UCLA Anderson MBA Application Essays 2020-2021
Essay 1: How have events of the past year influenced the impact you would like to make in your community, career, or both? (250 words maximum)ware. (250 words maximum)
UCLA Anderson MBA Application Essays 2019-20
Essay 1: Tell us about your MBA goals AND why you are applying to UCLA Anderson now:
• Describe your short term and long term goals (150 words maximum)
• Why is UCLA Anderson a good school for you? (150 words maximum)
Essay 2: At Anderson, we believe our students are engaged, courageous, humble, and open. Describe a time when you demonstrated one of these traits in your personal life. (250 words maximum)
Reapplicant Essay: Please describe your career progress since you last applied and how you have enhanced your candidacy. Include information on short-term and long-term career goals, as well as your continued interest in UCLA Anderson. (500 words maximum)
Optional: Are there any extenuating circumstances in your profile about which the Admissions committee should be aware. (250 words maximum)
UCLA Anderson Winning Sample Essays – 1
UCLA Essay 1: How have events of the past year influenced the impact you would like to make in your community, career, or both? (250 words maximum)
We welcome reflection on any events that influenced you in your personal or professional lives, or in society in general, and look forward to learning about specific ways you want to leave your mark and positively impact those around you.
My mother was a single parent who started a road side food stall to survive and provide for me. She was my inspiration when I started my entrepreneurial venture – “PataNow” to help small businesses establish their presence online.
Last year when COVID imposed lockdown, my team actively reached out small road side vendors whose business came to a standstill. This is where I first met 25-year old Pauline, a marketing major by education but a struggling single mom, who used to sell imported clothes in a makeshift stand, on the corridor of my office building.
With zero footfalls Pauline business collapsed overnight and she was struggling to support her two children. Over the next two weeks, I personally mentored and trained her on setting up an online shop at PataNow platform and taught her the basics of online selling through Whatsapp. After a few weeks, when i met her again, I remember her happiness when she told me that her business is averaging from $5 pre COVID times to $30 a day now. She had finally managed to save enough money to put her eldest child through school as well.
This one small customer anecdote summarizes my entire last year as the Co-founder of PataNow when we grew our business 300% with the help of people like Pauline. My mother never had such support but today I am proud that PataNow is empowering others for a better life and this further reinforced my belief and commitment to making PataNow successful.
UCLA Essay 2: How UCLA help achieve your goal? 1000 characters
As a Co-founder, my primary reason for choosing to do an MBA is to upskill my business knowledge and leadership skills so that I can successfully lead my business to long term success.
When I started my research for ideal B-schools, Anderson’ focus on entrepreneurship classes is what first drew me to the school. The classes such as “Managing Entrepreneurial Operations”, and “Business Plan Development” are perfectly suited to equip me with the tangible skills to scale and lead my business in Africa.
Besides classes, I really look forward to leveraging Price Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation and Anderson Venture Accelerator to gain mentorship and practical experience of raising investments for start-ups.
Additionally,I believe, Anderson’s location next to the Bay Area start-up ecosystem would be a perfect place for me to groom myself and develop my network with other successful entrepreneurs/start-ups. That is why, UCLA would be a perfect school to help me achieve my goals.
UCLA Essay 3: Describe your short-term and long-term post-MBA career goals, 600 characters
I am currently the co-founder of PataNow – Online eCommerce/Reselling platform. In the short term, post-MBA, I aspire to come back and grow my business from the current 2 to at least 10 African countries. We are currently operating in Kenya, Rwanda and expect to operate in Egypt this year. We already have plans afoot to expand our operations further into Morocco, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria and Ghana.
In the long term, my dream is to be the biggest online e-commerce platform in all the 54 African countries and have an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange to give a successful exit to partners who have believed in me so far.
Optional Essay : Are there any extenuating circumstances in your profile about which the Admissions Committee should be aware? (250 words maximum)
I would like to explain my GPA in my undergraduate and a gap year in my profile.
When I first went to university, I didn’t spend much time on studying. I spent my time at the yoga association and hosted multiple events on the campus. Therefore, my first semester didn’t get a good GPA. it was only 2.94/4.00. However, after 1st year, my GPA consistently improved and I finished the fourth year with a 3.42/4.00. After that, I also performed exceedingly well in my master’s and secured a GPA of 80.68/100.
In 2009-10, I also took a gap year and after completing my 200 hours yoga teacher training requirement I moved to Shanghai to work as a yoga instructor. For a year, I took Yoga classes and trained more than 200 people to improve mentally and physically.
UCLA Anderson Winning Sample Essays – 2
UCLA Essay 1: How have events of the past year influenced the impact you would like to make in your community, career, or both? (250 words maximum)
We welcome reflection on any events that influenced you in your personal or professional lives, or in society in general, and look forward to learning about specific ways you want to leave your mark and positively impact those around you.
This past year I have experienced the loss of a very important person in my life, my grandmother, Amma, and through quarantine I have become introspective with my life and my future career choices. This has influenced me to pivot my career, pursue my passion for branding within entertainment, and move to Los Angeles to create a future based on my values. The passing of Amma has taught me how much I truly value my Asian cultural roots and my family while strengthening my personal value for diversity. As a society we have faced a great amount of violence targeted towards many cultural groups. Recently, a hate crime was committed against Asians in my city.
These unfortunate events have inspired me to bring awareness to diversity and inclusion in society. As a result, I have joined the InspirASIAN Employee Resource Group within AT&T and I plan on taking a leadership role to create outreach events to impact others by creating more awareness.
I have shared my Asian cultural experiences with my company, listened to others’ stories, and become an active ally with other diverse groups. Additionally, I serve as a volunteer tutor with La Amistad, a 501c3, working with underprivileged immigrant children in the local Hispanic community. Due to coronavirus, schools have been shut down and struggling students have fallen behind. Consequently, I worked with La Amistad to bring forth a plan to tutor students via Skype in order to help them keep up with their schoolwork.
UCLA Essay 2: How UCLA help achieve your goal? 1000 characters
I plan to pivot my career in Sales to branding within the entertainment industry. To achieve my short-term goal of becoming a Product Manager for HBO Max, the support from the acclaimed Parker CMC can provide me with opportunities to pursue an impactful summer internship. Electives such as Brand Management and Advertising and Marketing can help me overcome previous marketing complexities that I faced when running my previous business, Posh By Rosh, and can help me apply branding fundamentals when positioning and scaling my family’s real estate company within the entertainment vertical.
Due to Anderson’s advantageous location and industry prominence, real-world experience in courses led by world-class faculty and entertainment and media industry executives will uniquely accelerate my growth. Additionally, becoming the VP of Marketing and Communications of the Entertainment Management Association will help to grow my network, gain knowledge, and contribute to the Anderson community.
UCLA Essay 3: Describe your short-term and long-term post-MBA career goals, 600 characters
My short-term goal is to combine my current experience in technology with my passion for branding within the entertainment industry in order to pursue a career focused on the marketing of entertainment streaming services as a Product Manager for AT&T’s HBO Max. My long-term goal is to transition my family’s real estate business from the East Coast to the West Coast. Then, as CEO I want to expand and brand it as a studio service in which social media influencers can rent our apartments and homes to function as “studio-type” locations for the daily filming of their live streaming content.
