About Emily: Prior to Anderson, Emily Moore (‘20) lived in New York City and worked in Sports Marketing at ESPN. Emily is a second year student at Anderson and in her free time, she likes traveling, attending professional sporting events and trying new restaurants in Los Angeles. Read her post below to see how she decided on the program that fit her best!

To all of the UCLA Anderson Round 1 admits – congratulations on being accepted! I know a lot of time and effort went into the application process so you should feel excited that the process is over. But, if you are like I was two years ago, you might have a big decision to make. You might be deciding between multiple schools or even between Anderson and staying in your current job. I understand the dilemma and I’d like to provide my perspective. 

First, realize that business school is an amazing opportunity and that you really likely can’t go wrong among Top 15 schools. Second, because I am a second year student at Anderson and absolutely love it, I’ll be biased for a bit and tell you how I ended up at this amazing place. 

I’m originally from the East Coast – I grew up in Virginia, went to UNC Chapel Hill for college (Go Heels!) and moved to New York City where I worked for ESPN for almost four years before moving to LA for Anderson. I had a non-traditional background for business school (working in Sports Marketing at a media company), but I’m here to tell you that the non-traditional candidates can succeed in business school too! And all of my family and most of my friends were on the East Coast. I was ready for something new and I had an itch to go to California. I was deciding between Anderson and one school on the East Coast, but I ultimately landed at Anderson for four main reasons:

1. The first being that I have a very strong East Coast network (in Virginia, North Carolina and New York) and since I have high ambitions for my career, I thought no matter which coast I end up on, it will be beneficial to have a network on both.
2. The second is the career opportunities and The Parker Career Management Center specifically. At Anderson, students are encouraged to follow their passions – whether that is in technology, healthcare, real estate, entrepreneurship, entertainment and sports and/or if they want to pursue more traditional paths of consulting, finance or brand management. We have successful students and alumni in all of these areas! The career resources such as 1:1 advising, the alumni database and the interview prep teams are unmatched.
3. The third reason is there are so many benefits of going to graduate school in a city as diverse as Los Angeles. At Anderson, we have access to top executives that are weekly guest speakers in many elective classes and to alumni who live in the area. We also have amazing conferences and there is the potential for academic internships during the school year. There is so much to do in LA including, but not limited to going to the beach, hiking, checking out the arts scene, attending a sporting event, and eating at a new restaurant. And, I can be outside every day of the year!
4. The last reason, but also the most important one, is the people. Anderson has a diverse student body that is as ambitious as it is fun. There are so many of my 360 classmates that I genuinely love to hang out with on a regular basis. We have the collaborative culture of being in a small college town, but the exposure and access of being in a huge limitless city.

If you still have a decision to make, I encourage you to talk with as many current students and alumni from the school(s) to which you were accepted and ask them questions. If possible, I also encourage you to attend the admitted students weekends/days for all of the schools to which you were admitted. It’s a great way to meet both current students and potential classmates. Anderson’s Round One Welcome (AROW) is February 7th-8th, 2020 so I hope to see many of you there! I applied during Round Two in 2018 and was able to attend the A-Days (Anderson Days) in late April that year. That weekend solidified my decision to come to Anderson! 

Good luck to all of you who are making a decision and when in doubt, trust your gut!

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Student Blogger: Emily Moore ‘20

Undergrad: UNC Chapel Hill, ‘14

Pre-MBA: Sports Marketing at ESPN

Summer Internship: MBA Brand Management Intern, The Wonderful Company

Leadership@Anderson: President, Admissions Ambassador Corps; President, Sports Business Association; VP of Diversity & Inclusion, John Anderson Golf Club