Business schools, in general, must keep up with the pace of change, particularly as technology strongly influences business. Technology and analytics are skills required for success, yet leaders must also possess complementary soft skills to be able to inspire teams to achieve their goals and positively affect the world. UCLA believes these are characteristics of a Transformative Leader. The business school’s curriculum and culture support its students’ development into such leaders.
UCLA Anderson’s website claims that its culture is distinguished by three pillars:
- Share Success: “We believe in inclusive collaboration for meaningful results.”
- Think Fearlessly: “Our faculty and students arrive at innovative solutions to solve complex business problems.”
- Drive Change: “We are Transformative Leaders who catalyze action around a purpose, to create organizational and societal impact.”
Anderson’s culture plays a significant role in shaping the school’s students into the transformative leaders of tomorrow, inspiring them to make a real difference in the world.
The admissions committee provides the following preamble to its application essay prompts:
“We look forward to learning about your perspectives and plans via your responses to the short essay prompts. Essays complement the answers you provide throughout the application to show us your whole profile. The best applications are introspective, genuine and succinct in directly answering our questions and showing clear plans for the future.
“Strong essays describe the impact of your achievement and clarify its connection to your future MBA plans in the short- and long-term. We look forward to learning about the specific ways your achievement helped set you up for future success.”
Don’t be fooled by the short-answer approach to Anderson’s essays. Spend time considering what you want to convey across your application. Determine which critical elements of your candidacy to highlight in your essays, possibly in greater depth than your resume, transcripts, or optional family sections show. Do not respond to these essay questions until you have spent time reflecting on your past experiences and plans for the future. Understand what motivates you to earn an MBA and why you want to pursue your chosen career path.
Ready to get to work on your UCLA Anderson application? Read on.
- UCLA Anderson application essay tips
- UCLA Anderson application deadlines
- UCLA Anderson class profile
UCLA Anderson application essay tips
Short Essay #1
Why are you pursuing an MBA? (150 words)
The adcom is interested in learning about your motivations and self-awareness. Authentically present formative information that has influenced your decision to step away from your career at this point to pursue your MBA. Is your decision profoundly personal or professionally oriented? Are you trying to build foundational knowledge or upskill for the next stage of your career? This answer will set the stage for the following questions.
Short Essay #2
Describe your short-term and long-term post-MBA career goals. (150 words)
When you fill out the career section of the application, you will be asked to choose your desired industry and function. This essay must align with your selections, because it’s your opportunity to provide context for your professional plan. Your long-term goal is more than just a destination; it’s the guiding marker that will shape your career path over the next eight to ten years. As you outline your short-term goal, the adcom should be able to see that it’s a plausible, albeit ambitious step. If you’re making a career pivot, be sure to highlight your transferable skills.
Short Essay #3
At Anderson, our mission is to prepare transformative leaders by developing students to think innovatively, problem-solve, and adapt to others – all with a driven and purposeful mindset. How do you plan to achieve your goals and develop into a transformative leader during your time at UCLA Anderson? (250 words)
In Short Essays #1 and #2, you have identified your motivation and career goals; this question builds on those answers. Consider what knowledge and skills you must develop to be a competitive candidate for the position you want to obtain after graduating from the program. Are there specific things that will help you in the longer term? You need to understand the school’s Leadership @Anderson activities and offerings. How will you take advantage of what is available while you are an Anderson student? You must understand the UCLA Anderson program and student experience to be able to answer these questions effectively. In addition to reviewing the website, connect with members of Anderson’s Admissions Ambassador Corps to gain an insider’s perspective on the student experience at the school.
Optional Essay
Are there any extenuating circumstances in your profile about which the Admissions Committee should be aware? (250 words maximum)
Whether you are applying for the first time or a reapplicant, this optional essay allows you to convey information to the admissions committee that you haven’t been able to elsewhere in your application. It is truly optional, so use your judgment on whether to write it and what to share.
Reapplicant Essay
Reapplicants are those who submitted a completed MBA application within the previous two years (that is, who applied for the MBA program starting in 2023 or 2024) and received a final decision. Reapplicants are required to answer the first two Short Essay Prompts. It is suggested, but not required, to also answer the third Short Essay Prompt, as well as the Optional Essay.
Use this opportunity to provide an update on what you have done since you last applied to the MBA program. While it is not required that you write all three of the short essays, you have an opportunity to control the narrative and provide additional context about your candidacy. Have you gained any licenses or certifications recently? Perhaps you took on a leadership role at work or are serving on a community board.
UCLA Anderson application deadlines
| Application deadline | Decision release date | |
| Round 1 | October 1, 2024 | December 13, 2024 |
| Round 2 | January 6, 2025 | March 27, 2025 |
| Round 3 | April 7, 2025 | May 16, 2025 |
Source: UCLA Anderson website
***Disclaimer: Information is subject to change. Please check with UCLA Anderson directly to verify its essay questions, instructions, and deadlines.***
UCLA Anderson class profile
Here is a look at UCLA Anderson’s full-time MBA Class of 2026 (data taken from the UCLA Anderson website):
Applications received: 3,079
Class size: 305
Mean GPA: 3.5
Middle-80% GPA range: 3.1-3.8
Mean GMAT: 714
Middle-80% GMAT range: 670-750
GRE average combined score: 327
GRE Verbal average: 162
GRE Verbal range: 157-167
GRE Quant average: 165
GRE Quant range: 159-169
Pre-MBA Industries:
- Finance: 21%
- Technology: 16%
- Consulting: 12%
- Healthcare: 10%
- Government, Education, Impact, Public Sector: 9%
- Marketing/CPG: 8%
- Media/Entertainment: 5%
- Manufacturing: 5%
- Retail: 5%
- Other, Energy, Law, Hospitality: 5%
- Real Estate: 4%
Average years of work experience: 5.4 years
Undergraduate Majors:
- Business: 34%
- Engineering: 22%
- Humanities/Social Sciences: 14%
- Economics: 11%
- Other: 11%
- Biological/Physical Sciences: 8%
Women: 43%
LGBTQ+: 8%
Military veterans/Active duty: 4%
International students: 41%
Students switching careers: 87%
Average age: 29
Age Range: 22-38
You’ve worked so hard to get to this point in your journey. Now that you’re ready for your next achievement, make sure you know how to present yourself to maximum advantage in your UCLA Anderson application. In a hotly competitive season, you’ll want a member of Team Accepted in your corner, guiding you with expertise tailored specifically for you. Schedule a free consultation today!
As the former executive director of admissions at Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper School and assistant dean of admissions at Georgetown’s McDonough School and the University of Pittsburgh’s Katz School, Kelly Wilson has 23 years’ experience overseeing admissions committees and has reviewed more than 38,000 applications for the MBA and master’s programs in management of information systems, computational finance, business analytics, and product management. Want Kelly to help you get accepted? Click here to get in touch!
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