UCLA Anderson School of Management is the graduate business school of the University of California, Los Angeles. It is one of the eleven professional schools and provides various degree programs including, the UCLA School MBA Program. Established in 1935, the school carries a rich legacy within itself. Consistently ranked as a first-tier business school in the world, UCLA Anderson MBA Program is ranked #26 by the Financial Times in its Global MBA Ranking 2020. It is also ranked #17 by the Business Insiders.
Anderson School of Management has a rich alumni network of 39,000 members in more than 75 countries around the world. Some of the prominent members include Brian Becker (CEO, BASE Entertainment), Eric Doctorow (Founder & CEO, Random Media), Susan Wojcicki (CEO, Youtube), Ravi Jacob (VP & Treasurer, InTel), & Michael Hopkins (Chairman, Sony Pictures Television). Out of the 2865 applications received for the class of 2022, only 360 students made it into the UCLA Anderson MBA Program. International students made up more than 1/3rd of the class from 37 countries. The ratio of men and women candidates is 3:2 & the class consists of 30% of US minorities. In this article, we shall cover everything you need to know about the UCLA Anderson MBA Program.
The UCLA Anderson MBA Program starts with Anderson Onboarding. It provides early academic training focused on four key areas. They are:
-Academic preparations: During this, students take the first two core courses, including, Leadership Foundation & Managerial Accounting.
-Career Management: Along with the core courses, students participate in various career development programs delivered by the parker career management center.
-Skill Development: During this, students are trained to build technical skills through workshops on topics such as PowerPoint, Financial Modeling, & SQL.
-Community Engagement: This includes all the fun stuff. During this period, students bond with classmates, meet second years, & become a part of the UCLA Anderson community.
After the Anderson Onboarding, students start their first year with nine core courses to study the fundamentals of business. It includes subjects like Marketing Management, Foundation of Finance, Data & Decision, Managerial Economics, Organizational Behavior, etc. In the second year, students can customize their programs according to their interests & career goals. The focus is mainly on electives. There is also an opportunity to complete 2 of the specialization to delve deeper into your target industry or function. There are many specialization options, including a specialization in consulting, social impact, healthcare management, corporate finance, brand management, etc.
Students are also required to complete one capstone project. During the capstone project, you apply what you have learned in the classroom in a real-world business setting. Some of the capstone projects include Applied Management Research (AMR), Business Creation Option (BCO), etc. The Applied Management Research (AMR) promotes practical learning. Here, students work with teams of peers on projects that focus on solving an organization’s key business problems. Students have previously worked in various multinational companies across the world in India, Japan, Singapore, Indonesia, Germany, etc. Please note that students need to fulfill a global requirement to complete their MBA. They can opt for any of the three including, Global Immersion Course, Global Management Elective, or Applied Management Research.
Eligibility
Academic Requirement:
Applicants are required to have obtained an undergraduate degree. Usually, this is a four-year bachelor’s degree or its equivalent in other countries. International applicants with a three-year undergraduate degree may be admitted if the admissions committee determines that their entire academic profile and the overall application are strong enough. There is no minimum graduate GPA required to apply for the UCLA Anderson MBA Program, but the middle 80% GPA range for the class of 2022 is 3.1-3.8. Hence, a 3+ GPA is considered to be competitive.
Work Experience:
The majority of the students applying to the UCLA Anderson MBA Program come with full-time work experience. However, you can still apply without any full-time work experience. But remember that the school admits very few people without at least a year or two of work experience.
Standardized Tests:
The school requires a valid GMAT or GRE score for its MBA program. Although there is no minimum score mentioned by the school, the average GMAT score for the class of 2022 is 706, with a middle 80% range of 660-740. Along with the GMAT & GRE test score, all the applicants are required to submit English Proficiency Tests like TOEFL or IELTS. Candidates who come from a select list of countries where the first language is English are exempted from this. The minimum score requirement is 7.0 for IELTS & 87 for Internet-based TOEFL.
The estimated tuition cost for one year UCLA Anderson MBA Program comes at $65,124. Other expenses include student health insurance ($4,458), room/board ($21,600), computer allowance ($1,137), books & supplies ($627), travel & transportation ($5,868), loan fee ($1,460), & personal expenses ($4,680).
The school provides several scholarships to assist the admitted students. The awards are generally for two years and are provided by the UCLA Anderson Fellowship Community. Some of them are:
Merit Fellowship:
The decisions for this are based on the strength of the student’s admissions application, including academic excellence, leadership quality, & other achievements.
Donor Fellowship:
The donor fellowship is provided through the generosity of alumni and individual donors. The scholarship committee looks for professional development, community involvement, & a proven financial need in the candidate’s application.
Forté Fellowship:
This award is provided to outstanding female candidates with an excellent academic record, demonstrated leadership skills, and a vision to make a change in the world.
Consortium Fellowship:
It covers the full tuition fee, and the decision is based on the strength of the candidate’s application.
Along with the above scholarships, students can also opt to take a private loan. The school recommends Prodigy Finance, Quorum, & Discover custom graduate loan. These loan options do not require a co-signer, and the repayment period is generally 20-25 years.
More than 85% of the class was seeking employment from the batch of 2018. Out of this, 90% of the students received a job offer within 3-months of graduation. The median base salary received by the class was $125,000, with a range of $52,000-$170,000.
Students placed in the consulting industry received the highest median base salary of $140,000, followed by the ones placed in Technology industries with $130,000. Reportedly 70% of the students received an average signing bonus of $29,912, and 32% received stock and/or equity as part of their compensation package. The top three industries which recruited the majority of the students include:
Technology 29.5%
Consulting 20.4%
Financial Services 14.9%
The top three functions from the placement session 2017-18 were:
Management Consulting 20%
Product Management 10.9%
Rotational Program 7.6%
Top hiring firms:
Amazon
Deloitte
Google LLC
Microsoft Corporation
The Boston Consulting Group
McKinsey & Company
PwC
AT&T Inc.
Bain & Company
The school looks for students who are collaborative, passionate, thoughtful, productive in pursuit of meaningful impact, analytical, & inquisitive.
Online Application checklist includes
Academic Transcripts
Resume
GMAT/GRE score
2 Letter of recommendation
Essays
English Language Test
Application Fee
Interview:
The interview for the UCLA Anderson MBA Program is by invitation only. It can either be conducted on-campus or off-campus via Skype or Zoom. The interview lasts for 30-45 minutes and includes general MBA interview questions. The interview is conducted by second-year MBA students who are thoroughly trained. They look for communication skills & social skills within a candidate. The interview is blind to avoid any sort of bias, and the interviewer only has access to your resume. The school advises the candidates to remain calm, composed, & genuine throughout the interview. After the interview process, the admissions committee again evaluates all the applications and makes a final decision. If accepted, the school will notify you about your acceptance via an e-mail or phone call.
The school looks forward to learning about your perspectives and plans via your essay responses. Essays complement the answers you provide throughout the application to show them your complete profile. The school asks the applicants to submit only one essay. It is as follows:
“How have events of the past year influenced the impact you would like to make in your community, career, or both?” (250 words maximum)
Through the above essay, the school welcomes reflection on any events that influenced you in your personal or professional lives, or society in general, and look forward to learning about specific ways you want to leave your mark.
Along with the above, there is also an optional essay question as follows:
“Are there any extenuating circumstances in your profile about which the Admissions Committee should be aware?” (250 words maximum)
It is truly an optional essay. We would recommend you to answer it only if you think you have something to clarify regarding your application.
With an acceptance rate of 12.5%, getting into the UCLA Anderson MBA Program is a tough nut to crack. But if you think you have it in you, then go for it.
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