University Of California, Riverside MBA Application Insider: How To Land A Place On This MBA

Beyond its sandy beaches and great hiking, California is also home to a thriving business and innovation economy. In fact, the state is predicted to become one of the world’s largest economies.

Studying an MBA in the Golden State presents some unique advantages. The A. Gary Anderson Graduate School of Management at the University of California, Riverside (UCR) regularly ranks among the top 100 best business programs for both graduate and undergraduate degrees. It offers students a well-balanced curriculum that covers multiple business sectors from finance, supply chain management and marketing to operation management. MBA grads go on to work at corporates that include T-Mobile, the Walt Disney Company, Fox Corporation, and Amazon.

So, if you’re thinking of applying to the University of California, Riverside MBA, how do you make your application stand out? BusinessBecause spoke to Patrick Latimer (pictured), associate director of graduate admissions, to find out.

What skills or attributes do you look for in MBA candidates?

We look for driven candidates who want to have great careers and do great things in the world. Many of our students are first-generation grad students who tend to be hard workers. Many come from family businesses and are looking to bring more advanced management and technological knowhow to more traditional family-run enterprises. 

How can a student best prepare for their MBA application?

I recommend taking advantage of the opportunities we offer to connect with university personnel, ideally in person or at a virtual event such as a career-related workshop or networking event. You’ll learn things about the application process that you won’t by just visiting our website, and of course, in-person or online events also offer a great opportunity to make a good impression on university staff—be professional, but also show some personality. We’re in California, where we’re more casual than in other parts of the country—we’re used to seeing people in flip flops and hoodies—but a professional demeanor goes a long way. 

Riverside, California, where the UCR MBA is based ©iStock/MattGush

Tell us more about the MBA application process and video interview…

The MBA essay allows us to get some more core information about a candidate, to categorize them. We might read an essay and think, this is an entrepreneur who wants to work in the tech sector, here’s a veteran who wants to do marketing for a non-profit. It’s a good way for us for distilling a character, particularly for those we haven’t met or engaged with yet. 

What are the biggest mistakes you see applicants making?

Candidates often apply to multiple institutions and sometimes put the wrong institution name in an application or on documents. This shows a lack of attention to detail and that they’re submitting exactly the same documents to multiple schools. We also look out for essays that are too generic and not personalized enough—essays should tell us something interesting about the candidate. 

We don’t want to see ChatGPT essays. We want to see personality from our applicants—during the interview and through their MBA essays.