Gamble and current adjunct professor at UCLA Anderson.  He made the case that we are entering an era where the narrative of business must change.  Companies must be driven by higher-order brand ideals in order to achieve truly sustainable growth.  These companies will attract the best talent and innovate in ways that make life better for the people they serve.  Without an ideal to guide an organization, people lose their passion to create and do meaningful work.  And without passion, your organization may be relegated to a future of mediocrity and underachievement.

The capstone event for the TED Takeover was an afternoon "campfire" with TED-inspired talks with some of our fellows classmates and professors.  Prof. Rakesh Sarin proposed his equation for the science of happiness, Prof. Bhagwan Chowdhry discussed his Financial Access @ Birth campaign, and fellow classmate Stephen Lehtonen challenged us to join the fight to design education around children's passions rather than standardized testing.  Class of 2013 students Stuti Goswami and Guy Holzman delivered inspired talks about the Dream Act and the need for corporations to pay their fair share of taxes.  Prof. Benartzi proposed a strategy for saving in the future by keeping a lid on your lifestyle while increasing earning potential.  The energy in the crowd was electric.  Standing ovations and loud cheering rumbled through the alumni plaza.  Great food and drinks + being surrounded by good company + bold innovative ideas = a night to remember.

Wish you all could have seen it for yourselves.

-- Jesse Ferlianto '12
Twitter: @jferlianto

 

 Stephen Lehtonen - my friend, classamate, and founder of Breakaway, giving his talk about education reform that had the entire room engrossed from beginning to end.  No joke.  That's tough to do these days, and this just gives you a sense of how gifted this guy truly is.

Settling into 2012

Winter quarter is well under way, and it is safe to say that we are now entering the "meat" of the quarter.  Most of us have completed what I like to call the "courtship" period of any new quarter - the introductory period when students attend various electives before locking down a schedule.  One thing that this "courtship" period has shown me is the extent to which my classmates seek to customize their classroom learning over this 20 month journey.  UCLA Anderson provides its MBAs with a flexible curriculum (12 electives), which provides us substantial freedom to organize our academic experiences around our specific needs and interests.  It's encouraging to see my peers take that freedom seriously.

Given the amount of time I spent recruiting last quarter, it's tempting for me to think that getting a dream job is the main objective of coming to b-school.  But with the recruiting season behind me, I have realized that I truly enjoy having more time and space to savor the academic component of b-school learning.  If all goes according to plan, I won't have to miss any more class due to job interviews.  That said, I must say that my professors last quarter were incredibly supportive of my recruiting efforts.  I appreciate the fact that the faculty and career services staff are on the same page when it comes to supporting their students' career aspirations.

As for my classes on deck for the winter quarter?  Thinking On Your Feet, Marketing Strategy & Planning, and Motivating Management.  I am also doing a Fall/Winter AMR Field Study with four of my most stellar classmates working on a marketing plan for a client seeking to launch a plus-sized women's clothing line.  More detail to come in my next post.  Should be a fun quarter.

- Jesse Ferlianto '12

Me and 2 of my stellar Applied Management Research (AMR) teammates

Two Thirds of the Way There

I can't believe that 4 out of the 6 quarters making up the Anderson experience are behind me.  People say that the first quarter is the most difficult, but for me, the most recent quarter was by far the most challenging.  After having the first year behind me, I must have thought to myself, "sure, I have a good sense of how things work around here, why don't I take it up another gear and take on more in year 2?".  (Jesse, what were you thinking?) 

The process of signing up for these various commitments at the end of last year went something like this:  

Career coach?  Sure.  Recruiter Relations position with the Marketing Association?  Why not.  Sussman's "Cases in Real Estate" class?  Bring it.  Net Impact Board Fellows Program?  Yes.  Peer tutor?  Yes.  AMR project?  Of course.  Classes with a lot of group projects that require more coordination?  Love it.  Recruiting for full-time positions and over 15,000 miles of travel for onsite interviews?...

...well let's just say that this last piece snuck up on me.  It was by far the most time consuming aspect of this quarter, but I had to jump in.  The window of opportunity for many of the most sought-after MBA full-time jobs is short - about 8 weeks across October thru December.  Securing a career-switching dream job was one of my main goals coming into Anderson, so this was the time to get after it.  Plus, the stakes are higher this time around since as a second year, we "play for keeps" (full-time as opposed to a summer internship).  In light of this, I took a broad approach to my search.  Unfortunately, I had already committed to a full schedule (mentioned above) and it was too late to step down and right-size my schedule.  Bye bye sleep...

Thankfully, I survived!  I completed the course work, stuck to my volunteer commitments, secured a few job offers, and didn't fall asleep behind the wheel.   

Now, I'm writing from my hotel room in Seattle, home of Amazon's headquarters and the site of the MBA Flyback Weekend for candidates with offers.  Should be a great time getting to meet more people from the company.  From now until January 9th is winter break for us.  8 hours of sleep a night never sounded so good...

-- Jesse Ferlianto '12

Challenge 4 Charity Weekend = Not Overrated

This past weekend I experienced one of the perks of going to an MBA program on the west coast - Challenge 4 Charity weekend in Palo Alto, CA!  Stanford GSB hosted the incredible event - quite a logistical feat in and of itself.

The two-day event features a comprehensive athletic competition involving students from 9 west coast MBA programs.  Over 1,000 MBAs descended upon Stanford's campus to partake in 26 different events, from more traditional sports like football, basketball, tennis and soccer to less traditional events like dodgeball, dance/cheer, and bocce ball.  C4C weekend has a tradition of being an all-around fun and social event.  Everyone's in a great mood and school spirit is high.  There was lots of good-spirited cheering and a copious amount of high fives to go around. 

One of the features of the event was Battle of the Bands.  The display of talent was incredible and each of the bands brought some serious fire power.  My jaw dropped when I heard one of my classmates do a bang up job singing "Billie Jean".  He definitely brought the house down!

I know you all are wondering about results...yes, UCLA Anderson came in 1st in the sports competition!   (and USC won in the overall contest which included fundraising and volunteer hours)  I personally had a blast participating in the tennis and dodgeball contests.  3 days of full-body muscle soreness was definitely worth it.

Random side note: former LA Laker Mark "Mad Dog" Madsen is a 2nd year student at Stanford GSB.  Not surprisingly, their basketball team won the whole thing.  My guess is that he was probably playing at 30% effort too.  Definitely a nice guy - he had several opportunities to dunk, and chose not to.  If I were 6'9" and athletic, it would take a lot of self control to pass up on a dunking opportunity!

I am definitely looking forward to C4C weekend 2012 and hope to see a lot of you there next year...see below for some of our team pictures.

- Jesse Ferlianto '12

 


UCLA Anderson Dodgeball - 3rd place

 

UCLA Tennis - 2nd place

Ferlianto Fall 2010 Recap

Greetings from Atlanta!  This time I'm writing you from my in-laws' place, where we will be spending the Christmas holiday.  It is so good to see them after being away for four months.

I am still getting my arms around the fact that we are 1/6th of the way through our MBA program at Anderson.  That Fall quarter went by too quickly!  While final exam prep accounted for a large portion of our time during finals week, it is always nice to have the perspective that grad school grades are merely a formality.  Two years focused on personal growth and learning is what we're paying for, after all.  Speaking of learning, let me take a second to reflect on some of my takeaways from the past 10 weeks:

1. Ask myself "why"?  There are so many opportunities to go after as an Anderson student - more than my 24-hr. day can handle.  Asking myself the "why" question before every decision helps me check my motivations and stay focused on my priorities, and gives me the discipline and discernment to say "no" when necessary.  I believe that most decisions we make in life involve choosing between "good" options and "better" options, rather than "good" and "bad" options.  Recognizing the subtle difference between "good' and "better" is not always easy, and asking myself "why" can help.
2. Enjoy the process.  I am often tempted to focus on the next major application deadline, the next assignment, the next presentation, the next vacation.  This thinking can get exhausting. I have found it rewarding to be in the present and to enjoy each experience to the fullest.  The reality of life is that there will always be another pressing deadline/goal to work towards.  If I'm too focused on the future, then the many beautiful things in life will simply pass me by.  Life is too short and too precious for that.
3. Make time to think.  A lot of b-school is doing.  So many things to do all the time.  We need to take time out of each day to pause for a bit, and think.  Makes the doing a lot more purposeful and focused.
4. Make time for exercise/hobbies.  Great stress reliever for the mind, good for the body.  Balance is the key.

Do I have more than four takeaways?  The answer is yes, but I'll save them for when I have writer's block next time.  :)  To my readers out there, I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a wonderful holiday.  See you in 2011!

-- Jesse Ferlianto, '12

 
* Hiking with Anderson friends at Topanga State Park to celebrate the end of Fall quarter finals.  (temperature was a lovely 75 degrees in the middle of December!)

Location Really Makes a Difference

Here's a tip for prospective MBA students: if you are planning to leave your dearest friends and family to relocate for business school, please do not underestimate the "destination" value of your future residence.  Think about how bad you would feel persuading your friends and family to use up valuable PTO days and shell out the big bucks to visit you in places like New Haven, CT, Hanover, NH, or Charlottesville, VA.  Let's be clear - I have nothing against these cities, or the schools in these cities, but I think we can all agree that it takes a lot less arm twisting to get people to visit you in sunny West LA.  Arm twisting hurts, and I presume that most of you don't want to hurt your friends. :)

With that said, a few weeks ago we had the privilege of hosting our dear friends from Atlanta, Alan & Libby, for 5 days.  It was refreshing to experience LA through their eyes, as they had not spent much time in LA before (I, on the other hand, grew up in LA before going to college).  Together, the four of us watched UCLA beat Oregon State at the Rose Bowl with a last second field goal, explored the Original Farmer's Market on Fairfax & 3rd, walked the Santa Monica Pier, toured the Getty Center's western art collection along with its unique architecture and gardens, and ate at a variety of restaurants ranging from all you can eat Korean BBQ at Koreatown's famous Road to Seoul to exotic grilled sausages at Wurstkuche in Downtown LA's historic art district.  While Susan and I were at work and class, Alan & Libby enjoyed a number of other LA attractions, including the Warner Bros. & Paramount studio tours, Universal Studios & City Walk, and a live taping of "#@$% My Dad Says".

Sure, there are many things I love about UCLA Anderson, but it would be misleading to evaluate the school's value proposition in a vacuum.  As a UCLA student and LA resident, I cannot ignore the fact that there are so many answers to the question "what fun thing do I want to do this weekend?"  I am so thankful that our friends were able and willing to fly across the country to visit us (without arm twisting, of course) and hope that you get to enjoy this luxury during your MBA experience as well.

-- Jesse Ferlianto ('12)

* At the Rose Bowl after the UCLA game, with our friends from Atlanta.  They come from an SEC background, a world where people eat footballs for breakfast, but to my surprise, enjoyed their first Pac-10 experience as well (yes, we're only 2-5 in the conference, but I still believe that we're more than "just a basketball school")!

 

* Susan and I enjoying a LOT of Korean BBQ (bulgogi, at the moment) at Road to Seoul. 

Have It Your Way: Customizing Your MBA Experience

Earlier this week I needed to leave a corporate recruiter's "happy hour" early in order to make a different event on my calendar.  This second event lasted much longer than an "hour" and certainly wasn't designed to make people "happy"!  The event, my friends, was a 3-hour corporate finance exam that ended at 9:30pm Monday night.

"But Jesse, weren't midterms held the previous week?"

Yes that is correct!  But this was not a compulsory course exam; rather, it was an optional waiver exam.

That evening, I turned down cocktails with classmates and recruiters for CAPM...nigiri for NPV...wine for WACC...beer for Beta...and stuffed mushrooms for sell-side M&A transaction analysis.  The idea is that passing the exam would allow me to waive out of the Corporate Finance core requirement this winter (giving me the option to choose an elective to replace the credits).  Before Anderson, I pursued a finance concentration at Emory and worked in investment banking, so the intro corporate finance class would merely be a review of information I had already learned before.  Not fun for me, not fair to my classmates.

Thankfully, UCLA Anderson encourages us to customize our curricula to meet our specific career interests and goals.  For starters, we do not have official majors or concentrations.  12 elective courses account for approximately half of the MBA curriculum, which provides us with tremendous flexibility.  We can take all 12 in one discipline, or take three or four in different business areas.  3 out of these 12 elective courses are considered "free electives" and can even be taken from graduate courses in other departments at UCLA.  Up to two courses of independent research may also be applied toward the free elective requirement.  And as I mentioned earlier, UCLA Anderson allows students to waive out of core classes, which frees up more time to take additional electives.

The UCLA Anderson class of 2012 is extremely diverse, and each person comes to campus with a unique set of strengths, weaknesses, interests, skills and experiences.  With a class so diverse, the ability to customize one's classroom experience throughout the two-year MBA journey is extremely valuable, and I am very glad that Anderson allows me to do just that.

-- Jesse Ferlianto ('12)

A Legacy of Impact

It is no secret that business school students tend to be aggressive when it comes to packing their schedules (Productivity 1, Inactivity 0!).  My fellow blogeteer, Kelly, already introduced you to the standard "APS" trifecta (Academic, Professional, Social), which alone can wreak havoc on any unsuspecting Google Calendar.  But in spite of this busyness, a large proportion of Anderson students still find the time to throw themselves liberally at all sorts of volunteer opportunities around Los Angeles.

Last week, over 140 Anderson students signed up to be 2010-2011 mentors for the Riordan Programs, a career-based outreach program that motivates high school students, college students and recent college graduates from diverse backgrounds and under-served communities to consider and prepare for careers in management through education, mentorship, and professional development.

Recently, dozens of Anderson students applied for placement on the boards of several Los Angeles non-profits through the inaugural Anderson Net Impact Board Fellows Program.

Last year, Anderson Challenge 4 Charity (the largest charitable organization at Anderson) raised over $100,000 and volunteered over 5,000 hours towards the Special Olympics, Junior Achievement, and Project Echo.  Over the past 14 years, Anderson C4C has volunteered tens of thousands of hours and donated over $5.2 million to its selected charities.

(I have other examples to illustrate the same point, but I'm about to hit my word count limit!)

Granted, time may be one of the scarcest resources for many Anderson students.  But that alone will not deter them from meeting local needs and making an impact whenever and wherever they can.  If this kind of culture resonates at all with you, then Anderson may just be your kind of school.

-- Jesse Ferlianto ('12)

An Ode to the Anderson 2nd Years

I have got to hand it to them.  2nd year MBA students at Anderson know how to generously 'pay it forward' for the benefit of the 1st years at Anderson.  

In one way or another, business school stretches the new student's ability to adapt, transform, and grow within a relatively short period of time.  On day one, we hit the ground running hard and fast.  The changes in environment come in many forms: new classes, new subjects, new faces, new social outlets, new career aspirations, new expectations, new resources, new love interests, and a torrent of event announcements flooding our inboxes at the rate of 100+ emails a day.  Comfort zones are shattered left and right.  24 hours never feels sufficient, as the options to fill our time abound and every appointment penciled into our calendars comes with a palpable opportunity cost.  Our brains generate an endless stream of questions and we realize that we need someone to help take the fire hose out of our mouths.

Where do we go?

Two words:

Second Years.

Talk about adding value to a campus.  While they are some of the busiest people at Anderson, second years make themselves incredibly available.  Here are only some of the ways they do it:

* Anderson Career Team (ACT) Coaches:  On a weekly/bi-weekly basis, over 60 second year students volunteer their time to mentor and advise 30+ industry/function-specific teams of first year students in their career pursuits.  The teams work together to review resumes, polish networking skills, and motivate each other to secure a summer internship.  My ACT coaches, Justin and Matt, have been phenomenal to date.

* Club Leadership: Anderson is a heavily student-run campus, and it's the second years who have the institutional knowledge to make things happen, and therefore do most of the heavy lifting. 

* Coffee Chats/Informational Interviews: On a weekday afternoon in Roma (Anderson's central cafe), I often see tables saturated with pairs of MBA students (one first year & one second year) chatting about a wide range of topics: summer internships, company and industry insights, recruiting advice, "can't miss" club events, candid professor assessments, case competition coaching, where to get a quality haircut or car wash, etc.

When you get in to Anderson and arrive on campus next year, don't forget to show your second years some love.  They truly deserve it.

-- Jesse Ferlianto ('12)

 

* Picture of Section C (first year class is divided into 5 sections) after being awarded the coveted Section Cup during orientation.  We were led by two fantastic second year orientation leaders: Andrew and Stef!