What’s up, everyone. I hope this entry finds you enjoying your weekend. I just got in from the airport a little while and realized that I hadn’t posted anything in a while, so I thought it would be worth sharing a little about where I’ve been. I just got back from Chicago where i helped to represent my employer at a conference for incoming first-year business school students called MBA Jumpstart (http://www.mbajumpstart.com). Rather than trying to describe the mission of the conference myself, I’ll just take a quote from its website:
“MBA JumpStart is a targeted, prematriculation forum through which consulting and financial services firms can identify, educate and recruit minority talent at top-tier MBA programs. MBA JumpStart was created to address the lack of diversity and under representation of minorities in the consulting and financial services industries. The program strives to bridge the gap between minority talent entering top business schools and firms actively seeking to increase minority representation.”
It was founded a few years ago by two Fuqua MBA alums and my Stanford GSB classmates Detavio helped to launch the first conference in 2004 for my incoming cohort. Now, it is in its 4th year and they’ve been able to bring in a collection of fantastic consulting and investment banking sponsors to support the cause. Also, they’ve put together a jam-packed 3 day program to give these kids and idea of what these industries have to offer as a start to a post-MBA career. The students attended tons of presentations from companies, saw several panel discussions on life in consulting and banking, did mock interviews with the banks and case simulations with the consulting firms, and got TONS of time to ask questions in a safe environment before hitting campus in the Fall. Back in 2004, I missed MBA Jumpstart as an incoming student due to a wedding, so it was cool to attend it this time around but from the corporate side. The founders of MBA Jumpstart (John and Elton) put on a monster event and I hope I have a chance to attend it again next year.
For me the most enjoyable parts of the weekend were interacting with the soon-to-be-students and presenting the info from my Firm. A funny thing about this blog is that I get recognized when i’m least expecting it and it happened again at MBA Jumpstart. There were 8 or 9 of the students who rolled up on me and gave me a shout out for all the stuff I’ve posted on here…yeah, it’s happened before, but it never stops being cool to have someone say that they find this joint helpful. You know, the more and more I attend events where i represent my Firm, I realize that I’m getting old because the students just look so young nowadays…
My main activities during the day were to deliver our information presentation with the help of a panel of other Associates and then serve as a guide to a team of students for a case simulation. As I was giving the presentations, it hit me how far I’ve come in conquering my anxiety about speaking in front of groups of people…guess that comes from
spending the past year interacting with and presenting to clients. Anyways, if anyone who attended MBAJumpstart is reading this entry, please know that I enjoyed meeting all of you and wish you the best of luck with the start of your Bschool careers in a few weeks. Meeting all of you made me really nostalgic about the excitement one feels at the start of such a journey…
Before I close this entry, I want to give out a couple of shout outs…The first one is going to seem rather random. As I was walking back to my hotel from the MBA Jumpstart closing dinner last night, I got a little lost and solicited some help from a random guy that I saw walking down the street. As he guided me toward my hotel, he shared with me that he is a civil rights lawyer in Michigan who is currently running for Congress. His name is David Nacht and the website for his campaign is http://www.nacht4congress.com/. I don’t consider myself a political person, but I found David to be a really nice guy, so I thought I’d give him a shout out on here so the folks reading this entry from Michigan will give him a look during the election. One good deed always deserves a corresponding one in my book…
The second “shout out” is about a great new site that just launched last week. The site, OnyxCranium (http://www.onyxcranium.com), was described to me by the founder as a combination of “The Onion” and “The Boondocks”. The founder is a Stanford alum from the class of 2000 and is an incredibly gifted writer. The site is targeted toward the African-American community, but I think all readers might find it entertaining. If you get a chance, hit it up and see what they’ve got going over there.
“MBA JumpStart is a targeted, prematriculation forum through which consulting and financial services firms can identify, educate and recruit minority talent at top-tier MBA programs. MBA JumpStart was created to address the lack of diversity and under representation of minorities in the consulting and financial services industries. The program strives to bridge the gap between minority talent entering top business schools and firms actively seeking to increase minority representation.”
It was founded a few years ago by two Fuqua MBA alums and my Stanford GSB classmates Detavio helped to launch the first conference in 2004 for my incoming cohort. Now, it is in its 4th year and they’ve been able to bring in a collection of fantastic consulting and investment banking sponsors to support the cause. Also, they’ve put together a jam-packed 3 day program to give these kids and idea of what these industries have to offer as a start to a post-MBA career. The students attended tons of presentations from companies, saw several panel discussions on life in consulting and banking, did mock interviews with the banks and case simulations with the consulting firms, and got TONS of time to ask questions in a safe environment before hitting campus in the Fall. Back in 2004, I missed MBA Jumpstart as an incoming student due to a wedding, so it was cool to attend it this time around but from the corporate side. The founders of MBA Jumpstart (John and Elton) put on a monster event and I hope I have a chance to attend it again next year.
For me the most enjoyable parts of the weekend were interacting with the soon-to-be-students and presenting the info from my Firm. A funny thing about this blog is that I get recognized when i’m least expecting it and it happened again at MBA Jumpstart. There were 8 or 9 of the students who rolled up on me and gave me a shout out for all the stuff I’ve posted on here…yeah, it’s happened before, but it never stops being cool to have someone say that they find this joint helpful. You know, the more and more I attend events where i represent my Firm, I realize that I’m getting old because the students just look so young nowadays…
My main activities during the day were to deliver our information presentation with the help of a panel of other Associates and then serve as a guide to a team of students for a case simulation. As I was giving the presentations, it hit me how far I’ve come in conquering my anxiety about speaking in front of groups of people…guess that comes from
spending the past year interacting with and presenting to clients. Anyways, if anyone who attended MBAJumpstart is reading this entry, please know that I enjoyed meeting all of you and wish you the best of luck with the start of your Bschool careers in a few weeks. Meeting all of you made me really nostalgic about the excitement one feels at the start of such a journey…
Before I close this entry, I want to give out a couple of shout outs…The first one is going to seem rather random. As I was walking back to my hotel from the MBA Jumpstart closing dinner last night, I got a little lost and solicited some help from a random guy that I saw walking down the street. As he guided me toward my hotel, he shared with me that he is a civil rights lawyer in Michigan who is currently running for Congress. His name is David Nacht and the website for his campaign is http://www.nacht4congress.com/. I don’t consider myself a political person, but I found David to be a really nice guy, so I thought I’d give him a shout out on here so the folks reading this entry from Michigan will give him a look during the election. One good deed always deserves a corresponding one in my book…
The second “shout out” is about a great new site that just launched last week. The site, OnyxCranium (http://www.onyxcranium.com), was described to me by the founder as a combination of “The Onion” and “The Boondocks”. The founder is a Stanford alum from the class of 2000 and is an incredibly gifted writer. The site is targeted toward the African-American community, but I think all readers might find it entertaining. If you get a chance, hit it up and see what they’ve got going over there.
Marquis,
Thanks for keeping this blog updated and filled with interesting thoughts and advice. It’s a refreshing perspective and a thought-provoker for b-school bound individuals like me.
Thanks! Will continue reading and thinking…
Min
Stanford ’06