REQUIRED ESSAYS
Please be introspective and authentic in your responses. Content is more important than style of delivery. We value the opportunity to learn about your life experiences, aspirations, and goals.
1. What event or life experience has had the greatest influence in shaping your character and why? (750 words)
In offering you the opportunity to discuss an “event,” it seems that UCLA is leaving open the possibility that something external to you (a landmark political event, for example) can have “the greatest influence in shaping your character.” We suspect that most candidates will choose the more personal route and will discuss a “life experience” that has shaped them, as such experiences are more personal and exclusive. Still, the opportunity remains open to seize upon either path.
Clearly, if you are going to reveal the influence of an experience or an event, the reader is going to have to come to understand a “before and after.” While you need not structure your essay in a way that thoroughly explains your “before” life, you need to give the reader the sense that because of this event, you experienced enduring and impactful change, hopefully in terms of your philosophy on life and also in your approach toward life/others as well.
We often advise applicants to launch directly into the action in their stories. Creating a formal introduction, where you tell the reader what he/she is about to be told will kill your ability to create momentum in this story. (Bad: “The most impactful experience in my life occurred when I defied expectations and was elected student president of my 50,000 person college.” Where is the mystery? Where do you go from there?) By launching into your story and maintaining the mystery within it, you will maintain the attention of the reader, enabling your shaping event to have its maximum impact.
2. Describe your short-term and long-term career goals. What is your motivation for pursuing an MBA now and how will UCLA Anderson help you to achieve your goals? (750 words)
This is a relatively standard Personal Statement essay question—short-term goals, long-term goals, why an MBA now and why UCLA—so we encourage you to consult our “mbaMission Personal Statement Guide,” which we offer free of charge, via our online store. Please feel free to download your copy today.
Do not use up precious word space here detailing your professional career and accomplishments to date, but do include some general reference to your past work experience to frame why you need an MBA education to attain your stated goals. You must then clearly explain what UCLA offers in particular that will help you. As always, avoid telling the school what it already knows about itself and instead strive to demonstrate links between specific offerings at the school and your aspirations. You will need to do your research to best identify direct ties between what Anderson offers and your professional goals, personal beliefs, study style, etc. The more in depth your knowledge of the school, the easier pinpointing specific resources will be in the context of your future successdx and thus the more effective your essay will be. Take time to go beyond the school’s view book and Web site and contact students and alumni, and, ideally, visit the school and attend a class.
An important element of personal statement essays that can sometimes get lost in the shuffle is the “why now” aspect. Be sure to not gloss over or sacrifice this information, believing it is not as important as the other elements of your candidacy that you wish to express—the school asked for a reason, so commit yourself to developing a clear, fitting answer to this portion of the query.
For a thorough exploration of UCLA Anderson’s academic program/merits, defining characteristics, crucial statistics, social life, academic environment and more, please check out the The mbaMission Insider’s Guide to the Anderson School of Management.
OPTIONAL ESSAYS
The following essays are strictly optional. These essays are for individuals who would like to provide additional information. No preference is given in the evaluation process to applicants who submit optional essays.
1) You may respond to the following question via written essay, audio or video clip:
What is something people will find surprising about you?
You should certainly take note of the fact that this essay is indeed optional. That written, the opportunities to reveal depth of character and experience are somewhat minimal in the two mandatory essays and many candidates will still feel that they have important stories to tell in order to round out their profiles. So, this option can be used to add “spice” to your profile and enable you to quickly differentiate yourself from others.
For this essay to be effective, you need to draw a stark contrast between the “surprising” aspect and what is expected of you, and of course, the greater contrast, the better. If you are having difficulty measuring this contrast, you may want to try out your ideas on friends and coworkers to see what they find most unexpected. Once you have identified a possible topic, compare and contrast your obvious persona with your proposed “surprising revelation” for this essay. If you can list as many, or more, similarities as dissimilarities between the two, you should likely keep brainstorming.
As an example, for someone who works within a rigid structure for their job function, such as an accountant, having a hobby or other interest that is also highly structured, such as doing puzzles or assembling models, may not seem that surprising. By contrast, an accountant who loves to participate in improvisational poetry jams—which involve almost no preparation or structure and instead rely heavily on creativity and spontaneity—would catch the admissions committee’s attention much more readily. If possible, going one step further and revealing an accomplishment or recognition in this surprising area would be ideal.
UCLA pioneered the audio/video “essay” and they have preservedthe option for you this year. Remember though, you do not need to use this approach and if you do, you do not need to overproduce your response. The admissions committee is seeking to learn about you, not your directorial and editing skills.
2. Are there any extenuating circumstances in your profile about which the Admissions Committee should be aware? (250 words)Optional essays are not the place to paste in a strong essay from another school or offer a few anecdotes that just did not fit in with your other essays. Optional essays are in fact the place to address any lingering questions that an admissions officer may have about your candidacy that have not yet been addressed – a poor grade or overall GPA, a low GMAT score, a gap in your work experience, etc. Via the mbaMission Guide to Optional Essays, we offer candidates direction and many examples of brief but effective optional statements which will give you your best opportunity to take on your problem areas.
Read the full article: University of California Los Angeles (Anderson) Essay Analysis, 2010-2011
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