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2022 MBA Essay Questions: UCLA Anderson

UCLA is one of the few schools to ask you to directly discuss how things are different in your world, after all that we’ve gone through since 2020.

 
 

2022-2023 UCLA Full-Time MBA Essay Questions – Class of 2025

UCLA Round 2 is 3 weeks, 5 days ago (January 4).

This is right when all the other schools’ deadlines are hitting too.

 

 

  1. How have recent events 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. [emphasis in original]

This question made sense in 2020. In 2021? It could be easier in some ways to answer this now, since more time has passed for you to reflect on the events and their impact on your life — and probably more challenging to answer this in others, mostly because so many applicants fall into the “gosh, I need to sound impressive” trap. We tend to see a lot of “change the world” themes that people often write to schools like Stanford. Last year in Round 1, which happened in the aftermath of the George Floyd murder and a summer of protests in the U.S., a lot of applicants wrote about racism. Will applicants this year do the same, or has racism faded to the background of our collective consciousness now and applicants won’t think it’s the most impressive thing to focus on?

Basically what this needs is something PERSONAL and also SPECIFIC. Name an event! They are asking for something concrete there. Use one sentence for that, then talk about you. The bulk of your 250 words should be sentences focusing on you you you. Whatever the event is that you name, it has to be meaningful to you. If you were to say ‘coronavirus’ that’s fine but that’s a very big topic. What exactly about coronavirus, and much more importantly, how did it change you and what you stand for or what you want to go do with your life? How can you tie that in to who you are right now?

Here’s a test: If there was a collection of 12 essays from different Class of 2024 applicants sitting on the kitchen table with no names on them, could your mother pick out the one that you wrote?

At only 250 words, this is barely an “essay” so don’t try to do too much with it! We invite you to pick up our Anderson Application Guide – it’s still the last-season version, however this question is near-identical to what they asked then, so you’ll get a still-relevant and much more in-depth discussion on the opportunity that this question provides to you.

We talked about this UCLA “recent events” essay question — including tips for how to think about it — in December 2021.

If you’re a reapplicant, you’re invited to still write on this question — and we suggest that you do! You’ll also need to complete the reapplicant essay which is essentially a pitch to show how you’ve made the most of the opportunity of time in between your original app and today.
 
They also have a standard optional essay, as most schools do, which should only be submitted if you have something significant to explain.

Our Career Goals App Accelerator is likely to be valuable as you start to prepare your content. You can also refer to past essays and other discussion towards the bottom of this page and of course our SnarkStrategies Guide for UCLA goes into great depth.

Reapplying

Anderson is quite reapplicant-friendly — and sheesh, they actually give you more words to use if you’re a reapplicant than they do for their “fresh” candidates! Hmmmmm.

Reapplicant Essay Question: Please describe your career progress since you last applied and ways in which you have enhanced your candidacy. Include information on short-term and long-term career goals, as well as your continued interest in UCLA Anderson.

They consider reapplicants to be anyone who applied in the past two cycles. If you applied longer-ago than that, you’ll do a whole new app — but remember that all the schools are keeping old apps around, and it’s possible they’ll look you up and see what you submitted before. There’s an art and a science to nailing down a reapplicant strategy — our Reapplicant Roadmap might be worth exploring.

Pro Tip: If you’re reapplying and your goals have changed, explain them here! Or if they have not, restate them as part of your intro, and show how you’ve done more research or have somehow confirmed or validated that these goals are right for you, and demonstrate what efforts you’ve made to progress towards them in the time from your last application. Our Reapplicant Guide walks through other strategies.

This video they released in a prior session gives a sense for what Anderson means by their culture and how they value those who “share success, think fearlessly and drive change”:

UCLA Anderson MBA Essay Guide
The Anderson essay guide covers the 2020 essay — with pages and pages of ideas for you on brainstorming and planning.


 

 

2022 UCLA MBA Application Deadlines

Anderson Full-Time MBA Application Deadlines :

  • Rd 1: October 5, 2022 – one of the later due dates, which means you’ll get to take your breath after a crazy run in September with other schools’ deadlines hitting first. This is good as it lets you stagger your workload, but the risk is that you burn out, if you’re trying to do too many applications for Round 1. Interview invitations often begin coming out from Anderson admissions quite quickly after the deadline, and they continue throughout the whole cycle till December. There’s nothing to be interpreted from whether you receive an interview invite earlier or later in the sequence.
  • Rd 2: January 4, 2023 – by contrast, this is one of the EARLIEST Round 2 deadlines of any school, and that pretty much totally sucks since it comes straightaway after the holiday. UCLA had been kinder with how it set its Round 2 deadlines in the past. #disappointing

Round 3 is generally discouraged because it’s just so tough to find a spot when the schools have mostly filled the seats in the class. However, given the atypical season we’re in, this school might be one to try for at the very end of the cycle. The essay is not easy here though!! You’ll need to put in some real work in getting your message across. But, it also could end being worth it, if you make it into Anderson as a result!!
 

UCLA MBA Recommendations

1 UCLA Anderson uses Anderson used standardized recommendation requirements; their recommender requirements are the same as schools like Yale, Stanford, Tuck and Ross.

  • Two recommendations, as is common for most schools. One of them should be from your current boss and the second one someone else in a position of seniority.
  • Three standardized questions for them to answer and one optional (See their questions here )

Lots of resources for constructing your recommenders strategy available here on the blahg; if you want more help on who to choose, our Letters of Recommendation App Accelerator walks through even more specifics and the variables you can optimize with your exact situation, and lets you submit your recommenders’ strategy for feedback from EssaySnark.

 

 

UCLA Anderson General Info

from the school

  • UCLA requirements page
  • Anderson Admissions Blog
  • Specifics on UCLA’s TOEFL requirement are on the UCLA Graduate Requirements page which says that the TOEFL is required for international applicants educated abroad even if your college education was conducted in English (this is the same as how UC Berkeley does it)
  • Twitter:
    • UCLA Anderson (the school): @UCLAAnderson
    • UCLA Admissions: @UCLAMBA

The UCLA Anderson application guide explains what’s most important in preparing your pitch.
 

from EssaySnark

  • The UCLA essay question on “recent events” (December 2021)
  • It is ALL more competitive now – discussing the increase in average GMAT score (and popularity) at UCLA (September 2014 — though things have softened again lately!)
  • essay critique! UCLA Career Goals from a social entrepreneur (December 2013)
  • Those media-crazed Californians (February 2013)
  • The best waitlist advice ever (February 2012)

 

Also worth mentioning: In June 2014, The Wall Street Journal published an unflattering article about a culture of hostility for female faculty at Anderson .

We don’t have many Anderson essays reviewed on the blahg, however they look for the same strong career goals as Columbia, Ross, and other schools do, so try these out for some guidance:

  • Haas EWMBA main essay – personal background and interests – and that “passion” thing (2010)
  • essay critique: Michigan Ross career goals (2011)
  • essay critique: another Columbia essay 1: “immediate and long-term post-MBA goals” (2012)



UCLA Anderson MBA Essay Guide
The UCLA MBA essay guide covers the 2020 application to help you make a strong impression on your admissions reader.

[Index of essay questions by business school]

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UPCOMING MBA APP DEADLINES

  • INSEAD Jan '24 intake Rd 1
    in 1 month, 1 week, 1 day
  • INSEAD Round 4
    in 1 month, 1 week, 1 day
  • INSEAD Jan '24 Intake Rd 2
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  • INSEAD Jan '24 Intake Rd 3
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CLASS OF 2025 MBA APPLICATION STRATEGY GUIDES

From a former BSer:
"love the guide books!"




    The 2022 Stanford MBA Application Guide - for "what matters most" in your MBA application!
SnarkStrategies Guide for Stanford GSB for the Class of 2025
   
    The 2022 Harvard MBA Application Guide - updated for the Class of 2025!
SnarkStrategies Guide for Harvard Business School!
   
  The 2022 Wharton MBA Application Guide - even more advice on how to get to a win with those essays!
SnarkStrategies Guide for The Wharton School - with clear guidance for the 2022 essays!
   
  The 2022-2023 Columbia MBA Application Guide
SnarkStrategies Guide for Columbia Business School for 2022-2023 applications
   
    The 2022 MIT Essay Guide covers the org chart, the cover letter and 'introduce yourself' video, plus the new optional short-answer question on "the world you come from" -- and everything else you need to know!
SnarkStrategies Guide for MIT Sloan MBA - totally revised for the Class of 2025!
   
    The 2022 Kellogg Essay Guide - with a full methodology to identify your 'lasting impact' and your 'values'
SnarkStrategies Guide for Kellogg MBA - revised for 2022!
   
    The 2022 UVA Darden MBA Application Guide gives insights on the essays, Early Action, the possibility of a test waiver, and everything else going on here!
SnarkStrategies Guide for the Darden MBA - updated for the Class of 2025 requirements!
   
   
The Yale SOM MBA Application Guide for Class of 2025 candidates!
SnarkStrategies Guide for Yale SOM - updated for 2022
   
    The 2022 Berkeley-Haas MBA Application Guide - updated for the Class of 2025 application!
SnarkStrategies Guide for Berkeley Haas - refreshed and updated, with brainstorming exercises and structured maps to help you focus your stories!
   
    The 2022-2023 NYU Stern MBA Application Guide that covers the essays, the EQ Endorsement and test strategies!
SnarkStrategies Guide for NYU - discusses your requirements for the Class of 2025 essays!
       
   
   
Get started now - without doing any work! The Comprehensive Profile Review will help you start your strategy for your MBA applications.


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