UCLA Anderson School of Management applicants increase
By Nico Correia
May 15, 2014 1:31 a.m.
Applicants to the UCLA Anderson School of Management’s full-time MBA program increased by about a third this year, something officials attribute in part to a shorter application process.
The business school received more than 4,000 applications for the 2014-15 year. Last year, applications to the full-time program numbered 3,124 and 356 students enrolled in the school, and the acceptance rate was 22.3 percent.
Both domestic and international applications increased by double digits, said Alex Lawrence, assistant dean of admissions and financial aid. MBA applications to Anderson have increased 60 percent over the last four years.
Despite the increase in applications, there are no plans to increase the class size Lawrence said.
Lawrence attributed the increase in applications in part to the changes to the application and a strong ambassador corps. The application cut the required number of essays and recommendations from two to one.
Lawrence said the number of required essays and recommendations was reduced because information that the other required essay and recommendation provided could instead be drawn from other aspects of the application such as the resume.
Another successful implementation Lawrence points to is the ambassador corps. There is both an Admissions Ambassador Corps established in 2012 led by 57 students, and an Alumni Ambassador program made up of 400 alumni, upgraded in 2012.
