MBA Essay - Six Substantial Accomplishments (Part 1 of 6)
May 5, 2009 | Leave a Comment
” To be neutral in a situation of injustice is to have chosen sides already. It is to support status quo” - Bishop Desmond Tutu
Motivated by lack of an online job board in the deep forest of The Serengeti, I recently developed and launched www.jobweavers.com to pioneer online recruitment business in the wilderness. Though, without a formal training in computer programming, I learned web design and programming languages such as XHTML, CSS, XML and Javascript by studying books and participating in web design forums.
In less than three months, the jobsite went live, with capabilities to post jobs, search resumes, post resumes and send newsletters. Though, still in its nascent stages, I initially encountered difficulties raising the seed capital required to develop the site to a world class level. However, after the initial inertia, I used my excellent negotiating and networking abilities to raise $100 million from Venture Capitalists.
I perceive this as a great accomplishment because I conceived and developed the site from cradle to grave. I learned that with proper planning, focus and tenacity, I can bring my ideas to fruition. I also learned that the ability to create products in and of itself is not sufficient to sustain any organization and that the capability to brand and market service offerings and generate revenue is the lifeline of any business.
NOTA BENE: This is a draft and designed to help you with your MBA applications. Created under the Creative Commons rule and it is copyleft. Use as a guide for your essays. I plan to collate and refine the essays I have posted on Black Herald and publish a book of MBA essays in the future.
Sample MBA Recommendation Letter (Version 1)
April 28, 2009 | 1 Comment
” I believe that all men, black and brown and white, are brothers, varying in time and opportunity, in form, gift and feature, but differing in no essential particular, and alike in soul & the possibilities of infinite development” - W.E.B Dubois.
I have known Joseph de Plumber (Joe) since April 1960, when I was the Chief Executive Officer of Black Herald International Bank (BHIB) Washington, DC, when he was assigned by the consulting firm of Blackinsey & Company to help with our pre-merger monitoring program. During his four months assignment to BHIB, Joe directly reported to me on a daily basis. He was responsible for monitoring the controls surrounding our wire transfer transactions, deposit operations and physical and system access prior to our merger with XYZ bank. He also helped us in preparing reports which were presented to our Audit Committee.
I have a bachelor’s degree from the Wharton Business School of the University of Pennsylvania and obtained my MBA degree from Oxford University. I am a Certified Public Accountant, Professional Risk Manager and a Chartered Financial Analyst and have worked in the banking industry for 25 years, including a leadership role with a another global bank. In my experience, Joe is clearly one of the most talented consultants that I have ever known.
Joe is a highly competent and goal-oriented person, so I can describe him only in complementary terms. Joe has talked about the Pegasus MBA as his program of choice since I first met him. He is very knowledgeable about the school, curriculum and leadership opportunities, and sees himself as a part of the community. It gives me great pleasure to write this recommendation in support of Joe’s candidacy.
2. What do you consider the applicant’s most outstanding talents or characteristics?
Joe is one of the best consultants I met since we have been working with Blackinsey & Company and stands out in my mind as a dedicated and talented young man. His performance overall and in each individual performance factor (teamwork, timeliness of deliverables, taking ownership of work and client relationship management) is excellent. This assessment is based on Joe’s ability to provide a high quality work product, work independently and in a team, and complete all his projects in a timely manner. His prior experience as bank auditor in Congo Democratique enabled him to quickly become acquainted to our business processes and operations. He was able to earn the respect of the individuals he was consulting for despite being new to this assignment and facing a work environment that was challenging, because most of BHIB’s staff were being laid off as a result of the merger.
He developed and implemented the audit programs used to test the controls surrounding our business processes and documented his work in a clear and concise manner. As control weaknesses were detected in the systems, Joe, unlike others, communicated his findings and gave recommendations on the best way to resolve the problems. I enjoyed working with him and appreciated the fact that he was very willing to assist with work beyond his original assignments. His contributions to the success of our pre-merger monitoring were immense, have had a lasting impact on the business operations and were highly appreciated throughout the organization.
3. What are the applicant’s chief liabilities or weaknesses?
Joe has a great understanding of the different accounting areas of business. He needs to understand the different areas of finance necessary to fulfill his short and long term ambition in investment valuation and management. I have no doubt he will pick up these skills at a top B-School such as the Pegasus MBA program.
4. You may also include any additional comments you may wish to?
Joe has an amiable personality and carries himself with dignity. From my experience with him, I believe he is focused, enthusiastic, highly respective of his co-workers both his superiors and subordinates alike and very sensitive to other people’s beliefs and culture. He takes full accountability for his work, takes a pride in a job well done and has great managerial and leadership abilities. Joe acts with utmost integrity and honesty in the execution of his projects and constantly exhibits the courage to make hard decisions and stand by them. Because of his attitude to work, I would gladly hire Joe to work for me after his graduation if he so desires, but also believe that he will excel wherever he goes to after his graduation. Joe genuinely cares about his team members and constantly makes sure that the team members are doing well. He inspires trust and confidence in others and constantly strives to make changes both at work and in the community.
I am aware of his membership in professional bodies such as the Institute of Management Accountants, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the National Association of Professional Risk Managers where he participates in various community and charitable events in the DC Metro for the organization.
I am convinced that Joe will be a successful and enthusiastic student and eventually a great ambassador of the MBA program. I highly recommend him for further studies at your university and I am confident that both his instructors and fellow students will benefit significantly from his input. Please contact me at 777.888.9999 or ceo@BHIBglobal.com if you have further questions about his candidacy or this recommendation letter.
NOTA BENE: This is a draft and designed to help you with your MBA applications. Created under the Creative Commons rule and it is copyleft. Use as a guide for your essays. I plan to collate and refine the essays I have posted on Black Herald and publish a book of MBA essays in the future.
Cornell MBA Essay - Please Write the Table of Contents for the Book of Your Life Story (400 Word Limit)
March 20, 2009 | Leave a Comment
“The highest courage is to dare to be yourself in the face of adversity. Choosing right over wrong, ethics over convenience, and truth over popularity…. these are the choices that measure your life. Travel the path of integrity without looking back, for there is never a wrong time to do the right thing.” …..Anonymous.
NOTE: Be creative. Approach this essay in any way you choose; there is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ response.
PART I: THE YEARS OF CHILDHOOD
Chapter 1: Conceived in the Heat of Passion and Born in the Ghetto………………..10
Chapter 2: Greater Tomorrow Elementary School, Oak Cliff, South Dallas…….40
Chapter 3: Ain’t Notin’ Good in the Hood……………………………………………….80
Chapter 4: On our Block We Still Pray……………………………………………………109
Chapter 5: The Formative Years ………………………………………………………….130
PART II: HIGHER LEARNING
Chapter 6: Oak Cliff Historically Black Kommunity Kollege, Texas………..170
Chapter 7: Devry University (on 15th & Q Street)………………………..200
Chapter 8: Professional Certifikations……………………………230
Chapter 9: Dropping Out of Kollege…………………………..280
PART III: KORPORATE AMERIKA
Chapter 10: All Animals are Equal, But Some Animals are More Equal than the Others (George Orwell)……300
Chapter 11: Stand Up & Be Counted For Executive Leadership…320
Chapter 12: Difference is both a personal and professional liability………..340
Chapter 13: The Kubicule Narratives of a Negro……380
Chapter 14: Back of the Bus & How To Rig Promotion Interviews - A Step By Step Approach……..400
PART IV: THINKING OUTSIDE THE KUBE
Chapter 15: Invest In Yourself - After All Is Said & Done, All Man Works For Himself…450
Chapter 16: And I just Can’t Wait to be King…..500
Chapter 17: Better to be the Head of a Dog than the Tail of a Lion…….550
PART V: THE THINGS THAT MATTERS MOST
Chapter 18: Indefatigable Optimism……………. 570
Chapter 19: Love is Divine…………………..……600
Chapter 20: Family is Important…………………630
NOTA BENE: This is a draft and designed to help you with your MBA applications. Created under the Creative Commons rule and it is copyleft. Use as a guide for your essays. I plan to collate and refine the essays I have posted on Black Herald and publish a book of MBA essays in the future. If you like this essay, stayed tuned for our essay on Corporate Governance - you are gonna love it 
.
Cornell MBA Essay - Describe your greatest professional achievement and how you were able to add value to your organization.
February 12, 2009 | Leave a Comment
“Excellence is the result of caring more than others think is wise, risking more than others think is safe, dreaming more than others think is practical, and expecting more than others think is possible”…..Anonymous.
“There are very few men – and they are the exceptions – who are able to think and feel beyond the present moment” - Carl Von Clausewitz, 1780-1831
Although I am proud of many of my professional accomplishments, one that clearly stands out and left an indelible mark in my memory was the audit of the Fair Valuation Models & Methodologies at the Black Herald International Bank. This audit was an extremely challenging project because $1 Trillion worth of securities are fair valued at BHIB every reporting period and because the project required an in-depth understanding and interpretation of Financial Accounting Standard 157. In addition, the project required dealing with the huge red-tapism and bureaucracy that are characteristic of Fortune 20 companies. Also, given the current financial crisis and scrutiny of financial records by regulatory agencies such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), there was pressure to perform the project to the highest level of professional standard.
To achieve my objective I divided the project into different modules and approached the task sequentially following the different stages of a standard project management life cycle namely setting the objective, performing the requirement analysis, developing the specification, implementing & testing the models, and concluding and making recommendation.
Specifically, I led a 50 man team to test the controls over 20 fair valuation models and determine whether the simplifying assumptions built into those models when they were originally developed during periods of favorable economic conditions are still relevant in today’s recessionary economic cycle. Based on the benchmark of the valuation assumptions against best practices, current economic realities , liquidity, credit risk, counter-party risk and recoverability, my team identified several questionable pricing assumptions that were corrected by BHIB resulting in billions of Dollars in accounting restatement.
After traveling back and forth between San Francisco and several business offices for several months, working weekends and overtime, I successfully led my team to complete the project well ahead of time while delivering a high quality work product. As a result of my stellar performance on the project, I won the BHIB Creativity Award- an honor bestowed only on the most valuable employees within the company and was promoted to an Executive Vice President.
Lessons I learned and the impact that I made, make this experience a substantial accomplishment for me. I learned how to successfully run a complex operation, entrust and delegate responsibilities, and manage people to effectively complete a difficult task within deadline. With my help, a Fortune 20 company met a critical business objective of recalibrating its securities valuation methodologies.
The Johnson School of Business prides itself on developing leaders who are able to create, transform and sustain organizations. My aim is to transform and energize any company that I work for, while ultimately working to create my own and I would be honored to have Cornell as my partner!
NOTA BENE: This is a draft and designed to help you with your MBA applications. Created under the Creative Commons rule and it is copyleft. Use as a guide for your essays. I plan to collate and refine the essays I have posted on Black Herald and publish a book of MBA essays in the future. The accomplishment I chose in this write-up is not really a big achievement for me but something that would be interesting to the prototypical powers that be and it is a made up story.
Stanford GSB Admissions Essay - What matters most to you, and why? - (Version 2).
January 15, 2009 | Leave a Comment
“One of man’s oldest exercises in moral philosophy is the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness - John Kenneth Galbraith”
In 2008 capitalism was challenged, the global financial system was in a turmoil and the world economy was on a brink. More than 99 financial institutions kicked the bucket and countless more were listed on the FDIC watchlist of banks in distress. Banks went bowl in hand one after the other for handouts from the government. Two government sponsored entities were rescued in a conservatorship that ended an era in which the duopoly of Freddiemac & Fanniemae operated simultaneously as private and public companies. The largest fraud in the history of mankind unraveled when an erstwhile non-executive chairman of NASDAQ confessed that his hedge fund was infact one big lie. Millions of homes were foreclosed after the prospects of owning a home was oversold to the unwary public by a mortgage industry that preys. 401ks plummeted in value while congress looked the other way and failed to regulate a self-destructive financial system. At the root of the above unfortunate incidents are greed, arrogance, ego, narcissism, insecurity, lack of integrity and ethical standards and an executive remuneration system that is dangerously tied to financial performance. We can no longer afford to let the core values that hold the social fabrics of our communities together be relegated to the background and all hand must be on deck to enforce changes in the ways our companies are managed. Like President Obama said, we must commit to a new declaration of independence — from ideology and bigotry — and vehemently denounce the old and discredited notion that only people of certain hue are capable of management and leadership.
The days of enforcing ethical behaviors by merely requesting business executives & middle management to fill out a code of conduct and conflict of interest form are long gone. Though, I agree with Professor Raghuram Rajan that executive bonuses paid in periods of boom be kept in escrow accounts and used to offset losses made in periods of economic downturn, this proposition erroneously assumes that greed and unethical behaviors are driven solely by monetary incentives, however, empirical evidence has shown that unethical behaviors are motivated both by pecuniary and non-pecuniary factors. Consequently, a mandatory attendance at a yearly Ethics and Leadership immersion program that uses creative teaching techniques such as role playing, visual aids and case studies like the one I am currently developing and planning to teach at the Black Herald Leadership Institute (BHLI) is a more holistic approach .
The most important thing to me therefore is ethical leadership and to this end, I intend to dedicate my life to the study of management & ethics and develop solutions to help executives act with integrity and in the interest of all stakeholders at all times whether they are making financial or non-financial decisions. I want to teach business executives my time tested decision making matrix to enable them develop competencies to navigate the deep gray sea of ethical decision making. In making any decisions, I will implore business executives to first analyze the consequences of their actions: who will be affected, who will be harmed, the short and long run effects of their actions, benefits and disadvantages. After analyzing the consequences of their actions, I will again implore them to consider alternative courses of action and determine how those actions measure up against moral principles such as fairness, equality, integrity, honesty and respect for the dignity of others.
I am confident that this yearly ethics & leadership immersion program will help us develop leaders who are the conscience of their organizations, always striving to do what is right. The Stanford MBA school prides itself as a place where people are helped to develop leadership mindsets and I look forward to leveraging my Stanford education to make a difference in our constantly changing world!!!
This essay is dedicated to Rosa Parks for standing up against tyranny. Because of her courage, we don’t have to seat at the back of the bus anymore and lets face it, that would be uncomfortable for everybody. Look at how far we have come.
NOTA BENE: This is a draft and designed to help you with your MBA applications. Created under the Creative Commons rule and it is copyleft. Use as a guide for your essays. I plan to collate and refine the essays I have posted on Black Herald and publish a book of MBA essays in the future.
If you like this essay, stay tuned for the following write-ups:
- Color of God.
- The Circle of Life - Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Need.
- What matters most to you and why? Stanford essay (using Belief & Leadership as themes - I have written this essay twice now but I can write it in 20 different ways. I am probably going to write the third & fourth versions and move on to another topic)
Stanford GSB Admissions Essay - What matters most to you, and why?
December 21, 2008 | Leave a Comment
“Who knows but that, on the lower frequencies, I speak for you? - Ralph Ellison - Invisible Man 1947″
The most important thing to some people is to save a planet in peril and advocate for the over 100 million sharks that will be poached this year by predacious human beings. For others, what matters most is to bring comfort to helpless children living in abject poverty and pauperism in the farthest nooks & crannies of the globe. A lot of people will gladly donate their time and money in order to support the missions of the Armies of Salvation, while others will go to any length to maintain the old order and lie to us that fairness lies in the eyes of the beholder. But you and I know what fairness and justice look like when we see them. Though my interests are eclectic, my self-actualization is to stand up against tyranny and nepotism wherever I see them and tell Africans and African Americans that we can no longer afford to wallow in the shallow waters of mediocrity. That the time is ripe for us to search within and aim for the highest heights in our fields of endeavor.
I want to be like Elizabeth McCartney who left a lucrative job in Washington DC for St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana in order to help the victims of KATRINA find their ways back home. Because she knows that, north, east, south or west, home is still the best. I want to be like Yohannes Gebregorgis, who established Ethiopia Reads, to bring free public libraries & literacy programs to thousands of Ethiopian children because he knows that a mind is a terrible thing to waste and that unless Africa reads, our communities cannot develop the next generation of thinkers, scientists, philosophers, accountants, doctors and astronauts that will help leapfrog the continent to the next developmental frontier. I want to be like Viola Vaughn who built the “10,000 Girls” program in Dakar Senegal to help failing schoolchildren pass their exams or be like Maris Ruiz who crosses the border from El Paso, Texas into Mexico several times a week to bring food, clothing and toys to hundreds of impoverished children and their families.
To achieve my goal, I established Black Herald Online Magazine to serve as a repository for disseminating the stories, struggles and triumphs of men and women of color, so that the new generation can read their stories and say YES! I can do it too. In the last year alone, I published over 100 stories to showcase the accomplishments of black people in commerce, science, fashion & entertainment, banking, politics and education including a story about the “Most Important Blacks in Technology Awards”, a program designed to honor outstanding and accomplished black engineers for their remarkable contributions to the fields of science and technology and another story about the African Banker Awards established to recognize the reforms, rapid modernization, consolidation, integration and expansion of African banking. The time to change the negative cultural narratives in our society is now. Nobody knows our story better than us, consequently, it is incumbent on us to create platforms to broadcast our achievements -if we don’t blow our trumpet, nobody would.
The Stanford Graduate School of Business prides itself as the school of the future where people are equipped with the wherewithal to nurture and develop fledgling businesses into world class enterprises and I look forward to leveraging my Stanford MBA education to develop Black Herald into a household name and continue to positively impact my community one story at a time!!.
NOTA BENE: This is a draft and designed to help you with your MBA applications. Created under the Creative Commons rule and it is copyleft. Use as a guide for your essays. Merry Xmas and Happy New Year in advance. May the new year herald all your unfulfilled dreams, Amen!!
Discuss how you believe you have demonstrated strong presentation/communication skills. (MBA/Masters Essays).
December 11, 2008 | Leave a Comment
“Between two equally well built products, the one with the better design/presentation will have a higher perceived value” - Raymond Loewy - Father of Modern Industrial Design.
As the student government President of Nigeria’s most prominent university, I had the opportunity to develop and regularly utilize my strong communication skills. It was not uncommon to be interviewed by the national press or invited to talk shows on national TV to articulate the opinion of students on government policies.
In the years prior to being elected, I had had first-hand experience of what skills were crucial to being viewed as a popular leader among students; at the time, it was considered good form for student-politicians to speak with cultivated bombast and speeches of my predecessors were packed with phrases like “circumventing perambulation” and “pyrotechnic demagoguery” and just about anything to keep the crowd roaring. To my chagrin, these speeches often led to outcomes that were more volatile than I thought necessary.
As a keen observer of these episodes, I learned a great deal about the art of public speaking and how one could use this skill to navigate the delicate balance between stirring a crowd while still holding the power to channel its actions. So as President, I adopted a measured style of speaking- calibrated in content and in tone, necessary to back up my claims as a president that sought to avoid the incendiary approaches of his predecessors.
I had started to hone these skills during my earlier involvements in debates as a high-school student and on a stint, shortly before college, as the presenter of a youth variety program on Radio Nigeria, a government-owned AM radio station. The most crucial step in the development of these skills, though, happened when as an undergraduate I became a member of an all-amateur campus drama club where I acted in about 10 plays in 4 years. It was here that I came to learn how to project my voice, enunciate my words, and repeat the same line in many different ways altering my inflection or timing or both, to elicit the desired audience response.
I have found all these experiences very helpful in my recent roles as a teacher and a researcher. As a graduate student, I taught over 10 sections of Chemistry and Physics Classes and gave two talks at international conferences and countless more at in-house group seminars. Earlier this year, I gave a talk at a Symposium on Chemical Kinetics and Dynamics in New York and followed that up three days later by giving the weekly Chemistry departmental seminar at the Institute of Technology where I am also teaching a class on Probability and Statistics this spring.
I have also demonstrated strong written skills in a variety of settings. Apart from writing two bachelor’s theses and a doctoral dissertation, my written work also includes a well-received inaugural speech and scores of press releases during my student government presidential tenure, guest columns which have appeared in student newspapers here in the US, and opinion pieces on a widely-read website catering to Nigerian readership abroad.
A further demonstration of my strong communication skills is my conversational fluency in four languages including Yoruba, English, French, which I started learning at the age of 5, and Japanese which, in spite of the demands of working on a PhD, I learned well enough to pass an examination certifying 300 hours of learning.
I look forward to drawing upon these experiences in the future as a financial engineer who excels in using language to communicate the most complex ideas to colleagues and clients in a very clear and lucid manner.
NB: This essay was published with the permission of the author, a friend of mine (He does not wish to be identified) . Posted under creative commons rule and use as a guide for your admission essays.
How have you applied your quantitative skills in problem solving in a business or research settings? (MBA/Masters Essay)
November 23, 2008 | Leave a Comment
My distinction in mathematics, evidenced by winning the second prize at the National Science Competition and representing Nigeria at the 1920 African Mathematics Olympiad, as well as my love for chemistry led me to choose an undergraduate major of Chemical Engineering which I thought was a reasonable synthesis of the two subjects. Even though, I took several mathematics classes as an undergraduate, the rigid course prescriptions of my university meant that taking classes often felt like grade-harvesting missions rather than an opportunity to apply my quantitative skills creatively.
Nevertheless, I was able to make innovative use of my strong quantitative abilities from time to time. On one occasion, I solved a problem on a Transport Phenomena exam from first principles by using differential equations having forgotten the formula recommended in class; and another time, I used beta and gamma functions- self-taught, to integrate products of trigonometric functions and breezed through a mathematics test in less than a third of the allotted time.
My doctoral work in Theoretical Chemistry provided better challenge and a greater opportunity to use my quantitative skills to define and solve research problems ab initio. I used my knowledge of engineering mathematics, statistics, differential equations, linear algebra and mathematical physics to develop novel approaches to improve the application of semiclassical mechanics to the simulation of chemical reactions. The problems I dealt with fell into two broad categories: how a particle could ghost through the equivalent of a physical wall and how a particle may leap to a higher energy level even while possessing intrinsically lower energy. In technical parlance, these problems are known as tunneling and nonadiabatic transition respectively, and I sought to find models to include these effects into chemical reaction simulations.
For the former, I derived a Riccatti-type nonlinear matrix differential equation and established its equivalence with models which had been used previously by other researchers, and I was able to adduce arguments based on numerical analysis as to why my model was comparably better suited for simulation purposes. The most interesting feature of my model was that its singular points coincided with the points of physical interest so that the successful identification of such points was accompanied by the breakdown of the numerical solution due to the singularities.
My innovation was to use sequential on-the-fly orthogonal transformations to circumvent the infinities in the solution of the nonlinear differential equation. My multidimensional numerical solution was implemented using the Adams-Bashforth Predictor Corrector scheme, and the final solution was stable in every respect leading to acceptance of the work for oral presentation at Japan’s foremost International Conference on Molecular Science.
For the nonadiabatic transition problem, I developed a Monte-Carlo recipe based on a uniformly-distributed random number sequence into which I grafted the numerical solutions to two main problems: a fourth-order Runge-Kutta scheme to solve the equation describing the motion of the chemically-reacting particles in six-dimensional space; and the use of quadratures to solve phase integrals to obtain the probabilities of the particles actually leaping to the desired energy levels. Overall, I published three papers in international journals based on these lines of research.
In addition, I have taken two theoretical physics classes focused on the qualitative solutions of differential equations at regular points and in asymptotic regions, complex variables, and the use of separation of variables and eigenfunction expansion methods to solve partial differential equations. These two courses have been helpful in providing formal depth to some materials I had previously learned while introducing me to new topics I had not. I believe that my formal mathematical training and research experience in the rigorous application of mathematical modeling puts me in a strong position to succeed in the Master’s in Financial Engineering program at Berkeley.
NB: This essay was published with the permission of the author, a friend of mine (He does not wish to be identified) . Posted under creative commons rule and use as a guide for your admission essays.
Why do you want a Masters in Financial Engineering Degree/MBA ?
November 12, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Please discuss your intermediate and long-term professional goals and why you want an MFE degree at this point in your career. In what ways do you think an MFE degree will help you achieve these goals? What do you expect from this program and why have you chosen the Haas MFE Program? (Minimum:250 words)
By the time I finished work on my PhD, although I had become convinced that the combination of theory and computation were powerful tools for studying various physical systems, I had also begun to look beyond the career directions implied by the very academic nature of my dissertation. I was looking for a career where I could use my proficiency in computer simulation, numerical methods and modeling in a field with practical applications and entrepreneurial prospects.
At the suggestion of a prospective MBA student whom I tutored in Calculus, I began to strongly consider financial engineering/quantitative finance. I liked the challenge of using technical tools to study a system as unpredictable as the market and the promise of making innovations that would win the respect of practitioners in the finance industry. From my research, I had doubts about being able to obtain a job in this field solely on my prior quantitative and computational experience and concluded that it would be valuable to round out my skill sets with formal training in financial economics, options theory etc.
Certain factors dictated my program of choice. First, since I had four degrees already, I put much premium on the duration of the program- the shorter, the better. Then, I wanted a program to complement my strengths by focusing less on the mathematical and more on offering a good deal of exposure to financial economics, business case-studies and a thorough grounding in the concepts underlying financial instruments design. The opportunity to balance such a curriculum with real-world application through internships was also important to me.
The MFE program at the Haas Business School meets all these requirements and is at the top of the shortlist of programs I am considering. The reasons include its emphasis on applied theoretical finance as opposed to mathematical finance and its being situated in a business school where I can sharpen my business acumen through interactions with more experienced faculty and classmates. I also believe the curriculum to be very innovative and I am equally impressed that internships are considered a core part of the program. Lastly, Berkeley ranks high on my list because of the presence on the teaching faculty of a PhD physicist like Dr. Ronald Kahn, with whom I share some similarities in educational background and who can provide the sort of mentoring to make my transition from scientist to financial engineer even smoother.
My short-term plan on completing the MFE degree is to find employment here in the United States with the goal of gaining practical experience in portfolio management, automated trading and financial modeling. I find the MFE program’s continuous record of success in job placements very encouraging in achieving this goal.
In the long term, I intend to take advantage of the many market-friendly reforms being pursued by new democratic governments in Africa, such as the consolidation of banks based on liquidity, and the privatization of public corporations. I believe these moves favor the expansion of the wider investment markets and I plan to return home to fill the gaping demand for innovative financial engineering products in an emerging market like Nigeria. My plan is to start a hedge fund using strategies based on sophisticated number-crunching backed by a sound understanding of finance and options pricing theory. Certainly, a course like the elective “Success and Failure in Financial Innovation” offered in the MFE program would do me a world of good in such a quest.
I know that the education I would receive from the Haas School of Business and the cachet that comes from being an alumnus of one of the world’s most renowned business school would be crucial in the inevitable teething days of such a venture. I also hope that my cosmopolitan education would be of great benefit as I plan to develop my conversational fluency in French and Japanese to business standards and use that as leverage in winning over foreign investors looking for brokers in African markets.
NB: This essay was published with the permission of the author, a friend of mine (He does not wish to be identified) . Posted under creative commons rule and use as a guide for your admission essays.
What career do you plan to pursue upon completing the MBA and why? How will the Pegasus School help you achieve this goal?
September 29, 2008 | 1 Comment
I am pursuing an MBA degree in order to transition from a career in Internal Audit to a career in Risk Management. Upon graduation from college, I will pursue a career in a global bank as risk manager with focus on credit, market, interest and counter-party risk management. My immediate experience as a risk manager in a global financial institution would be crucial to my goal of ascending to top management echelon and eventually owning a risk management and consulting firm.
Though, Internal Audit as a discipline has elements of Risk Management, it is backward looking and dwells too much on the analysis of historical data. While this practice has its place within the overall control framework in any large corporation, it has limited capabilities to predict the future and question management’s risky business decisions.
There is no gainsaying the fact that the lack of robust risk management infrastructures is the main culprit for the recent spate of collapse and near collapse of venerable Wall Street institutions and other global banks. Consequently, one of the solutions to averting meltdowns of financial institutions in the future is the development of capabilities to question the risk-return dynamics of management business decisions on a real-time basis using both quantitative and qualitative methods. The future belongs to individuals who posses the skill sets to develop & implement the necessary risk management infrastructures (both human resources & technological infrastructures) for their organizations.
I think I run the risk of sounding proud by saying that there is nobody better placed for this future strategic role than me. With over 6 years experience in audit and external financial reporting including stints at two global accounting firms and the largest secondary mortgage financial institution in the world, three professional accounting certifications (Certified Public Accountant, Certified Management Accountant, Associate Chartered Accountant), the ability to exercise professional skepticism and a questioning mind in the execution of my work, I believe that I have the requisite credential and experience to become a successful risk manager.
However, I have limited exposure to complex financial transactions such as derivatives and credit default swaps to name just a few. Therefore, an MBA with a concentration in Finance will provide the platform to switch career from audit to risk management. The Pegasus School of Business is my top choice due to its reality-based education that creatively integrates leading-edge research and practice and will provide the required bridge between my previous work experiences and my future career goals. Likewise, I will benefit from the intense, collaborative and performance learning approach of the Pegasus MBA program. I plan to take classes such as Advanced Corporate Finance and the Entrepreneurship Lab and learn leverage buyouts and real options. I plan to take Professor John Doe’s Management Practicum and also effectively utilize the resources at the McLean Center for Investment Research because there is no substitute for hands-on experience.
In return, I will bring my passion for business and in-depth knowledge of accounting and ethical issues confronting Fortune 500 companies to the class of 2020. Given my diverse educational and cultural background, I will enrich the Pegasus experience of my classmates, bring stronger international focus to the classrooms and participate in the Adam Smith Finance Club. This will go a long way in sharpening my leadership skills.
With the skill sets and valuable knowledge gained by taking multi-disciplinary courses that are available only through exceptional MBA programs, such as The Pegasus MBA program, and knowledge of emerging markets gained from my previous work experience, I am confident that I will realize my career goals in risk management.
NOTA BENE: This is a draft and designed to help you with your MBA applications. In future I plan to further refine the essays I have published on this website (working with my friend - Saint James - a prolific writer) and publish a book of MBA essays. Dear friends, till we meet again please do what you love and love what you do.
