Thursday, November 13, 1997
Scholars, Fellows programs help students enter business
world
ANDERSON:
Workshops, mentors offer resources for motivated individualsBy
J. Sharon Yee
Daily Bruin Contributor
For Marta Rivas, an opportunity to attend the Anderson Graduate
School of Management, her No. 1 choice of business schools, would
allow her to fulfill a long-time goal of holding a management
position.
Like many other aspiring college graduates and current
undergrads, Rivas felt that ambition alone was not enough to make
her dream a reality, so she sought out the Riordan Programs at
Anderson.
Established in 1987 by Anderson professor William Ouchi and
then-private citizen Richard Riordan, the Riordan Programs were
created in response to the growing diversity of Southern California
and the contrasting scarcity of a diverse population in MBA
programs  and ultimately, the corporate world.
The programs consist primarily of two separate curricula geared
toward completely different groups of students.
The Riordan Scholars Program targets high school sophomores
through seniors from approximately 25 schools in the Los Angeles
Unified School District.
The students are required to have a minimum 3.0 GPA and have
demonstrated leadership skills and active involvement in their
local communities in addition to a few other requirements.
The Fellows Program, on the other hand, is specifically designed
for undergraduates of junior or senior standing through recent
college graduates (up to three years post-graduate).
Like the Scholars Program, the applicants must have demonstrated
leadership abilities and a strong academic record, but unlike the
Scholars, Fellows must also have a vested interest in entering the
business world and have significant work experience before
applying.
Rivas, a recent graduate of UC Berkeley in political science and
current media promotions officer at KWHY-TV Channel 22, a Spanish
television station, explained why she applied for a Fellows
position.
"Opportunities to be apart of an organization like the Riordan
Programs are closing up," she said. "And the knowledge that there
are people available to let you know what needs to be done to get
into business school is absolutely fantastic."
Ultimately, Rivas hopes to help promote an industry she feels is
underrepresented, that of Latino marketing.
Celebrating their 10th anniversary this year, the Riordan
Programs have served over 800 students, with 100 percent of the
Scholars attending college and 35 percent of the Fellows attending
prestigious business schools like Harvard, Stanford and
Northwestern universities.
The number of students in the Fellows Program has ranged from 25
in 1987, when the program was first started, to a record 48 this
year.
Students participating in both programs are required to attend
seven monthly sessions, in which they meet with a personal mentor
from the Anderson School and participate in workshops and lectures
featuring guest speakers and topics geared toward business-school
preparation.
Mentors participating in the Riordan Programs devote one
Saturday a month for seven months, plus spare time to helping guide
a prospective high school, undergraduate, or post-college student
in the often arduous process of applying to business schools.
"It’s essential that the students have access to people in the
community who are, educationally and professionally, where the
students want to be," said Donna Winfrey, a second-year MBA student
who enjoyed her experience so much last year as a Scholars mentor
that she decided to mentor a Fellow this year.
As a prospective business school applicant, Winfrey did not have
the structured guidance that the Riordan Programs offer, and
consequently, she said she felt the need to help others who are
facing the same situation.
"In hindsight, I’m happy to have gotten into such a competitive
program," she said. "Now I want to help others successfully
navigate the process by providing more information than I had at
the time."
Though the two programs are designed for very distinct groups of
students, the philosophy behind the programs emphasizes the need to
reach both high school and college students.
"Ultimately, we realized we had to attack both ends of the
pipeline," said Nike Irvin, executive director of the programs.
"We need to talk to young kids who have yet to make informed
career decisions and also address issues that affect those who are
on the cusp of entering graduate school and are in need of guidance
in presenting themselves to top institutions," she further
explained.
Often, Scholars are highly motivated, college-bound students
who, because of a lack of guidance at home and school, seek out the
Riordan Programs to get the kind of help and support that other
college applicants may already have.
"These are the most motivated, well-rounded kids you’ll ever
meet," Irvin said. "They are only limited by the resources their
schools and homes cannot provide them."
While students in the Scholars Program attend local Los Angeles
high schools, Fellows either currently attend or graduated from
universities across the nation, ranging from MIT to UC
Berkeley.
"The wonderful thing about the Fellows Program is that if you
don’t meet the requirements of business school right now, they
provide you with a sense of hope and possibility, and make the
process seem much less daunting," Rivas said.
One of the greatest misconceptions about applying to business
school is that you can successfully apply right after receiving a
bachelor’s degree, Irvin said.
"Unlike other graduate schools, most business schools urge their
applicants to have at least four-and-a-half years of work
experience before applying," she explained, "because so much of
what makes this world tick depends on experience and leadership
skills in the field."
The Fellows Program therefore seeks to help applicants be the
best possible candidates for admission by pairing up the Fellows
with an Anderson School mentor, who together with the student,
helps draft up an Action Plan for business school admission.
The seminars, which range from panels of current MBA students
speaking about their own application experiences to techniques on
how to write great resumes, also give much-appreciated guidance to
the Fellows.
Though the programs strive to help the participants become the
most competitive and enterprising group of applicants, Irvin
reiterated again the importance of the mentoring component.
"It’s not easy to find a mentor, to be able to find someone to
use as a soundboard for bouncing off ideas," she said.
"But to have a program that pairs you up directly with someone
who can easily relate to the concerns of applying to graduate
school is a true gift."