In October 2007, my discontent with my work led me to look at where I was and where I wanted to be careerwise. After three years of being out of school, I had held various positions in different industries. This made me realize two things. First, I was ready to settle on a career I would like to devote the rest of my working life to. Second, and most importantly I knew what job function I wanted to perform.
My different experiences helped me recognize my strengths and interests; creativity, problem solving, and critical thinking. Once I knew that, I was left with figuring out what career best incorporated these aspects. After weeks of researching different fields, I decided that working in Marketing or Consulting would be the ideal fit for me. I began looking at applying to different marketing and consulting positions but soon realized that my lack of an education in marketing and no prior experience made it near impossible to even garner an interview. So after some more research and self evaluation I decided to consider obtaining an MBA. People that decide to get an MBA are grouped into two different corners. Career changers and career enhancers. A career changer like myself is someone that wants to begin a new career and looks at an MBA education and the accompanying career services and networking opportunities as the best way to enter their new field of interest. A common example is people who want to become involved in investment banking but were not finance/business majors and have no banking experience.
A career enhancer is someone that is working within their desired industry (maybe even with the company they'd like to stay with) but feels that an MBA can accelerate and facilitate career advancement. For example you could be an engineer at Apple and would like to take on added responsibility. In order to become a project manager, an MBA might let your company know that you want to be considered for management and will now have a business education that can compliment your engineering strengths. Either reason for pursuing an MBA requires due diligence.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Friday, March 27, 2009
Law School?
So I worked at the bar for about six months. In July I began looking at career options and I started considering law school. My grades were good in college and for a lot of polisci students, law school is the next step in their careers. When I changed to PoliSci, I also added Pre-Law to my designation. It was a way to acquiesce my parents. However, in the fall of '04 I decided to actually proceed to this next supposed step. I began studying for the LSAT and took it in October. A month later I got my score and it wasn't what I thought it would be so I got a little down on myself. Back then I was so mad at myself for not doing as well on the test as I had been doing on practice tests that I decided to not apply anywhere. If I couldn't get into a top ten law school then I didn't want to go at all. A lot of people will and do say that if you can't go where you'd like to then that you should still apply at one of the many other good schools. My feelings back then where that I had worked so hard on my GPA and had done so well on practice LSAT tests, that it really upset me that on the one that mattered I had scored so far off of my range. That one test out of thirty I had taken was what kept me from my goals at that time.
Looking back on these events, I'm glad they turned out the way they did. If I had gone to law school, top ten or not. I would've invested three years of my life in a profession that was a good but not an ideal fit for me. I'd be a lawyer right now, and I might be happy or not. However, I now know what is the ideal graduate program for me to succeed and I've happily taken the steps to get there. The business world is a better fit for me than law. So how did I get from the fall of '04 to considering business school?
After, deciding not to apply anywhere I decided to quit the bar and look for a "real" job. A good job takes months to find but once again I made the mistake (I didn't see this as clearly back then) of getting the job that was most easily attainable. In 2005 I began working as a sales agent at an insurance company. After five months I realized that the owner's philosphy and company structure were not good for its employees and quit. For the rest of the year I worked part-time as a tutor. It was rewarding and something I was good at. I've always wanted to help others (part of the reason I took the insurance job was because it would let me help the Hispanic community) and so I decided to look at non-profit jobs as something that would better align with my interests. I found a great career opportunity with an NPO that works with K-12 students. The bulk of what I did was recruit volunteers but a small part of what I would do was teach kids so it let me continue to work in education also. After a while due to personal reasons I decided to leave this NPO and work with a media research company that paid better, allowed me to travel around the country, and gave me a lot of nice perks. I now regret having made this switch. My time with the NPO was the most enjoyable and I would've liked to have stayed there for 2-3 years.
During my time with the media research company, I recruited households to participate in our study. The more I did this, the less I liked it. After a while it got to me to go door to door asking for participation in our study. Even the perks, (car, cell phone, laptop, paid internet service, make my own hours) couldn't make up for it. Even the travel wasn't fun. (travel for work when you're alone 100% of the time, not so fun). So, it was in the fall of '07 while I was with this research company that my gmat-mba apps-business school endeavor began.
Looking back on these events, I'm glad they turned out the way they did. If I had gone to law school, top ten or not. I would've invested three years of my life in a profession that was a good but not an ideal fit for me. I'd be a lawyer right now, and I might be happy or not. However, I now know what is the ideal graduate program for me to succeed and I've happily taken the steps to get there. The business world is a better fit for me than law. So how did I get from the fall of '04 to considering business school?
After, deciding not to apply anywhere I decided to quit the bar and look for a "real" job. A good job takes months to find but once again I made the mistake (I didn't see this as clearly back then) of getting the job that was most easily attainable. In 2005 I began working as a sales agent at an insurance company. After five months I realized that the owner's philosphy and company structure were not good for its employees and quit. For the rest of the year I worked part-time as a tutor. It was rewarding and something I was good at. I've always wanted to help others (part of the reason I took the insurance job was because it would let me help the Hispanic community) and so I decided to look at non-profit jobs as something that would better align with my interests. I found a great career opportunity with an NPO that works with K-12 students. The bulk of what I did was recruit volunteers but a small part of what I would do was teach kids so it let me continue to work in education also. After a while due to personal reasons I decided to leave this NPO and work with a media research company that paid better, allowed me to travel around the country, and gave me a lot of nice perks. I now regret having made this switch. My time with the NPO was the most enjoyable and I would've liked to have stayed there for 2-3 years.
During my time with the media research company, I recruited households to participate in our study. The more I did this, the less I liked it. After a while it got to me to go door to door asking for participation in our study. Even the perks, (car, cell phone, laptop, paid internet service, make my own hours) couldn't make up for it. Even the travel wasn't fun. (travel for work when you're alone 100% of the time, not so fun). So, it was in the fall of '07 while I was with this research company that my gmat-mba apps-business school endeavor began.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Life After College
Time to look for a "real" job. In this entry and however many following entries it takes I will explain in depth my career choices and what my reasoning was for each. As you will read, my choices were never the wisest but one of my reasons for starting this blog is so that people who share some of the same experiences or background can read this and gain something from what my path has been just as I've learned from others. Career choices are so important and there is so much information to wade through (usually alone) that it is always nice to hear of someone else that has been through what you are going through or is where you want to be.
When I changed majors, I changed to the field that interested me the most. On the day I decided to switch to PoliSci, I didn't think of what my options were going to be after graduation. Once I was done with college, I realized that if I had graduated with a degree in Architecture or Engineering than my occupation choice would've been easier. But, I had a degree in Political Science and as my parents always asked, "What does a Political Science student become?". This leads me to a point I'd like to make about choosing majors, in case there are any Freshmen college students out there or younger. Most undergrads choose their majors based on career prospects, what their interests are, or a combination of both of these considerations. I chose based on what I was most inerested in and so I can only speak to how this has turned out for me. The negative side of this has been that my career path wasn't neatly set out. As a liberal arts major, I had many choices but at the same time there wasn't one clear option/profession that was awaiting upon graduation. As you will see in the following posts, this also caused a bit of anguish since I wasn't prepared and hadn't done my homework on life after a PoliSci degree. My advice for those who choose to follow their interests is to do a lot of research about what someone with their major does after college. And by this I mean, don't just rely on your advisor's office's pamphlets or general websites. These sources do contain good information but it is often just a starting point. You need to get out and speak with people in your field; relatives, family friends, neighbors, alumni, anyone that will give you the time. If for example you're an English major, google local newspapers or publishing companies and send them an email stating you're a high school senior or college freshman and want 15 minutes of their day to ask them some questions (how'd you get started, what has your career path been, what other positions have you had since college, etc..,). Send various interview requests out and you'd be surprised how many people want to talk about themselves to someone interested in their field. Then afterwards move onto another positon within your major such as English teacher, copywrite editor.
Now, getting back to choosing a major based on your interests. I've told you the probable negatives. Now for a probable positive. Since high school, I've had three majors and various possible careers I could've followed. However, it isn't until now, 8 years after high school, that I truly know what I want to do for the rest of my life and how to best achieve it. If I had stayed with Engineering or Architecture, I wouldn't have academically enjoyed college as much. Much worse, after five, ten years I would've been in a job that I did not want to be in and at that point it would have been near impossible to change careers. In college I did an externship and visited an architecture firm for three days over spring break and had an alumni show me different departments and what each architect from entry level to senior partner did day to day. This let me know that architecture didn't fit my personal interests. So, to summarize this point about whether to choose a major based on interest or career choice, you have to judge what is most important to you and only you can know that. You have to be honest to yourself and not be scared. It's ok if money is the most important thing and you want a certain major because of how much you'll be able to earn. It's ok if biology is your passion and you're great at it in school so that's what you want to focus on in college. It's ok if you want to be a teacher because you want to help kids and want summer's off (be careful: I have enough teacher friends to know that having summer's off evens out with a grueling 9 month school schedule. plus a lot work during the summer to make up for lost income differential). In any case, you don't have to explain yourself to anyone. Be honest with yourself about what's most important (the hard part), research the best options/paths, and then choose accordingly.
So now that my preaching is done, back to my career (probably a good idea to pay lip service to the blog's title). I didn't have 2009 Mauricio's advice or anyone else's to go by so when I graduated I decided to take the easy route. I felt that since I'd worked hard to get out a year early and with a good GPA, I should reward myself with a "fun" job and not go after a more competitive PoliSci related opportunity. Sooo...(drum roll)....I became a barback at a bar in one of Chicago's neighborhoods known for it's night scence. Fun huh?
When I changed majors, I changed to the field that interested me the most. On the day I decided to switch to PoliSci, I didn't think of what my options were going to be after graduation. Once I was done with college, I realized that if I had graduated with a degree in Architecture or Engineering than my occupation choice would've been easier. But, I had a degree in Political Science and as my parents always asked, "What does a Political Science student become?". This leads me to a point I'd like to make about choosing majors, in case there are any Freshmen college students out there or younger. Most undergrads choose their majors based on career prospects, what their interests are, or a combination of both of these considerations. I chose based on what I was most inerested in and so I can only speak to how this has turned out for me. The negative side of this has been that my career path wasn't neatly set out. As a liberal arts major, I had many choices but at the same time there wasn't one clear option/profession that was awaiting upon graduation. As you will see in the following posts, this also caused a bit of anguish since I wasn't prepared and hadn't done my homework on life after a PoliSci degree. My advice for those who choose to follow their interests is to do a lot of research about what someone with their major does after college. And by this I mean, don't just rely on your advisor's office's pamphlets or general websites. These sources do contain good information but it is often just a starting point. You need to get out and speak with people in your field; relatives, family friends, neighbors, alumni, anyone that will give you the time. If for example you're an English major, google local newspapers or publishing companies and send them an email stating you're a high school senior or college freshman and want 15 minutes of their day to ask them some questions (how'd you get started, what has your career path been, what other positions have you had since college, etc..,). Send various interview requests out and you'd be surprised how many people want to talk about themselves to someone interested in their field. Then afterwards move onto another positon within your major such as English teacher, copywrite editor.
Now, getting back to choosing a major based on your interests. I've told you the probable negatives. Now for a probable positive. Since high school, I've had three majors and various possible careers I could've followed. However, it isn't until now, 8 years after high school, that I truly know what I want to do for the rest of my life and how to best achieve it. If I had stayed with Engineering or Architecture, I wouldn't have academically enjoyed college as much. Much worse, after five, ten years I would've been in a job that I did not want to be in and at that point it would have been near impossible to change careers. In college I did an externship and visited an architecture firm for three days over spring break and had an alumni show me different departments and what each architect from entry level to senior partner did day to day. This let me know that architecture didn't fit my personal interests. So, to summarize this point about whether to choose a major based on interest or career choice, you have to judge what is most important to you and only you can know that. You have to be honest to yourself and not be scared. It's ok if money is the most important thing and you want a certain major because of how much you'll be able to earn. It's ok if biology is your passion and you're great at it in school so that's what you want to focus on in college. It's ok if you want to be a teacher because you want to help kids and want summer's off (be careful: I have enough teacher friends to know that having summer's off evens out with a grueling 9 month school schedule. plus a lot work during the summer to make up for lost income differential). In any case, you don't have to explain yourself to anyone. Be honest with yourself about what's most important (the hard part), research the best options/paths, and then choose accordingly.
So now that my preaching is done, back to my career (probably a good idea to pay lip service to the blog's title). I didn't have 2009 Mauricio's advice or anyone else's to go by so when I graduated I decided to take the easy route. I felt that since I'd worked hard to get out a year early and with a good GPA, I should reward myself with a "fun" job and not go after a more competitive PoliSci related opportunity. Sooo...(drum roll)....I became a barback at a bar in one of Chicago's neighborhoods known for it's night scence. Fun huh?
Monday, March 16, 2009
And so it continues
While at Loyola Academy I continued to do well but not anything spectacular. I was mostly in all honors classes and became a B+ student as I started to take school more seriously. During my senior year, college application season started. As I mentioned earlier, I am an only child. Also, both of my parents attended some college in El Salvador but did not have much knowledge of the American collegiate landscape. I never felt my academic advisor was much help but maybe it was just me not knowing what I wanted to do or become. Thus, it was mostly up to me to wade through the whole process.
In El Salvador my dad studied Civil Engineering at El Salvador's national university. During my senior year I took Architectural Design as an elective. As an internal compromise in wanting to follow in my dad's footsteps and wanting to do what I wanted, I decided to look at Architectural Engineering. This initial want of doing both concentrations is one of the earliest signs of my penchant for wanting to do too much and not settling on one specific major/career. You will see this play out as I detail my life's path. So after some research I found out that Kansas State at the time was the one of the if not the only school that had Architectural Engineering. However, as the name suggests it was mostly engineering. After some more thought I decided to only apply to the one school I guess I was destined to go to, the University of Illinois. I am a very tribal person and since I was little I have had an interest in U of I and felt that as an Illinoisian I would be lucky to go to the flagship state school that happens to be one of the best public schools in the country. So, during my senior year I only applied to U of I and it was for civil engineering. However, one weekend as my friends and I visited our friend's girlfriend, I wrote a letter on loose leaf ruled paper to the office of admissions saying that I wanted to change my application to Architecture, it was what I liked more and allowed for a more broad education. A few months later, Fall of 2001, I began studying architecture at the U.
Towards the end of my freshman year, I was in love with everything U of I had to offer. I felt constrained by a major like architecture that did not give me many electives and courses to choose from. So, I decided to switch to Political Science at the end of freshman year. To catch up with my PoliSci classmates I took two summer classes at Truman College back home in Chicago. Spring semester sophmore year I studied abroad in Germany with IES. When I came back and was planning for my junior year I realized that because of credits I earned for Spanish language proficiency and summer courses, that I could graduate in three years if I took extra classes in the fall and spring of my junior year. I decided to do this and graduated after three years in May of 2004 from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
In El Salvador my dad studied Civil Engineering at El Salvador's national university. During my senior year I took Architectural Design as an elective. As an internal compromise in wanting to follow in my dad's footsteps and wanting to do what I wanted, I decided to look at Architectural Engineering. This initial want of doing both concentrations is one of the earliest signs of my penchant for wanting to do too much and not settling on one specific major/career. You will see this play out as I detail my life's path. So after some research I found out that Kansas State at the time was the one of the if not the only school that had Architectural Engineering. However, as the name suggests it was mostly engineering. After some more thought I decided to only apply to the one school I guess I was destined to go to, the University of Illinois. I am a very tribal person and since I was little I have had an interest in U of I and felt that as an Illinoisian I would be lucky to go to the flagship state school that happens to be one of the best public schools in the country. So, during my senior year I only applied to U of I and it was for civil engineering. However, one weekend as my friends and I visited our friend's girlfriend, I wrote a letter on loose leaf ruled paper to the office of admissions saying that I wanted to change my application to Architecture, it was what I liked more and allowed for a more broad education. A few months later, Fall of 2001, I began studying architecture at the U.
Towards the end of my freshman year, I was in love with everything U of I had to offer. I felt constrained by a major like architecture that did not give me many electives and courses to choose from. So, I decided to switch to Political Science at the end of freshman year. To catch up with my PoliSci classmates I took two summer classes at Truman College back home in Chicago. Spring semester sophmore year I studied abroad in Germany with IES. When I came back and was planning for my junior year I realized that because of credits I earned for Spanish language proficiency and summer courses, that I could graduate in three years if I took extra classes in the fall and spring of my junior year. I decided to do this and graduated after three years in May of 2004 from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
And so it begins
So how does this work? Alright, well writing in one form or another is something I've always wanted to do. Getting published is one thing that I dream/think about late at night before I go to sleep when I idealize what I'd love to do at some future point in life. I never thought I would be a blogger but this idea/impulse to do so let's me scratch my writing itch and I hope this is the first of many posts. So what prompted this endeavor and what is this blog about? Well, career wise a lot of life changing events have happened lately and some more are to come in the next couple of months and years. Most importantly is that since August of 2008 I've taken steps to gain acceptance to an MBA program. Also, I've been interested in reading about business school and working in marketing or consulting and last night I found http://marquisweblog.blogspot.com/. It is well written and spans over six years from apps to working at McKinsey and after. I've never had a journal but I'm sure it's great to be able to look at entries and see how one's life has progressed while at the same time sharing your experiences with others who might be going through the same events. All of these aforementioned reasons are why I've decided to also start a blog. To answer the second part of my question, this blog will talk about how I've gotten to where I am today in my MBA process and the career events that take place from here on out as I look to future career paths.
The first few blog entries here are going to summarize general life points and events that have affected my professional path and will then become more detailed once I start talking about how I decided to start considering an MBA and everything that has happened since (studying for the GMAT, apps, and interviews). For ease of storytelling, I'll be posting all of this in chronological order until I catch up with what is going on now.
TO BEGIN
I was born in El Salvador in 1983. My parents had been living in California for a year. A few weeks before I was born my mom went to El Salvador, I was born there and then a month later she went back to California. I grew up in California until I was eight and went to Zela Davis School from kindergarten to second grade. I'm an only child but I was lucky to live next door to my aunt, uncle, and three cousins. When I was eight, my parents decided to move to Chicago. While they got settled in, I lived with my aunt, who had moved back to El Salvador with her family by then, for about 3 months and attended Salvadoreno Ingles for the beginning of third grade. After my parents got settled I flew to meet them in the best city in the world, Chicago mang! My parents didn't like the state of Chicago public schools so after looking at neighborhood private schools, they enrolled me in St. Ita for the end of my third grade. I attended St. Ita until fifth grade. At this point, northside Chicago Catholic schools' enrollment was shrinking so they decided to combine into one school, Northside Catholic Academy, with various campuses and varying grade offerings at each. St. Ita was shortened to K-5. So, off I went to St. Gregory for sixth grade through eight grade. Up until this point I had done average/above average in school. Roughly a B- average. I did discover that I could do well in standardized tests and that I had a strong capacity for math.
At some point during eight grade my parents started looking at high schools. They heard from a family friend that Loyola Academy was one of the best schools in the area. So for four years I spent my time at LA. My parents' decision, sacrifices, and efforts to send me to LA and pay more for my tuition than the rent for our apartment is the one thing in life that I'm most grateful to another person for. Coincidentally, attending LA played a minor but maybe influential part in my MBA application process, but more on that later. As for this entry, I think this is a good point to end my first post.
Starting this blog wasn't as bad as I thought it would. It's kind of liberating to write more freely and candidly than what I've been used to in school and more recently with apps essays where you try to phrase everything so carefully to the point where it becomes a painstaking endeavor. I'll continue this summary part of my blog tomorrow. Hope you enjoyed this entry and if you didnt hopefully I can get better at this as I write more. Thanks for taking the time to read my words.
The first few blog entries here are going to summarize general life points and events that have affected my professional path and will then become more detailed once I start talking about how I decided to start considering an MBA and everything that has happened since (studying for the GMAT, apps, and interviews). For ease of storytelling, I'll be posting all of this in chronological order until I catch up with what is going on now.
TO BEGIN
I was born in El Salvador in 1983. My parents had been living in California for a year. A few weeks before I was born my mom went to El Salvador, I was born there and then a month later she went back to California. I grew up in California until I was eight and went to Zela Davis School from kindergarten to second grade. I'm an only child but I was lucky to live next door to my aunt, uncle, and three cousins. When I was eight, my parents decided to move to Chicago. While they got settled in, I lived with my aunt, who had moved back to El Salvador with her family by then, for about 3 months and attended Salvadoreno Ingles for the beginning of third grade. After my parents got settled I flew to meet them in the best city in the world, Chicago mang! My parents didn't like the state of Chicago public schools so after looking at neighborhood private schools, they enrolled me in St. Ita for the end of my third grade. I attended St. Ita until fifth grade. At this point, northside Chicago Catholic schools' enrollment was shrinking so they decided to combine into one school, Northside Catholic Academy, with various campuses and varying grade offerings at each. St. Ita was shortened to K-5. So, off I went to St. Gregory for sixth grade through eight grade. Up until this point I had done average/above average in school. Roughly a B- average. I did discover that I could do well in standardized tests and that I had a strong capacity for math.
At some point during eight grade my parents started looking at high schools. They heard from a family friend that Loyola Academy was one of the best schools in the area. So for four years I spent my time at LA. My parents' decision, sacrifices, and efforts to send me to LA and pay more for my tuition than the rent for our apartment is the one thing in life that I'm most grateful to another person for. Coincidentally, attending LA played a minor but maybe influential part in my MBA application process, but more on that later. As for this entry, I think this is a good point to end my first post.
Starting this blog wasn't as bad as I thought it would. It's kind of liberating to write more freely and candidly than what I've been used to in school and more recently with apps essays where you try to phrase everything so carefully to the point where it becomes a painstaking endeavor. I'll continue this summary part of my blog tomorrow. Hope you enjoyed this entry and if you didnt hopefully I can get better at this as I write more. Thanks for taking the time to read my words.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)