MBA Student Profile: Andriy Aleksandrov, UCLA Anderson

MBA student Andriy Aleksandrov took a break from business school to speak with TopMBA.com and reveals what he wished he had known before starting his MBA. The Ukranian student will graduate with an MBA from UCLA Anderson this year.

“Unfortunately, not many people and companies in the Ukraine are aware of the advantages an MBA brings,” says Andriy Aleksandrov. “Only foreign companies, especially US-based, see the value of the MBA degree, but I expect that to change as the country’s economy improves and becomes more global.”

Aleksandrov is the only Ukrainian MBA student in his intake at UCLA Anderson this year, but he chose to study abroad in the US in order to get the best business education he could, and one that would be accepted and respected around the world.

“My main reasons for deciding to attend an MBA school were to gain a better knowledge of the corporate business world and its issues at a higher level. I also wanted to gain a transition to an industry where I would like to be, enhance my opportunities for career growth, and expand my career choices.”

A senior financial analyst for Energy Savings Group in Toronto, Canada, Aleksandrov was in charge of forecasting the company’s gross margins of Canadian and US natural gas operations before he left for business school. He had visited the QS World MBA Tour numerous times and in several places, such as Chicago, Sao Paolo, Toronto and Kiev, as part of his research into the best MBA programs on offer.

“In my search for the best MBA school I was looking at several criteria: first of all, I looked at the reputation of a school or its specialty program. I also looked at the school’s brand awareness with the US and abroad, and the size of a school was another very important factor in my selection. I didn’t want to be in too large a school where you are just a number. In smaller schools the alumni network also tends to be much closer and supportive.”

Aleksandrov says he found the QS World MBA Tour very useful in his search for a business school that would fit him both personally and professionally. It also gave him the chance to meet with “real people” from each and every school that he was considering. “I met with admissions officers, alumni and students,” he says. “This gave me invaluable additional information into what each school was all about.

“All of the top MBA schools are pretty similar in what they offer, and therefore it makes it hard to decide which schools to apply to. The QS World MBA Tour gives people a chance to get important information about each school to make that crucial decision about which ones to apply and where you would have better chances to get accepted based on your unique background and experience.”

The people that Aleksandrov was able to meet during this time were also able to convey the unique culture each school offered. “Some schools have more of a cut-throat environment and some have a more supportive and collaborative one,” he says. “It depends on the person in which culture he or she would thrive the most.”

Despite Aleksandrov’s intensive research into business school, he says there are still things he wished he had known before he started studying for his MBA. “I wish I knew how quickly the program would become intense, so that I could have arrived at school earlier and prepared for it a little better,” he says. “This includes things like settling down in my place, buying furniture and things for the home, getting books, a driver’s licence, buying a laptop and solving other personal matters.”

However, such challenges have just added to the overall MBA experience and it is one that Aleksandrov is relishing. “The MBA education is challenging and requires a student to stretch to his or her personal limits. A student learns how to manage their time efficiently and how to be more disciplined, and this skill helps to balance study and life,” he says.

Aleksandrov is getting close to graduating and although he isn’t sure on where he will be come graduation, he’s looking at strategic planning, M&A or business development. In ten years time he’s hoping the MBA has either taken him to a senior manager or director position, or has enabled him to follow in the entrepreneurial spirit UCLA is known for and started his own business.

So how easy or difficult does Aleksandrov expect these objectives to be?

“I don’t think it will be difficult. It will all depend on me, my hard work and my perseverance,” he says.