Different paths up the same mountain

When my friend from USC Marshall saw that I had been rejected from school, she reached out to me to tell me about her experience.  She had gone through the same thing and had also been rejected from schools two years in a row.  After this, USC's one year global MBA program was brought to her attention.  She evaluated what she wanted from her MBA and decided it was a good fit. Ultimately, she wanted to live in Asia so she saw this as the perfect opportunity for her because more than half her classmates would be from Asia.  She would be building the network she needed and learning how to successfully conduct business internationally all in one swoop. 

She applied to Marshall's Global MBA program and was accepted even though she was already rejected from their full-time program earlier in the year. The program ended up being exactly what she needed and upon graduation, she landed a management consulting gig with IBM and had an amazing experience at Marshall.


With her encouragement, I did my due diligence on the Marshall program. I decided it wasn't a good fit for me, but it got me thinking about checking out the other programs at UCLA. I decided to do some research on UCLA's part-time program.  After concluding I couldn't get a brand management job without experience and an MBA, the part-time program seemed to be a perfect fit because I could build both simultaneously and be a stronger contender for these jobs in the future.  I also thought the promise of having an MBA in three years would entice employers to want to hire me now...kind of like investing in a stock.


I attended an open house and began reaching out to part-time students to learn about their experiences.  From the students I spoke with, it seemed like they were having just as good of a time as the full-time students.  All of them were in the same clubs, participated in the same events and had access to the same resources.  During my tour at NYU, it seemed as if  the part-time students and full-time students were highly segregated.  They didn't have access to the same resources and seemed to operate as two different entities.  However, at UCLA, they try to integrate and encourage interaction between the programs.  The whole reason I never considered part-time is because of the invisible line drawn between each of the programs, but I was excited to hear UCLA was different.

I also spoke with the Dean of Admissions to tell him about my situation and asked if I could apply this year even though I had been rejected by the full-time program already.  He was very understanding and told me that he understands people's situations change some time.  As long as I explained myself clearly in the optional essay, it wouldn't be a problem. Although I originally did not intend to do the part-time program, it seemed like the best route for me to go in terms of professional development.

There are always alternate routes to get you to your goal.  You just have to find your fit and what works for you.

With the advantage of another profile analysis under my belt from the multitude of people that helped me, I believed I had the ammo to crank out an awesome application.  I had nothing to lose and tons to gain so I decided I would apply to UCLA's part-time program.