About Candace: Candace Graham is from England, UK, where she studied Theology at Cambridge University. After graduating she moved to London and started working in Entertainment, specifically in the production department on high budget TV dramas. She spent time at NBCUniversal Studios before becoming freelance crew for several years, spending many of her days either in a parking lot, a warehouse, or a field, in different European countries. She primarily worked on logistics to keep the cameras rolling and liaising between the 200+ crew members on site. After a few years of adventure, she moved back to London to work at BBC Studios, managing the slate of 5 dramas in production on behalf of the company. She particularly enjoyed being able to implement sustainability trials across shows to decrease waste and fuel usage. She is now a first-year student at UCLA Anderson School of Management where she is focusing on building analytical skills and strategic thinking. She chose Anderson because of the quality of teaching and access to the world Entertainment hub in LA. This summer she is looking for a consulting internship to hone her critical thinking skills and problem-solving ability. 

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I knew that I wanted to study for my MBA in the United States, to dive into the American style of business management, and take advantage of the rich programming and breadth of opportunities here. UCLA Anderson had everything I was looking for, and I was particularly drawn to the ‘share success’ mentality of the school – I knew it would mean students were supportive, collaborative and inclusive – which I can now confirm is definitely the case.  I had previously worked abroad in Canada, the Czech Republic and Malta, so I prepared for the culture shock, knowing that there would be lots of small differences in my daily life to get used to. And there were! It’s been fun to experience American grocery shopping and driving, and the sights and sounds of Los Angeles.

However, something I had not prepared for was the different style of education in the USA. Like most people, I was coming back to school after years of work, and knew it was going to be a bit strange to be in an academic environment again. It wasn’t until we started school though, that I realised how different this environment was from my previous experiences.

For context, my undergraduate degree was at Cambridge University in the UK. I read Theology – which I loved – and it was an incredibly valuable experience in learning how to think critically and form a convincing argument. We chose our individual courses at the start of each year (generally 4 or 5), studying each for a full three terms. Each course generally had one lecture a week and then we spent the week researching the subject through books in the libraries, often delving into scholarly thought that was several hundred years old (as were some of the books!), before writing an essay, arguing for a certain perspective. We then met with the professor individually to discuss our essay and the broader idea. Our weekly essays were not marked, and our entire grade for the year was from a 3-hour written exam at the end of the year. 

It turns out that American university education is a bit different. First of all, at Anderson you take courses for a quarter, rather than all year. You therefore do not dive as deeply into the subject, but many of the courses overlap and build on each other, especially when you get to electives. Then there’s the form that assignments take. My undergraduate work was all individual. At Anderson, many of the assignments are team-based (often within your Learning Team, a small group of students who are intentionally diverse). In addition, I had to get used to the idea of being graded on assignments throughout the quarter, with a cumulative grade by the end – and there is grading on participation in class! This was extremely odd to me – that classes rely on students offering thoughts and class discussion. Not to mention that it was only when I was taking the introductory maths courses that I learnt that the US has different maths notation to the UK…

To begin with, this new way of learning was very strange, and I felt daunted going into classes. However, Anderson’s summer quarter is a great way to slowly ease into academics again. Whilst at first I was hesitant to raise my hand, having most classes with your Section means that you get to know the other people fairly quickly, which makes it much less intimidating to offer comments. Hearing interesting perspectives from other students also gave me confidence to speak out when I had something to offer as well. As for group work, this mimics the working world, so my years of professional employment between undergrad and Anderson prepared me well – and it’s helpful to work in similar set-ups to the business world. There have already been opportunities to practically apply the working patterns we have at Anderson to real-world projects (such as the Net Impact Consulting Challenge) and working in teams and having work evaluated as we go is a good way to get used to this. There’s also additional support available from Anderson’s excellent Academic Advisors, who are available to talk to students about all aspects of their classes and academic progress. 

Moving to the States has been a big change, and going back to school has been an adjustment. Whilst I hadn’t anticipated the additional hurdle of the differences in education styles, immersing myself in the programme has forced me to adapt and grow, key skills I will take with me on graduating.

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• Student Blogger: Candace Graham ’26
• Undergrad: University of Cambridge ’17
• Pre-MBA: Studios Production Coordinator, BBC Studios
• Leadership@Anderson: Director of Events, Admissions Ambassador Corps; Director of CMES Relations, Entertainment Management Association; Section C Executive Vice President; Riordan MBA Fellow Mentor