Many of you are considering going to Grad school for a variety of reasons: Looking to build your network, get a fantastic new job at Google, McKinsey or Goldman (yes, in that order. I hate banking) or maybe your company is even paying for it and you figured, ‘why not take a 2 year paid vacation?’
Some of you may have even been like me, surprised you got in and not quite sure what to do next, but you know it better pay a lot because: bills…
Yes, you can get all that, but I’m not here to tell you that you’re making the right choice. I’m here today to tell you what I would have liked to hear when I was in your shoes, a real unglamorous full-time Booth MBA story.
When I first started, I had a massive ego. Before coming to Booth I was earning a lot of money, had a smart and attractive girlfriend and lived in a penthouse in downtown Philadelphia. Now, I have none of things, #whybooth
Seriously though, I thought a lot of myself and expected that I was just going to crush it here. With time I got to know some of my classmates: Oh, you worked directly for the Clinton campaign? Oh, you were on the top 100 list of Romance Novel authors in the US? Oh, you built a business in Africa helping impoverished villages get by? Oh, you gave away 30% of your income to poor strangers directly, not charities?
Humbling…
When you get a chance to take a look at the people next to you, among them are some of the best people you will have the opportunity to meet in your life. If you’re single, like me, your future husband or wife may even be in this room.
You will have the chance to travel the world with these people, drink too much, dance too much, build real lasting connections. You can talk about real issues and what you can do about them with an incredibly bright and supportive community.
Eventually, job seeking season does come around. Admittedly one of the less fun aspects of attaining a full-time MBA.
I spent my first year trying to get recruited into Venture Capital and Start-ups, but no one wanted some guy with wealth management experience, so I thought maybe I’d start my own FinTech company, but potential investors and employees thought the same thing. I didn’t know enough about doing any of these things to be useful, or practically innovative, and they were right. This is admittedly a hard path to recruit for, but I saw many of my friends recruiting for consulting or banking not get the internships they wanted either, despite all being brilliant and accomplished.
Again humbling…
So I learned. I took some fantastic PE/VC classes with accomplished professionals and professors Scott Meadow, Stephen Kaplan and Mark Tebbe. I went to San Francisco with other like-minded classmates and met with successful Booth startup founders and executives. I also talked to other classmates who were already running their own businesses before school or who actually did launch while in school. Finally, I got a summer internship at a startup with 1.5 months to spare…at a Marijuana business.
Humbling…?
My parents thought so, but I disagree.
We raised $3.5 million Series A at a $28.5 mil valuation. I worked directly with the CEO to make this happen, built the forecast, the pricing strategy and the product roll-out strategy.
That summer internship turned into a full-time offer, afterward I got that coveted VC internship and later ended up working for one of the largest Cannabis growers in California. Now, I have 4 employees at my own Cannabis Finance business, already have people asking if they can invest, and am bringing it through the New Venture Challenge.
Transformative…
What I want you to take away from this story is that you have the opportunity to redefine who you are as a person. You can have some of the best times of your life getting your MBA with wonderful people, who might also be CEO’s someday. If you don’t get what you original intended, you will be fine. Whatever it is you choose to do, own it. You want to be a PM? Go and be the best PM anyone’s ever heard of. You want to be a consultant? You be the best goddamn consultant you can. You want to be an investment banker? Reconsider.
If you fall short of your initial career expectations, that is OK. Your school faculty and your classmates are there to support you. They will NOT let you down, trust me.
Let me know your thoughts down below in the comments section. If you have questions specific to your situation, feel free to shoot me a detailed e-mail using the contact me link and I will get back to you as soon as I can.
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