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EssentialGuide2014|15 UCLA ANDERSON SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT

Veritas Prep 2014/15 Essential Guide to UCLA Anderson School of Management

Thank you for choosing Veritas Prep to assist in your journey to business school! We know that the application process can be a daunting and life-changing decision, so we’ve designed this Guide with you in mind. Many applicants may be looking only for essay tips and tricks, but success in business school admissions is not driven merely by a flashy essay. Conducting deep due diligence on each of your target schools and demonstrating an academic, professional, and cultural fit with each program will be critical in crafting the kind of personal and genuine application that admissions officers are looking for.

This Veritas Prep Essential Guide to UCLA Anderson offers insights you cannot find any-where else:

• Insider perspectives from current students and recent alumni

• Expert insight highlighting aspects that will directly impact your student experience

• Data-driven analysis and comparisons to peer schools

• Easily scannable headings so you can focus on what matters most

• External links so you can easily explore topics in greater detail

• Admissions advice from the world’s leading MBA admissions experts

COMPREHENSIVE SCHOOL PACKAGES (most popular): Your complete, start-to-finish service for everything from target school selection, resume review, essay brainstorming, and editing to mock interviews and waitlist assistance. Only with Veritas Prep will you work with a Head Consultant™ with insider admissions experience, plus a School Specialist™ with firsthand knowledge of UCLA Anderson.

HOURLY PACKAGES: For applicants who seek ultimate flexibility, you may work with an expert consultant on any aspect of the application process on an hourly basis.

MOCK INTERVIEWS: Prepare for your interview with a Veritas Prep Anderson Specialist who has firsthand knowledge of the interview process. Your consultant will provide feedback for improvement so that you can walk into your interview prepared and confident.

Admissions Consulting ServicesIf you are interested in assistance in the application process, we have a number of services to fit your needs and the most diverse and experienced MBA admissions consulting team ever assembled. For more information, please visit our website.

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What’s Inside

Getting the Most Out of This Guide 2

What Should I Look For in an MBA Program? 3

UCLA Anderson Snapshot 4 What Anderson Is Known For 4 What Makes UCLA Anderson Different 4 What’s New at Anderson 5 UCLA Anderson Is a Good Fit for You If… 6

UCLA Anderson at a Glance 8

Academics at UCLA Anderson 10 What Anderson Is Known For 10 You Oughta Know 10 Nuts & Bolts 11 Popular Professors 12 Similar Academic Programs 13

Employment & Careers at Anderson 14 What Anderson Is Known For 14 You Oughta Know 15 Similar Programs for Professional Opportunities 16

Culture & Campus Life at UCLA Anderson 17 What Anderson Is Known For 17 You Oughta Know 17 Similar Programs Culturally 18

Admissions at UCLA Anderson 20 What UCLA Anderson Is Looking For 20 Preparing to Apply 20 You Oughta Know 21 The Online Application Form 22 The Essays 23 Recommendations 25 The Interview 27

Veritas Prep and Your UCLA Anderson Application 29 Your Personalized Anderson Consulting Team 29 The Ultimate Admissions Committee™ 29 How it Works 30

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Getting the Most Out of This Guide

Deciding Where to ApplyAs you determine where you want to apply, you can use the Academics, Employment & Careers, and Culture & Campus Life sections to explore the school. Each section highlights differences between UCLA Anderson and its peer schools, but the UCLA Anderson Snapshot section may be most helpful to get a quick sense of the program and its student body.

Maximizing Your Campus Visits and Info SessionsAlthough you’ll gain many insiders’ perspectives on the school throughout this Guide, we highly recommend visiting campus if you have the means to do so. A campus visit will open your eyes to just how different each business school can be. Use this Guide to ask more insightful questions in your campus visit or information session.

Discussing with Your RecommenderWe suggest that you look closely at the UCLA Anderson Snapshot and other sections of this Guide, determine your profile strengths and weaknesses, and have a frank discussion with your recommender about why you’re applying to the school. This way, your recommender can emphasize stories and examples that will clearly make your case to the admissions committee.

Writing the EssaysOnce you’ve decided Anderson is the right fit for you, use the Admissions sec-tion to find our suggestions for tackling the application components, espe-cially Anderson’s particularly challenging essay.

Preparing for Your InterviewIf you have received an interview invitation, congratulations! Expect to field questions about why you want to get your MBA and how Anderson can en-able you to achieve your goals. Show how you’ll contribute to campus by high-lighting the student clubs and organizations in which you will get involved.

Getting Ready for Campus LifeWere you one of the 22% of applicants to be admitted to the Anderson School? You’ve made it! Now it’s time to prepare for your new life in Westwood. Check out the Culture & Campus Life section to learn where most students decide to live and what to expect on campus. The Academics section will help you step into class with confidence on day one. Good luck!

G E T T I N G T H E M O S T O U T O F T H I S G U I D E

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What Should I Look For in an MBA Program?

Many candidates simply look at one or two of the business school rankings and decide where to apply to school. While the rankings can be a good start, you should dive in much deeper to determine where you will ultimate-ly thrive. We recommend that you ask the following questions as you re-search your target schools:1. Am I qualified to be there? Look at class profile statistics to see how

you stack up. Be wary of full GMAT ranges, for example, because if you are about 35 points or more below the school’s average, you’re going to be in the bottom 10% of the class. You will need a dramatically com-pelling reason for the admissions committee to admit you over similar candidates who are more qualified.

2. Do the school’s academic offerings match my goals? Review the Academics section to determine whether the school’s teaching meth-ods match your learning style. Dive into the course offerings to see what interests you most.

3. Do my target industries/companies recruit at the school? Does this program send many people into my desired field? This can be one of the key factors in determining whether a particular pro-gram is a match for your professional goals, so don’t just gloss over the Employment & Careers section. To be honest, you can probably get a job in pretty much any industry coming out of a top-tier MBA program. However, more stress and legwork may be necessary to find a job in par-ticular industries, so you should understand the recruiting strengths and weaknesses of your target schools.

4. I’m going to be living there for two years (at most full-time programs). Am I going to thrive in the school’s culture and ge-ography? Are you looking for a large program or a small one? Urban, suburban, or rural? U.S. or international? East Coast, Midwest, South, or West? A school where almost everyone lives together close to cam-pus or where the student body tends to be more spread out? An aca-demic “meat grinder” or a “two-year vacation”? A buttoned-down or more casual atmosphere? Check out our Culture & Campus Life sec-tion to experience the school from the students’ perspective.

All right. Now that you know what to look for, let’s see what UCLA Ander-son has to offer!

W H AT S H O U L D I LO O K F O R I N A N M B A P R O G R A M ?

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UCLA Anderson SnapshotWhat Anderson Is Known For

Southern California sun. Many of the nation’s top MBA programs are located in cities in the Northeast and Midwest that don’t have particularly great weather. At Anderson, not only do you get a rigorous management education, but you also have plenty of opportunities to enjoy the incredible Southern California weather! Many students take to surfing, beach volleyball, and many other SoCal activities. The San-ta Monica beach, somewhere between 15 minutes and an hour away (depending on traffic), and many of the school’s activities are located there.

Big social scene. This goes probably hand-in-hand with its location in South-ern California, but Anderson is known for its friendly students, strong showing at school- and club-sponsored activities, and strong party scene off campus.

Breadth of interests. One of Anderson’s challenges in marketing itself to poten-tial applicants is that it isn’t known for just one thing, such as consulting, marketing, finance, health care, or another specialty. The school has long-established research centers in global business; media entertainment and sports; finance; entrepreneur-ship; macroeconomics and public policy; and real estate. Often research centers im-pact students very minimally, but Anderson’s centers often drive courses that are of-fered, interact with student clubs, drive the school’s reputation among recruiters in many industries, and bring high-profile speakers to campus. As a result, the school sends a number of graduates into each of these industries, among others.

What Makes UCLA Anderson Different

The Anderson culture. The emphasis on teamwork inside and outside of the classroom is the hallmark of the UCLA Anderson experience and the foundation for the rest of the school’s approach. Student collaboration and leadership within teams are the attributes that tie everything together at UCLA Anderson, and not just among the full-time MBA students, but across all three MBA programs (full-time, fully employed, and executive). Most afternoon electives have a mix of both FEM-BA and full-time students, all the student clubs and organizations are a mix of all three groups of students, and the school frequently hosts All-Anderson Networking events to promote the intermingling of its different programs.

There are several schools with great student cultures. NYU Stern is known for the way students look out for each other during the job search process, and Duke Fuqua is legendary for the enthusiasm on display from the various student groups. Despite the focus on teamwork at many top programs, Anderson’s culture is largely unmatched, save perhaps for Kellogg. In fact, Anderson and Kellogg can often seem very similar in this area of true collaboration and teamwork. Read more about this aspect of Anderson in our Culture & Campus Life section.

The emphasis on teamwork inside and outside of the classroom is the hallmark of the UCLA Anderson experience and the foundation for the rest of the school’s approach.

U C L A A N D E R S O N S N A P S H OT

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Sustainable business. UCLA was the first major business school to create a special certificate in sustainability for its MBA program, and now the Leaders in Sustainability certificate program has grown to more than 100 students each year. Anderson is also seeking LEED certification for its building, and students often par-ticipate in the 1,000 Homes competition and the California Clean Innovation Con-ference, among other events.

Entrepreneurship. Other schools offer programs in entrepreneurship, but few have innovation and new thinking ingrained into the culture the same way that UCLA Anderson does. From the Business Creation Option of its Applied Manage-ment Research (AMR) requirement—in which students literally start a new ven-ture—to the multiple business plan competitions and Entrepreneurship Week, An-derson students are immersed in the mindset of entrepreneurship on campus.

West Coast finance. If you’re looking for a finance job but aren’t the Wall Street type, Anderson is a major feeder school to offices and firms outside of New York City. It also sends a handful of graduates each year to the major New York offices, although the networks of Columbia, NYU Stern, Wharton, and other East Coast–based programs are much stronger.

What’s New at Anderson

A new brand positioning. UCLA Anderson has jumped on the business school bandwagon of adding a tagline to the school. Anderson’s is “Think in the Next,” which we find a bit underwhelming. However, new taglines for Wharton (“Knowl-edge for Action”), Berkeley-Haas (“Leading through Innovation”), and Kellogg (first, “Think Bravely,” and now, “Inspiring Growth”) seem equally unnecessary. Howev-er, the idea behind Anderson’s new brand positioning is that it attracts candidates who are “creative pioneers” and prepares leaders whose dream careers may not have been invented yet. This fits well with the school’s strengths in technology and entre-preneurship.

More financial engineers. Anderson reported a significant increase in the num-ber of applications to its Masters in Financial Engineering (MFE) program this past year. The program saw 470 applicants for the Class of 2014, compared to 266 during the previous year. This trend is likely a result of more “big data” jobs popping up across sectors. Anderson’s one-year master’s program targets students interested in technical areas of corporate finance, including money management, investment banking, risk management, and private equity or hedge fund operations. The pro-gram itself is growing with the increase in students, now offering its own dedicated staff for career services.

A growing Flex program. Anderson developed one of the most innovative MBA offerings we’ve seen in many years, called FEMBA Flex. It’s a hybrid between a tradi-tional part-time MBA program and an online program degree. Students attend class

U C L A A N D E R S O N S N A P S H OT

FEMBA Flex is a hybrid between a traditional part-time MBA program and an online program degree. Flex continues to grow in popularity, and students are raving about their experience!

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in person one weekend per month, and they attend all other class sessions online. Flex constitutes one section of the Fully Employed MBA (FEMBA) program, and they share a joint application. Flex continues to grow in popularity, and students who participate in it have given rave reviews of their experience. We wouldn’t be surprised if it grows to two sections in the near future.

EDGE for undergrads. Anderson recently conducted its second summer EDGE program, a new four-week offering designed to give undergraduates and non-busi-ness majors access to some of Anderson’s premier business resources. The program, which launched in July 2013, offers classes, workshops, and lectures to students in-terested in learning business basics so that they may gain a competitive edge in the business world and post-college job market. Rising college juniors, seniors, and re-cent graduates may apply for the program starting in the fall. There are four applica-tion rounds, and additional information can be found on Anderson’s website.

UCLA Anderson Is a Good Fit for You If…

You’re interested in media and entertainment. Don’t be fooled by percentag-es: About 9% of Anderson grads go into the entertainment industry upon graduation, but that represents more than double the proportion of students going into the field from any other top-tier school. Few schools have the strength, resources, or connec-tions that UCLA has in the entertainment industry. It’s not just the obvious advan-tage of the location being in the entertainment capital of the world, but Anderson also has ties to industry that make it a natural choice for anyone seeking to enter this high-powered career.

You’re a techie. Whether you’re coming from the tech industry or want to tran-sition into it, Anderson has suddenly become a powerhouse, seemingly out of no-where. About 21% of the admitted class came from tech and 26% of graduates went into the field, whether up north in California’s Silicon Valley or locally in LA. The areas of Santa Monica, Venice, and West Los Angeles have now been dubbed “Sili-con Beach,” as large tech companies and new startups continue to flock to the area. Anderson now sends more graduates into the tech sector than any other industry—including financial services or consulting!

You want to stay in California. All schools tend to send the most graduates to companies in their own region after graduation, but few are skewed as strongly as Anderson. A whopping 68% of the Class of 2013 took jobs in California after gradu-ating—with 46% staying in Southern California and about 22% moving to Northern California. Even Berkeley (Haas), which is known for its high percentage of gradu-ates who stay in California, cannot top UCLA. If you’re looking to stay in California after school—whether you’re looking at consulting, finance, technology, marketing, media, or other roles—you’d be hard-pressed to find a stronger network in this state.

You’re an entrepreneur—or want to become one. The strength of UCLA’s Price

U C L A A N D E R S O N S N A P S H OT

68% of the class of 2013 took jobs in California after graduation.

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Center for Entrepreneurial Studies rivals that of the best business programs around. From the variety of business plan competitions to the innovative classes on venture formation and growth, Anderson is a place where startups are formed.

You want a strong part-time option. Anderson’s Fully Employed MBA (FEM-BA, pronounced “fem-buh”) program is often ranked among the top-five part-time programs worldwide. Many candidates find value in the UCLA FEMBA program that allows them to keep their job while earning their MBA. While pursuing a degree at the same time as managing the demands of a career (and often a family) can be very challenging, it is worthwhile for those who feel that they cannot afford to take time out of their career to pursue a full-time program.

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U C L A A N D E R S O N AT A G L A N C E

UCLA Anderson at a Glance

Harvard

88.7%

11.3%

9,315Stanford

6.8%

93.2%

7,108Wharton

18.7%

81.3%

6,036

Applicants by SchoolPercent admitted

Ross

33.7%66.3%

2,650Stern3,661

16%

84%

Anderson3,121

22.7%77.3%

39%

Women

36%

33%

Anderson

Ross

Stern

Haas

29%

39%

Women

36%

33%

Anderson

Ross

Stern

Haas

29%

Anderson

Average Age

29

Haas28

SternAnderson RossHaas

Average GPA

3.533.47 3.403.61Average GMAT Scores

707SternAnderson RossHaas721 704714

Nationality

44

Countries Represented

68%U.S.

32%International

Citizens

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U C L A A N D E R S O N AT A G L A N C E

Undergrad Majors

BusinessAnderson

43%

25%

2 4%

STEM

OTHER

Humanities/Social Science/Economics Stern

46%

32%

22%

Ross

27%

38%

34%

HaasAnderson

30% 40% 24% 16%

TuckRoss

United States Minorities

From Consulting/Finance Sector Pre-MBA

Stern

Anderson

Haas

Finance

Consulting 22%14%

24%

10%

31% 28%

Class Size

Harvard

Wharton

Columbia

Kellogg

Booth

Ross

Duke

Sloan

Stanford

Stern

Anderson

Yale

Tuck

Haas

932

837

749

652

581

455

437

406

406

392

360

291

277

252

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Academics at UCLA AndersonWhat Anderson Is Known For

Variety of teaching methods. Some MBA programs such as Harvard Business School and the University of Virginia’s Darden School are well known for their use of the case method, but Anderson professors are given free rein to teach classes as they see fit. Classes utilize cases, lecture, experiments, and hands-on consulting projects.

Market-focused curriculum. When Anderson redesigned its curriculum a few years ago, the administration had one goal in mind: to prepare its students for pro-fessional careers. They brought in outside consultants, conducted numerous stud-ies, and collaborated with major recruiters. Anderson’s curriculum is geared more toward recruiting and professional opportunities than nearly any other school’s, ex-cept perhaps the Johnson School at Cornell. Overall, the core curriculum is pretty inflexible, as all students must take all nine required courses. However, the sequence of some core courses may be tailored to one’s professional recruiting goals. Electives are categorized into three professional tracks and 10 career-oriented specializa-tions, as we discuss in further detail in the Nuts & Bolts section.

Faculty research. Professors at Anderson tend to be engaging, although you’ll probably get a dud or two at some point in your MBA experience. However, they really shine when it comes to research. Anderson professors are published in top journals more than almost any other school’s. Students may not feel this aspect of the university provides much value to their experience, but professors can bring this cutting-edge research into the classroom to directly enhance the education. In addition, some rankings include an intellectual capital component in their meth-odologies, which means that the strong research emphasis at Anderson boosts the school’s rank.

You Oughta Know

Unique use of sections. At Anderson, you’ll have two different sections of about 70 people with whom you’ll take core courses. You will take six core courses with your primary section, and three courses with your secondary section. This struc-ture allows you to form relationships with a larger group of people than you might at schools where you take all core courses with just one section. However, it allows close bonds to form more easily than at MBA programs that do not utilize sections or clusters.

Case competitions—lots of them. Competitions, both at home and at other schools, are such a large part of academic life at Anderson that the school consid-ers them a key part of its hands-on learning opportunities. The school hosts several

First-year curriculum includes: • Financial Accounting • Managerial Economics • Data and Decisions • Marketing Management • Foundations of Finance • Operations Technology Management • Business Strategy • Organizational Behavior • Communications for Leaders • Up to three electives

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About 20% of the second-year class elects to study abroad. The quarter system at UCLA means that it’s easier to take advantage of the international exchange program.

competitions on campus, including the Knapp Venture Competition, Fink Center Stock Pitch Competition, Legacy Case Competition, Sports Case Competition, and Net Impact Consulting Challenge, among others. In addition, students travel to, and often win, similar competitions across the country. Many MBA programs host and participate in competitions, but we haven’t seen this level of emphasis at any other school.

Academic competitiveness. Anderson has a traditional A–F grading policy, al-though grades below a C are rarely given. However, unlike at many MBA programs, recruiters may ask about grades and students may openly discuss them. Unlike at MBA programs with grade non-disclosure policies, firms will use GPA as a key part of their evaluative process. Anderson does not place as many students into top investment banks and management consulting firms, such as Goldman Sachs, McKinsey & Co., and so forth, so grades can become an important factor in securing an interview with a top firm. This means that grades matter much more to students at Anderson than those at most other top MBA programs, and this may become a consideration when you’re selecting Anderson among other schools.

Nuts & Bolts

Tracks and specializations. In their second year, many students choose to pur-sue one of three tracks in consulting, finance, or marketing. These tracks were de-signed with industry input to ensure Anderson graduates have the skills to hit the ground running. In addition, students may earn specializations in accounting, cor-porate finance, entertainment, entrepreneurship, global management, health care, investment management, sustainability, real estate, and technology management. We find this a very straightforward way to guide students toward their goals. Most schools continue to offer majors along academic departments, such as Decision Sci-ences, Organizational Behavior, or Operations, which offer less-clear direction for students pursuing specific career paths.

Applied Management Research (AMR) program. Further emphasis is being made within the UCLA Anderson curriculum on the second-year capstone project, which is somewhat similar to the Multidisciplinary Action Project (MAP) that’s been a cornerstone of Michigan Ross. The AMR project—a program that partners MBA students with real-world executives to solve current business challenges—is the only prescribed course in the second year curriculum; all other coursework during the latter half of the program is of the student’s own choosing. It is the hall-mark of experiential learning at Anderson, and has been a part of the Anderson cur-riculum and experience since 1967, decades earlier than similar programs at other top business schools. (For example, Harvard Business School finally implemented FIELD experiential learning experiences into its core in 2011.)

International exchanges. Foreign exchange programs are extremely popular with second-year UCLA Anderson students. Approximately 20% of the second-year

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class elects to study abroad, and UCLA Anderson is a member of Partnership in In-ternational Management (PIM), a network of 60 international MBA programs. The quarter system at UCLA means that it’s easier to take advantage of the internation-al exchange program, since less time is spent away from your home campus than if you were attending a business school on a semester system. The most-popular study abroad destinations include Spain and Australia.

During these exchange programs, Anderson students literally trade places with stu-dents from the other school, which means that a number of students each term come from these top international MBA programs to attend class in LA. This adds an addi-tional and significant element of diversity at UCLA Anderson.

Popular Professors

Senior Lecturer Eric SussmanIn any discussion about “rock star” professors at Anderson, Eric Sussman’s name jumps to the top of the list. Professor Sussman has been voted the Outstanding Teacher of the Year an astounding 13 times by Anderson students since he started at the school in 1995, and he was ranked among the top-10 most popular business school professors nationwide by Businessweek in 2011. He teaches courses in the following areas: accounting, financial statement analysis, corporate financial re-porting, and real estate investment. Off campus, Professor Sussman is the president of Amber Capital, Inc., manager of Fountain Management, LLC and Clear Capital, LLC, and managing partner of Sequoia Real Estate Partners and the Pacific Value Opportunities Funds.

Professor Antonio BernardoProfessor Bernardo is one of the leading minds in the area of corporate finance and asset pricing, and has been published in virtually every leading academic journal. He teaches the bulk of his courses in the areas of economics and finance, and has been at Anderson since 1994, where he has twice won the Teaching Excellence Award voted on by second-year full-time MBA students.

Adjunct Professor George GeisAn author of dozens of articles and six books, George Geis is a force to be reckoned with in mergers and acquisitions, particularly in the technology industry. He has won the Outstanding Teacher of the Year award five times, most recently in 2012. He teaches courses in mergers and acquisitions, financial modeling, entrepreneur-ship, and accounting. Always with his finger on the pulse of the technology industry, Professor Geis offers many insights on his blog.

Visiting Adjunct Professor Tom Wurster Professor Wurster is the former senior partner and managing director of Boston Consulting Group’s Los Angeles office, where he led all of BCG’s West Coast oper-

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AC A D E M I C S AT U C L A A N D E R S O N

ations. He has quickly become a student favorite at Anderson, bringing practical insights on how to take ideas from the strategic insight level to execution in his elec-tive course Insight to Outcome.

Lecturer Paul HabibiFor anyone remotely interested in real estate investment and development, Profes-sor Habibi is considered “must take.” A successful real estate investor himself, Pro-fessor Habibi translates his success into practical takeaways for his students, who often say they learned more in his course than any other at UCLA Anderson.

Similar Academic Programs

If the academics at Anderson are attractive to you, then you’ll be in good company. Anderson has a fairly traditional core curriculum structure and uses a variety of teaching methods common among most business schools today. We’ve listed a few programs that have particular academic features in common.

Michigan (Ross). Ross and Anderson share numerous academic similarities. A hallmark of the Anderson experience is its AMR project in the second year. Ross was also an early pioneer in the use of a major, real-world project to offer “action learning” opportunities. In addition, Ross has strong full-time, evening, weekend, and EMBA options. Ross also offers one-year master’s degrees in accounting, entre-preneurship ( jointly with the engineering school), management, and supply chain. Anderson offers a one-year master’s degree only in financial engineering.

Cornell (Johnson). After completing the traditional core requirements in your first semester at Johnson, you’ll choose an immersion among marketing, operations, investment banking, managerial finance, asset management, sustainability, con-sulting, or a customized option. At Veritas Prep, we really like this structure, as it offers significant customization based on a student’s professional aspirations ahead of his or her summer internship.

Dartmouth (Tuck). Tuck’s core curriculum is pretty standard fare, although its varied teaching methods and strong emphasis on teamwork are quite similar to An-derson’s. In addition, Tuck has a first-year consulting project similar to Anderson’s AMR that focuses on real-world problems with sponsor companies.

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Employment & Careers at AndersonWhat Anderson Is Known For

Media and entertainment. If you’re looking for a business job in Hollywood, UCLA Anderson is the place to be. With full-time, part-time, and EMBA programs all serving students who ultimately take jobs with local film, music, television, video game, and other digital media companies, its network is incredibly strong in Los An-geles. The industry is so insular that, outside of Harvard or Stanford grads, students from MBA programs outside of Los Angeles can have an extremely difficult time get-ting jobs in Los Angeles entertainment.

Technology. Traditionally, when MBA candidates were looking for strong tech-nology programs, they turned to Stanford, Berkeley-Haas, and MIT Sloan. In the past five years or so, however, UCLA Anderson has come on strong in this area. The school takes great pride in adapting to new trends and the needs of its students, and this strength is promoted in its new brand positioning, “Think in the Next.” As a re-sult, the school has put significant resources into technology-related curriculum and employment services. Now, more than a quarter (26%) of its graduates enter this sector.

Finance. UCLA Anderson fills an important role as one of very few West Coast–based MBA programs with strength in finance. Stanford sends about a quarter of its class into the finance industry, but the jobs tend to be heavily skewed toward highly competitive private equity and venture capital roles. Berkeley-Haas sends just 15% of its class into finance, so this leaves a significant opening for Anderson. One in five graduates will take a job in the finance industry, although a third (34%) of graduates

E M P LOY M E N T & C A R E E R S AT U C L A A N D E R S O N

Graduates entering the technology industry

Haas 33%Stanford 32%Anderson 26%Sloan 19%HBS 18%

Graduates entering media and entertainment jobs

Anderson 9%Stern 5%HBS 4%Wharton 3%Yale 2%

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E M P LOY M E N T & C A R E E R S AT U C L A A N D E R S O N

describe their role as finance-related. This means that beyond traditional invest-ment banking roles, Anderson sends a lot of graduates into finance roles in indus-tries such as media, technology, real estate, and others.

You Oughta Know

Extremely diverse career paths. Traditional top-tier MBA programs send as many as two-thirds of their graduating classes into just two industries: management consulting and finance. In contrast, Anderson sends just a third (34%) into these in-dustries. This makes Anderson’s graduating classes among the most professionally diverse of any school. We’ll highlight some areas of strength that may be less well known here.

Real estate. Anderson has some amazing, hands-on opportunities for its students interested in real estate, coordinated through the UCLA Ziman Center for Real Es-tate, a multidisciplinary center of both the business school and law school. You’ll find that Anderson sends about 5% of its graduating class into real estate, which doesn’t sound like much. However, almost every other MBA program sends just 1–3% of its graduating class into the field, so Anderson dwarfs them all.

Consumer products. With its strong emphasis in marketing and brand manage-ment, Kellogg is generally seen as the king of consumer products jobs, but it sends just one percent more of its class (14%) into consumer goods or retail positions than does Anderson (13%). Top employers tend to have Southern California operations, such as Mattel, Nestle USA, General Mills, Johnson & Johnson, and the consumer products divisions of media companies such as Disney Consumer Products.

Entrepreneurship. Although UCLA Anderson’s Price Center is well known in the field of entrepreneurship, the program raises relatively few entrepreneurs imme-diately upon graduation. Just less than 4% of graduates start their own businesses rather than recruiting for a full-time job, clearly surpassed by Stanford (17%), MIT Sloan (9%), Wharton (7%), and Harvard (7%).

Graduates entering the real estate industry

Anderson 5%Wharton & Columbia 3%Stanford 2%Kellogg, Duke, & Yale 1%

Graduates electing to pursue entrepreneurial opportunities

Stanford 17%Sloan 9%HBS & Wharton 7%Anderson 4%Yale 3%

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Adapting to career trends. One thing that Anderson prides itself on is its ability to adapt to career trends. For example, the technology boom in Southern California has largely played out over just five years, and yet the school has added significant resources in the area, attracting many candidates interested in tech. The school was ahead of the curve when it came to social enterprise and will likely adapt again to the next big trend in MBA recruiting.

Similar Programs for Professional Opportunities

Berkeley (Haas). Both Berkeley-Haas and UCLA Anderson send the majority of their graduates to jobs within California, often to similar employers. Anderson sends about a quarter of its graduates into the tech industry, and Haas sends a third. However, Haas sends just 15% of its graduates into finance, the lowest proportion of any top-10 school. It makes up for this deficiency by sending more graduates into consulting, energy (particularly “cleantech”), and health care.

USC (Marshall). At 11.4%, Marshall sends more of its grads into media and en-tertainment jobs than any other MBA program we’ve seen. Marshall isn’t a top-15 MBA program overall, but it typically lands in the top 25 or 30 in most rankings. The school has an extremely strong “Trojan Network” in Southern California, so if you’d like to get a job in the area, you would be well-served to attend Marshall over many out-of-state programs that are much higher ranked.

Marshall sends an even higher number of graduates into real estate than does An-derson, and it is devoting major resources to entrepreneurship with the goal of be-coming the number-one MBA program in the field.

Stanford. From a surface level, Anderson and Stanford have many similarities when it comes to recruiting trends. Both schools send fewer than 50% of their grad-uates into the traditional fields of management consulting and finance and high per-centages of their classes into the tech sector. They each send 6% of their graduating classes into the healthcare sector, more than the average MBA program. However, of the people who go into the finance industry, Stanford sends far more into private eq-uity and venture capital, with fewer going into traditional investment banking than from Anderson. In addition, its average salary is nearly $25,000 more than the aver-age UCLA graduate’s of $111,000.

UNC (Kenan-Flagler). In 2015, Kenan-Flagler is just three spots behind Ander-son in the U.S. News & World Report ranking of top business schools (#19 and #16, respectively). Kenan-Flagler is known for being a powerhouse in the real estate industry, sending 7% of its class into the field—more than either USC Marshall or UCLA Anderson. In addition, it sends about a quarter of its graduates into the fi-nancial services industry, 17% into consulting, and 14% into technology. A whopping 26% of graduates take a marketing role upon graduation.

E M P LOY M E N T & C A R E E R S AT U C L A A N D E R S O N

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C U LT U R E & C A M P U S L I F E AT U C L A A N D E R S O N

Culture & Campus Life at UCLA AndersonUCLA Anderson’s friendly and collaborative culture is often a huge reason appli-cants choose to attend. Check out some highlights of what makes the Anderson cul-ture unique.

What Anderson Is Known For

Extensive student involvement. Cultures at MBA programs tend to range from very light student involvement in clubs, conferences, competitions, peer-to-peer mentoring, and other activities, to very heavy involvement in such extracurriculars. Anderson definitely falls on the “heavy involvement” side of the spectrum, rivaled perhaps only by Kellogg at Northwestern University. Students lead many major ini-tiatives at the school and have driven its rapid pace of change.

Shared success. Anderson students are really big on helping one another in every aspect of the program, including professional recruiting. Although students at An-derson may be competing for fewer spots at the most traditional recruiting compa-nies such as Goldman Sachs and McKinsey & Co., they remain extremely supportive of one another in preparing for interviews and celebrate one another’s successes.

Robust social life. It seems that there’s always a group of students headed to the beach, going out for drinks, or hosting a party at their own apartment in the area around UCLA. One advantage of being located in bustling Los Angeles is that there are always major events happening locally, including concerts, shows, and other ac-tivities of which Anderson students love to take advantage.

You Oughta Know

Student organizations. Just as admissions officers at Anderson are looking for candidates who want to make a difference in the world after they graduate, they also seek those who will have an impact while at school. A significant way that students make this kind of impact is through student clubs and organizations. Many students will spend about 10 to 15 hours per week as club leaders and another five hours of their week participating in club activities.

Giving back. Another key theme of the Anderson experience is giving back, and many students get heavily involved with Challenge for Charity (C4C), which raised more than $100,000 and volunteered more than 5,000 hours last year for Special Olympics, Junior Achievement, and Project ECHO. As mentioned previously, this culture emanates within Anderson’s walls as students support one another in aca-demics and professional ambitions as well.

Just as admissions officers at Anderson are looking for candidates who want to make a difference in the world after they graduate, they also seek those who will have an impact while at school.

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Major events & activities. As you can probably tell by now, there are plenty of events and activities at UCLA Anderson! Since there are no classes on Fridays, a corporate or club sponsor hosts “Anderson Afternoons” every Thursday on the north lawn. It’s a happy hour event where students get together and where corporate recruiters can mingle with students in a more relaxed setting. Other popular events include tailgating parties at the Rose Bowl, which is quite a trek from Westwood to Pasadena, where the UCLA football team plays its home games; the annual Hallow-een party (attended by nearly 1,000 people even though the total student body of both classes is less than 800!); the Challenge for Charity (C4C) Casino Night fundraiser; the C4C Stanford Weekend, where UCLA brings two to three times the number of students as any other school to compete in athletics and raise money; and various informal trips to Las Vegas, Palm Springs, and San Diego throughout the year.

Popular hangouts. You’ll find Anderson students hanging out at several local bars in Westwood and Santa Monica, including Q’s Billiard Club and Cabo Cantina on nearby Wilshire Boulevard, and Busby’s West and The Bungalow in Santa Monica.

Where to live. Nearly 95% of Anderson students live in UCLA’s neighborhood of Westwood, or nearby in Brentwood and Santa Monica. As with most things in Los Angeles, it’s still a bit more spread out than the student bodies of many other schools such as Harvard, Stanford, and Tuck, where students tend to live very close to one another.

Similar Programs Culturally

Northwestern (Kellogg). Anderson and Kellogg are very much kindred spirits. Both programs have highly engaged student bodies that are extremely friendly and collaborative. As a result, the students tend to be extremely social and are not afraid to party! Extracurricular activities are a huge part of the MBA experience at both programs, and students spearhead many of the major initiatives at each school.

Michigan (Ross). Ross and Anderson share many similarities, including their ties to large state schools and class sizes that land somewhere in the middle among top-15 schools. Both parent universities have strong athletics programs that MBA stu-dents really get involved with, unlike at most other top schools. Of course, Ann Arbor is a much more classic “college town” than sprawling Los Angeles, so the student experiences are quite different in several respects.

NYU (Stern). Stern is known for its fun, engaged student body that loves to social-ize and isn’t afraid to party. The school tends to have more Wall Street investment bankers than UCLA Anderson, but don’t let your opinions of Wall Street impact your perception of the school: Its students are friendly and welcoming to New Yorkers and out-of-towners alike. Stern has just less than 400 students per class, which is very close to Anderson’s class.

C U LT U R E & C A M P U S L I F E AT U C L A A N D E R S O N

Nearly 95% of Anderson students live in UCLA’s neighborhood of Westwood, or nearby Brentwood and Santa Monica. The student body is more spread out than at many other schools.

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C U LT U R E & C A M P U S L I F E AT U C L A A N D E R S O N

Stanford. Admissions officers at the Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) look for candidates who are extremely intelligent, insightful, impactful, yet humble. The program has a similar vibe to UCLA Anderson, which tends to have a “work hard, play hard” mentality. Stanford also keeps its alums close by, with more than half remaining on the West Coast after graduation.

Duke (Fuqua). The Fuqua class has about 80 more students than Anderson’s, but it’s known for being friendly and tight-knit. Both programs really get behind their sports teams (UCLA’s football team and Duke’s storied basketball program), provid-ing an extra dimension to each program that you won’t get at many other MBA pro-grams other than Michigan (Ross).

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Admissions at UCLA AndersonWhat UCLA Anderson Is Looking For

The Creative Pioneer. With Anderson’s new brand positioning, “Think in the Next,” the branding team created an archetype for Anderson students, faculty, and alumni called The Creative Pioneer. The school looks for pioneers who challenge the status quo, take risks, and try things that have never been done before. It seeks cre-ative thinkers who can make new connections to find solutions.

Giving back. Admissions officers are also looking for applicants who have sufficient humility to recognize those who have helped them achieve their successes and are willing to give back to the communities around them. An extremely collaborative en-vironment, Anderson relies on the willingness of students to help those around them.

Vision and impact. This aspect doesn’t differ much from most other MBA pro-grams, but Anderson looks for candidates who have a clear vision for themselves and how they can shape the world around them. In the short-term, you may have goals that are extremely common to MBA applicants, such as going into technology product management or investment banking. That’s fine; clear, achievable goals are great. But be sure to also show your great passion and vision for the broader impact you may have throughout your life and future career path.

Preparing to Apply

Reading this Essential Guide is a great first step in your preparation. Hopefully, this insider’s glimpse has been helpful in understanding the most important aspects of Anderson. However, nothing can replace gaining firsthand knowledge and experience yourself. Anderson estimates that about 75% of accepted candidates who come to the school during events like Anderson Days (A-Days) ultimately decide to attend. This means that immersing yourself in the school’s unique culture makes a big difference.

Reach out to current students. Even if you don’t have any personal connections to Anderson, you can reach out to current students and get their insight and advice. On the school’s Clubs & Associations pages, you’ll find a list of all campus clubs. Find a few clubs that fit your interests and reach out to the officers. Remember: These are very busy MBA students, so you don’t want to intrude too much on their time, but you could ask for a 10- to 15-minute conversation or elicit some advice via e-mail. If you’re planning to visit campus, perhaps you might even arrange a coffee chat or lunch, if they are available.

Visit campus. If you have the means, we highly recommend you visit the Ander-son campus along with a handful of others to understand the significant differences

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An extremely collaborative environment, Anderson relies on the willingness of students to help those around them.

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in culture, teaching style, student body, recruiting opportunities, facilities, and so forth. A campus visit does not directly impact your admissions chances in any way, but you will be surprised at just how different each school can be. We encourage you to take advantage of the formal campus visit program, including a class visit, campus tour, information session, and student lunch, as available. However, we also encour-age you to go to the Il Tramezzino cafe, grab a bite to eat, and talk to a few current students. The formal program gives a good surface-level experience of Anderson, but impromptu conversations can be incredibly enlightening.

Other events. We know that many applicants will not be able to fly to LA to visit campus, but you should take advantage of other admissions events, such as informa-tion sessions, webinars, and specific-audience events. Get to know the school and its culture as well as you can, because your familiarity can shine through your applica-tion and essay to help you stand out.

You Oughta Know

When should I apply? Anderson uses a standard three-round system for full-time MBA applications. This means that you may submit your application in any of its three rounds for consideration. However, 90% or more of the class will be filled with the first two rounds of applicants, so we do not encourage you to wait until the final round without compelling circumstances. Round 3 candidates will be considered alongside waitlisted candidates from the first rounds. (Waitlisted candidates from Round 1 will be considered with Round 2 applicants, but we’ve seen a number of R1 waitlistees who were held on the waitlist again and admitted in Round 3.)

Traditional backgrounds. If you are a traditional candidate from the manage-ment consulting or finance industry, we encourage you to apply in the first round (assuming you have a strong GMAT score), as you’ll be competing against many can-didates with very similar profiles. In a later round, it’s possible that the school may see you as a viable candidate to the school but may have already admitted several other applicants with similar profiles, so it might pass on you to bring greater pro-fessional diversity to the class. (Plus, the school knows you’ve been planning on an MBA since the day you graduated from undergrad, so there’s no reason to delay!)

Don’t rush! Please note that even though the top schools encourage you to apply in the earliest round possible, this does not mean that you should apply with a rushed application or a mediocre GMAT score. There’s no sense in applying early if you’re just going to be denied. A GMAT score that’s above the school’s average will do more for your candidacy than applying in the first round.

FEMBA, EMBA, and other programs. While we would never encourage you to in-tentionally delay your application if it is ready to go, Anderson’s Fully Employed MBA (FEMBA), Executive MBA (EMBA), and Master of Financial Engineering (MFE)

DEADLINES

Round 1: October 22, 2014 Round 2: January 7, 2014 Round 3: April 15, 2015

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program will admit significant numbers of candidates from all admission rounds. Round 3 is not as limited as it may be when applying to the full-time MBA program.

The Online Application Form

Anderson’s online application form is pretty basic, but we’ll offer a few tips in the sections where we hear the most questions from applicants.

Program information. If you have applied to UCLA Anderson previously, be sure to check the box for re-applicants. The school will pull your previous application and review both side-by-side, so your re-application should emphasize the changes since your last attempt. Many people worry that the admissions committee looks down on re-applicants since they have been denied once already, but nothing could be further from the truth. Re-applicants are often admitted at higher rates than first-time applicants, simply because they have shown their dedication to the school and showcase improvements in their profile.

Biographical data. By law, the University of California system may not use race, ethnicity, or sexual orientation in admissions decisions. All of this information is collected for statistical purposes only. Marriage status is also not considered in the decision-making process. Generally, the sources of information you used to research the school are also used for statistical purposes so that the admissions office may de-termine the most effective marketing methods. However, these can also be seen as signaling devices to see how seriously you’ve researched the program and the level of enthusiasm you’ve put into the application process.

Academic history. UCLA (along with many other schools) asks you to report your undergraduate GPA based on whatever scale your school uses. Most students on the UK system would mark “n/a” for the scale because their schools distinguish by first-class honours (1st), 2:1, 2:2, and so on, rather than using a numerical GPA.

Other degrees or coursework. There is space under School Three and School Four where you can add additional coursework that you completed even if you did not pursue a degree. If you have a low undergraduate grade point average or had poor grades in quantitative classes, you might think about taking MBA-relevant course-work, such as calculus, microeconomics, finance, accounting, etc., from a local com-munity college or accredited online institution to build an “alternate transcript.” In-clude those courses in this section.

Academic discipline and criminal record. UCLA Anderson will conduct back-ground checks on admitted students, so be sure to accurately report any disciplinary action at the bottom of the academic history section. Veritas Prep has worked with numerous candidates with disciplinary or criminal records and helped them gain admission to the highest-ranked MBA programs. You must simply put your actions into proper context.

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Re-applicants are often admitted at higher rates than first-time applicants, simply because they have shown their dedication to the school and showcase improvements in their profile.

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Tests and language. Notice that you submit only one GMAT or GRE score in this section. This is the score that your admissions reader will use to evaluate your can-didacy, so don’t worry about taking your test multiple times! Many applicants ask us whether it looks bad if they take the GMAT/GRE three or more times, but it does not matter one bit. Feel free to keep taking the exam until you achieve your greatest possible score.

TOEFL and IELTS. If you were educated in a foreign language, then you must take the TOEFL or IELTS exam to show English proficiency. English-language profession-al experience will not earn a waiver from this requirement. Anderson encourages any international candidates to take the TOEFL or IELTS exam to prove their fluency, even if their undergraduate or graduate education was taught exclusively in English.

Career. You may list your primary responsibilities for each of your professional po-sitions in the online application form, so focus almost exclusively on achievements, acknowledgments, leadership opportunities, and quantifiable results in your re-sume. Your resume is often the first thing an admissions officer will read, so it’s im-portant to leave a strong first impression. Resumes should be kept to just one page, so it won’t include every last detail that you want to tell the admissions committee. Be selective!

Activities, hobbies, awards, and professional certifications. You’ll have lim-ited space in this section to list a few activities from undergrad and post-undergrad, so prioritize and list them in order of importance to you. As we’ve mentioned several times in this Guide, Anderson looks for students who will get actively involved. Be sure to research the clubs and activities in which you want to get involved and select them here. Selecting four to eight clubs or activities wouldn’t be unreasonable, but fewer is fine. Ideally, your selections will say something about yourself—your pas-sions, interests, background, or hobbies.

Family information. This section impacts your application very little, although if you are the first member of your family to graduate from college, then things such as your undergraduate institution or some performance measures may be put in context.

The Essays

We like Anderson’s required essay question this year because it is straightforward and tells you what the school is looking for, yet allows enough room for some creativity.

UCLA Anderson is distinguished by three defining principles: Share Suc-cess, Think Fearlessly, Drive Change. What principles have defined your life and pre-MBA career? How do you believe that UCLA Anderson’s princi-ples, and the environment they create, will help you attain your post-MBA career goals? (750 words)

If you were educated in a foreign language, then you must take the TOEFL or IELTS exam to show English proficiency.

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Show fit with Anderson. The takeaway here is that the Anderson admissions team clearly is looking for a fit with the program. As you define your life and pre-MBA career, you don’t need to echo Anderson’s same themes—in fact, the question explicitly asks what your own principles are—but here the school sends a strong sig-nal about what traits it values in applicants. Knowing that Anderson wants appli-cants who are generous with others (“Share Success”), aren’t afraid to take chances (“Think Fearlessly”), and make an impact on those around them (“Drive Change”), what traits and experiences do you want to highlight from your career up until now?

Show, don’t tell. When asked a question like “What principles have defined your life?” there’s a strong temptation to simply expound on your life’s principles without providing any examples. The admissions committee wants to get to know you as a person! We suggest that you use “mini-stories” from your life—anecdotes that can be as short as just one or two sentences—that showcase how you’ve learned or exempli-fied certain principles. Anyone can say they share success; your personal stories will be the evidence to back up your claims.

Provide examples of Anderson culture. The second half of this question asks you to tie the Anderson principles and environment to your unique career goals. This is where visiting campus and/or speaking with current students and recent alumni can strongly benefit your application. Seek to provide a specific example along the lines of the following:

When I visited campus, I met several students who radiated Anderson’s col-laborative environment and spoke about their experiences with peer-to-peer career counseling. Jeff Smith talked to me about utilizing alumni connections in the entertainment industry to obtain internship interviews. As a career switcher who seeks to make the difficult transition into film distribution, An-derson’s culture of shared success is exactly what I’m seeking to join to achieve my post-MBA career plans and help others along the way.

Look for examples of students thinking fearlessly or seeking to driving change in their industries, and be sure to tie those into your essay as you are able. This is anoth-er great opportunity to stand out from the crowd by “showing” the admissions com-mittee that you’ve deeply researched the school before applying rather than simply “telling” them about how certain principles fit well with your goals.

Are there any extenuating circumstances in your profile about which the Admissions Committee should be aware? (250 words)

It’s really optional. We always tell applicants the same thing regarding option-al admissions essays: Only answer them if you need to explain a low undergradu-ate GPA or other potential blemish in your background. No need to harp on a minor weakness and sound like you’re making excuses when you don’t need any. If you don’t have anything else you need to tell the admissions office, it’s entirely okay to skip this

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essay. That advice especially holds now that Anderson’s application only includes one essay prompt. Don’t feel the need to submit extra essays simply to command a few extra minutes of the admissions committee’s attention!

Recommendations

Each full-time MBA applicant must include one letter of recommendation with his or her application; FEMBA and EMBA applicants need two. In this section we in-clude the information your recommender will be asked so that you may select rec-ommender(s) who can answer these questions most thoroughly and enthusiastically.

Selecting your recommender(s). Anderson looks for professional recommen-dations, so college professors or other academic recommenders are not advised. Ide-ally, they’d like to hear from your current direct supervisor, but many applicants may not have told their current employers that they will be applying to business school and potentially leaving the company. In this case, you should ask a former direct su-pervisor, a professional mentor, or another person who has personal knowledge of your professional accomplishments, strengths, and weaknesses. Some applicants try to find a person with the fanciest title, such as CEO, even if they have little inter-action with that person. This is a poor strategy. Generic recommendations offer little insight into your candidacy and will be largely ignored by the admissions committee.

Should I draft it myself? Many applicants to business school are asked by their superiors to draft the recommendation themselves and the recommender will ap-prove it. We strongly recommend that you do not write the recommendation your-self for several reasons. First, your writing style and choice of phrasing are unique, and admissions officers will notice if the recommendation is too similar to your es-say. Second, you will tend to be too humble or generic. Your supervisor might use lan-guage such as “one of the top analysts I’ve seen in my entire career” that you would not dare include if writing on his or her behalf. Third, and perhaps most importantly, the admissions officer is looking for a third-party perspective on your candidacy, so writing a recommendation yourself is an unethical breach of trust with the school you are looking to join.

Preparing your recommender(s). Instead of writing the recommendation your-self, you should sit down and have a candid conversation with your recommender(s) about the reasons you want to go to business school and why you’ve selected your target schools, your professional goals, and your experience together. Ask them if they would have the time to write a strong recommendation on your behalf. (This also gives them a nice “out” by telling you they are too busy rather than saying they don’t feel comfortable giving you a positive recommendation.) Bring a copy of your resume and a bulleted list of projects that you’ve worked on together and accom-plishments they have seen you achieve. Let them know that admissions committees prefer to see specific, detailed examples in recommendations. Then, let them know

Generic recommendations offer little insight into your candidacy and will be largely ignored by the admissions committee.

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that you’ll serve as a “project manager” to follow up and ensure that they are able to submit your recommendation ahead of the deadline.

What they’ll be asked. Your recommenders will be asked to answer the following questions:

What is your relationship to the candidate and how long have you known him or her? (50 character limit)

Rating. This is a multiple-choice assessment on the following categories: Results Orientation, Strategic Orientation, Team Leadership, Influence and Collaboration, Communicating, Information Seeking, Developing Others, Change Leadership, Re-spect for Others, and Trustworthiness. Each skill/quality has a different description for its 1–6 rating scale. For example, the scale for Results Orientation is as follows: 1) Fulfills assigned tasks, 2) Overcomes obstacles to achieve goals, 3) Exceeds goals and raises effectiveness of organization, 4) Introduces incremental improvements to enhance business performance using robust analysis, 5) Invents and delivers best in class standards and performance, 6) No Basis.

Note: It would be highly unlikely for a genuine recommendation to include a perfect 5 rating on all skills or qualities. In fact, if your recommender simply marks 5s down the page, then the recommendation may be viewed skeptically, as it provides little information about your true strengths and weaknesses.

Based on your professional experience, how would you rate this candidate compared to her/his peer group? [Multiple-choice: Below Average; Average; Very good (well above average); Excellent (top 10%); Outstanding (top 5%); The best encoun-tered in my career.]

Overall, I [Do not recommend this candidate to UCLA Anderson; Recommend this candidate to UCLA Anderson, with reservations; Recommend this candidate to UCLA Anderson].

Questions. 1. How do the candidate's performance, potential, or personal qualities com-

pare to those of other well-qualified individuals in similar roles? Please provide specific examples. (1,000 characters)

2. Describe the most important piece of constructive feedback you have giv-en the applicant. Please detail the circumstances and the applicant's re-sponse. (1,000 characters)

3. In UCLA Anderson’s school culture we share success, drive change and think fearlessly. Please give examples where the applicant exhibited any of all of these. (1,000 characters)

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Optional: If you have a separate document that addresses points not cov-ered above, please feel free to upload it here.

If your recommender’s first language is not English, they may write their answers to the questions in their native language and have a translation service provide a trans-lation. They may upload their translations in this document. It would not be expect-ed for a recommender to add additional information here, but if they want to write an enthusiastic letter on your behalf, that’s their prerogative.

The Interview

How many people are invited? UCLA Anderson is similar to the general busi-ness school population with its interview approach. Interviews are “invite only” with about 40 to 45% of all applicants receiving an invitation to interview. On-cam-pus UCLA Anderson interviewees are generally second-year student volunteers. Off-campus interviews are generally conducted by recent alumni. The tone of the interview is casual and conversational, as these volunteers have been instructed by the admissions committee to avoid conducting “pressure cooker”–type interviews. We haven’t seen any advantage in selecting an on-campus versus an off-campus in-terview, so choose the option that is most convenient for you.

What should I expect? In both on-campus and off-campus circumstances, the in-terview is “blind,” in the sense that the interviewer does not have access to the can-didate’s application materials. Interviewees should expect to walk their interviewer through the resume while explaining the characteristics that make them a collabo-rative leader within a team environment. The remainder of the interview is focused on “Why UCLA Anderson; why an MBA; and what are your goals?” This provides the candidate with an opportunity to conclude the interview with a series of follow-up questions that demonstrate true knowledge of the program.

What should I ask my interviewer? We certainly encourage you to prepare questions appropriate for your interviewer type (admissions, student, or alumni), and avoid any questions that are answerable on the school’s website. For student and alumni interviewers, questions about their personal experiences while attending, their goals for their MBA and whether or not they fulfilled them, and their favorite (or least favorite) memory are all good questions. For admissions representatives, questions around any current changes, how the school stays current with the chang-ing needs, and how the school utilizes student feedback would be valid questions.

What if my interview goes poorly? The admissions office is surprisingly trans-parent about what the interview will cover, how it is weighted in the admissions process, and what they are looking for. Their website clearly states: “Interviews are rarely the deciding factor in an admissions decision; instead they typically mirror or round out information already provided in the application.” This is typically the

Interviewees should expect to walk their interviewer through the resume while explaining the characteristics that make them a collaborative leader within a team environment.

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case for any MBA program, but the Anderson committee clearly spells it out. They specifically caution not to have prepared “speeches,” but instead let the conversation flow organically. The number-one goal of the interviewer will be to get to know you as a person and assess whether you fit with the friendly Anderson culture.

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V E R I TA S P R E P A N D YO U R U C L A A N D E R S O N A P P L I C AT I O N

Veritas Prep and Your UCLA Anderson ApplicationAnderson has really boiled down its value proposition into one archetype, the Cre-ative Pioneer; three principles, Share Success, Think Fearlessly, and Drive Change; and a new tagline, Think in the Next. Anderson seeks to maintain its strong culture, so showing fit is a key challenge. Veritas Prep has developed the most qualified and diverse team of admissions consultants ever assembled to help. Don’t just take our word for it; check out our team yourself! If you are interested in maximizing your chances for admission, our team will help you every step of the way.

Your Personalized Anderson Consulting Team

MBA admissions decisions are quite subjective, and no two members of the UCLA Anderson admissions committee will view a candidate in exactly the same way. As a result, Veritas Prep uses a unique team-based approach in our consulting to offer multiple expert perspectives.

In your Comprehensive School Package, you’ll work with a Head Consultant™ who has admissions experience at a top-tier MBA program to guide you through the process from start to finish. Head Consultants have evaluated MBA candidates themselves, so they can provide an invaluable insider’s perspective to answer every question and help you avoid common application pitfalls.

In addition, you’ll also work with a School Specialist, who has gone through the Anderson MBA program and was personally immersed in the culture for two years. This School Specialist will ensure your applications are perfectly tailored based on the strengths, programs, and culture of the school. You’ll have a different School Spe-cialist for each school in your comprehensive package.

The Ultimate Admissions Committee™

In addition to your personalized consulting team, if you have all of your application materials ready at least two weeks before Anderson’s application deadline, you may submit them to the Veritas Prep Ultimate Admissions Committee™. This commit-tee is comprised of former directors and associate directors of MBA admissions committees—those who have made thousands of admissions decisions on candi-dates just like you. The Committee will review your application and provide final feedback before you submit.

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How it Works

First, we’ll talk with you about your profile and understand exactly what you’re look-ing for in a Head Consultant. Based on your personal and professional background, goals, target schools, working style, and personal preferences, we’ll match you with the best Head Consultant for your needs.

Your Head Consultant will assist in every step as you examine your strengths and weaknesses, map out your ideal application strategy, select the best MBA programs for your unique background and goals, craft your resume, brainstorm and outline es-says, exchange several essay drafts, and complete your online application form.

Your School Specialist will discuss the classes, majors, clubs, conferences, activities, and other resources available at your target school that are most relevant to your goals and interests. Your Anderson Specialist will ensure your application demon-strates fit with the school academically, professionally, and culturally.

In addition, if you’re invited to interview, your Anderson Specialist will conduct a mock interview, often with the same questions you’ll face in your actual interview, and provide feedback for improvement. If you get waitlisted, we’ll provide tips and advice to move into the “admit” column. Your success is our success!

V E R I TA S P R E P A N D YO U R U C L A A N D E R S O N A P P L I C AT I O N

WHAT ARE YOUR CHANCES? LET’S TALK.Call or e-mail us to discuss your candidacy for top MBA programs,

or click below to receive a free profile evaluation.

1-800-925-7737

info@veritasprep.com

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