I am a sophmore in College and plan on pursuing an MBA, preferablly at UCLA?

Question

Hi I wanted to know if any MBA grads from anderson could give me some heads up on how to get in, how to do better, what can I do, especially since I'm doing this somewhat early.

I am not sure how all this MBA stuff works but I really need to figure this out.

Please if you could explain maybe gmat stuff, what would increase my chances, things that would help that would be great!


PLEASE I'M NOT LOOKING TO GO TO "HASS" OF HOWEVER THE HELL YOU SPELL IT SO NO UC BERKS ANSWER THIS QUESTION, AS I HATE CAL.

UCLAAAA ALL THE WAY

Answer 1

It is Haas -- not Hass.

The requirements for getting into Anderson are the same as the requirements for getting into any top school -- so you shouldn't discount the opinions of someone who went to Haas just because you hate Cal. I have an MBA from Duke (Fuqua), a PhD from Haas and have taught at MIT (Sloan) and Penn (Wharton). If you want to discount the following advice because of that, go ahead.

The top schools look at the following:

1. Work experience (most want about four years of experience) Those with an interesting or high quality job have a higher chance of getting in with less experience (e.g., three years of M&A at Goldman is better than five years at McDonald's and two years of Import/Export located in Hungary is better than four years working for a small advertizing agency in Kansas). Very few people will be accepted without work experience (less than one percent of my class at Duke came directly from undergraduate programs).

2. Quality of your education: GPA is important -- but so is the school. I saw very few people with undergraduate degrees fromplaces like East Carolina or Southern Illinois -- but lots from good state schools (you know -- like Berkeley and Michigan) and good private schools. There will be lots of Ivy League graduates at the top schools. The major is only important if you are on the border in terms of grades. A physics major with a 3.0 is more likely to get in than a sociology major with a 3.0 -- all else beig equal. You can get in with less than a 3.5 -- but it is better for you if you have at least that. Once you hit 3.5, other factors will become more important than your grades.

3. Personal Statement. This one is key. You need to be clear in your answers, and get across why they ought to let you in. One of my Duke classmates wrote a meandering essay about his life & applied to about ten of the top twenty schools. He was rejected at all of them. He then got some help with his essay, applied to the other ten -- and got into all of them.

4. Interview. This is also important. You have to let them know how you will be good for the school.

5. GMATs. The average GMAT score at the top schools is over 700. Below 600 will cause problems for you -- unless everything else about you is spectacular.

6. Diversity The top schools want a diverse population. This doesn't just mean admitting more blacks and Hispanics -- it also means more Foreign students, a wider range of ages for students (I was 43 when I started the MBA program), a wide range of jobs people had (they don't want a class filled with former I-Bankers -- but they want some). The UC schools may not be able to do as good a job at this as private schools, due to California laws.

You need to realize that even if you are highly qualified, it doesn't mean you will get in. You should apply to several schools. I only applied to top schools -- and got into about half of them. That doesn't mean you should apply to Berkeley (though if you are a California resident -- you should think about it because of the cost). But it does mean that you should have a contingincy plan for what to do if you don't get into UCLA.