Life as an MBA

In late August, life is VERY good as a rising MBA2. I found myself on a beach, enjoying the sun and the company of my family. In addition, I had just received word that I secured a full-time offer from EY.  The best part? I still had a week and a half before I headed back to be a LAUNCH captain and welcome the incoming MBA1’s to Stern. I came back to school, excited to start my second year without the specter of recruiting hanging over me. This meant I would be able to spend a lot more time learning, hanging out with my friends, and getting involved in extracurriculars I could not as an MBA1. Then, something weird happened.

boat cruise
Block 6 LAUNCH Captains on the Boat Cruise

On the first day of LAUNCH, I got the chance to catch up with a number of my friends after not seeing them all summer. We had plenty to chat about, but the conversation naturally veered toward our summer internships. After talking to a number of them about their summers, I began to have a crisis of confidence. Did I really enjoy my summer that much? Was the work something I really wanted to do? Should I take advantage of the opportunity to re-recruit regardless? My gut was telling me to stop overthinking things, but my head LOVES to overthink things. So, as any aspiring consultant would, I began to gather information to test whether or not I really wanted to re-recruit. I spoke to even more of my classmates in detail about their summer experiences and even reached out to some of my summer co-workers and other connections who I trusted to give me good advice. I quickly realized that I was, in fact, overthinking things and that I had no actual desire to re-recruit. Despite the unnecessary stress I placed on myself, I am glad I went through that evaluation process as it caused me to re-examine what I hoped to gain from business school (beyond a career pivot) in the first place.

For me, business school was a chance to pivot careers. Yet it was also a chance for me to get involved with student clubs, push myself academically, and get involved with aspects of student life that I had neglected as an undergrad. During my first year, I had pushed myself so hard during the recruiting process that I lost sight of those goals. Thankfully, my post-internship crisis of confidence refocused me going into year two. I had already signed up to be a LAUNCH Captain, Career Mentor, and Graduate Assistant for admissions, so I was going to be dedicating more time to leadership roles during my second year. However, I was missing out on student club involvement. I had identified two clubs in particular, the student newspaper (The Opportunity) and the student podcast (Stern Chats), as those I wanted to join and contribute to during my time at Stern. I made it my mission to take on a bigger role in each, and am proud to say I have been 70% successful in that mission. I’ve written a number of articles for the Opportunity (yes this is a shameless plug to check them out) and worked to establish relationships with other clubs on campus to spread the word of their events, guest speakers, etc. Stern Chats, on the other hand, has been an uphill battle for me. I took on the responsibility to try and start a new line of content for us, essentially business 101 discussions with the experts at Stern. While we’ve taped a number of episodes now, it has been more of an uphill battle than I anticipated. However, it has also been very rewarding. I’ve gotten to learn about topics I was unfamiliar with, work with fellow MBA’s who I didn’t know very well, and gotten to meet more members of our incredible faculty.

At the end of the day, getting an MBA is an intense experience. It is all too easy to become singularly focused on getting the job of your dreams and miss out on the rest of the experience. Thankfully, I was able to realize this and re-adjust going into my second year. If I have one piece of advice for prospective students and incoming MBA’s it is this. Pursue your professional goals with 100% effort, but don’t let the pursuit consume you. Save some time for yourself, and the personal goals you set when you embarked on this journey.

Summer Internship Series: Ernst & Young

Anthony Russ is a rising MBA2 interning at Ernst & Young. Anthony is specializing in Business Analytics, Management of Technology & Operations, and Strategy.

NYU Stern’s “Summer Internship Series” sheds light into Sternies’ internship experiences. Posts are written by rising MBA2s who are currently working at their summer internship.

 

 

January 28th, 2018: two days after my final round interview with EY’s OTS practice.

The Philadelphia Eagles were 1 week away from winning the Super Bowl and on a bye, so there was nothing to distract me from my incessant worrying about how my interviews went. Before going to bed, I did one final check of my emails and . . . 1 unread email from EY. Could this be it? Is . . . could it be the culmination of recruiting season. YES! Although I had two more final round interviews scheduled for the following week, I knew that I was going to accept EY’s offer to join the OTS practice for the summer. The practice offered everything I was looking for in an internship – an entrepreneurially minded culture, the ability to learn the operations of a company inside and out, and experience with M&A. Needless to say, I was a happy man.

Fast forward to May 30th, day 1 of my summer. I was assigned to a Working Capital project for a global life sciences company. On one hand, I was happy to be staffed on a life sciences project. On the other, I was expecting an M&A project but instead was placed on a Working Capital project. While familiar with the concept of working capital, I knew very little about what a working capital project was for EY. After meeting my team and learning about our project, my trepidation turned into excitement. The project was focused on optimizing the clients’ Working Capital (I LOVE optimization work) and my team seemed like an ideal group to learn from due to their experience and personality. Thankfully my first impression was correct. My teammates have been more than willing to answer any questions I have had (and there were a lot), but most importantly, they have trusted me in front of the client once I proved I was capable. For a summer intern new to consulting, that was a huge confidence boost.

Anthony at summer internship outing
An after-work outing with EY colleagues.

So, what did I actually DO this summer? Great question. In ~10 weeks I: worked on a proposal to win our practice new work, assisted in the buildout of an accounts receivable assessment tool for our client, built a Working Capital benchmarking tool now being used practice-wide for business development efforts, built a supplier management tool being implemented globally with our client, and recommended an MBA recruiting strategy for OTS’s IT vertical. I also got VERY familiar with Excel, Alteryx, and Tableau – 3 practical skills that will no doubt be useful in the future. Ironically for a consulting internship, I have only made 10 slides in PowerPoint . . . but I promise they were good slides! I can honestly say that I never expected to be exposed to so much during my summer internship, nor expected that I would learn so much in such a short period of time.

I focused most of my recruiting energy in the fall on the pursuit of a consulting internship and was fortunate enough to land my top choice. I pursued consulting because I wanted a role that would consistently challenge me, a role that put me in a near-constant state of learning, and a role where I was a member of a team. My experience this summer provided all of those things. For those incoming MBA’s who may still be unsure of what roles they want to pursue, or whether consulting is right for them, I implore you to attend as many recruiting events this fall as you can and talk to as many people as you can. One of the biggest benefits of attending Stern is the network. Do not be shy, and utilize that network to connect with alumni working full-time in your industry of interest, with MBA 2’s who had great summer experiences in your industry of choice, and even MBA 2’s who may not have had great experiences during the summer. Each of those perspectives will be important to hear, and will help you decide what internship you want to pursue.

Reflections on First Semester

Reflections on First Semester

I chose Stern partly for the obvious reasons. It is a top MBA program that is well-respected and has a robust alumni base in my industry of focus. More, my wife and I relished the opportunity to move to New York and have a new adventure after calling Boston home for 8 years. However, it was the people I met during my interview on campus that really sold me on attending Stern. I vividly remember walking into KMC through the Bobst entrance and being warmly greeted by the security guard. After he let me in and wished me luck, I ran into multiple Sternies on my way to the admissions office all of whom went out of their way to welcome me to Stern, give me advice and wish me luck. From that moment, I knew Stern was the place for me.

Fast forward to August. I am fresh back from my honeymoon and ready to dive into LAUNCH. The days leading up to LAUNCH were filled with anticipation, excitement and nervousness. I was excited to begin my MBA journey and to meet my classmates, yet nervous about how I would get along with everyone and how I would fit in. About 10 minutes on campus, those nerves were replaced by a feeling of comfort and belonging. The feeling I had was the same as I experienced during the day of my interview.

After LAUNCH, first semester is a blur. Instead of days filled with team building events, workshops, and happy hours I now had class, recruiting events…and happy hours. Moreover, recruiting begins in earnest. Particularly for those of us recruiting in the fall, first semester is daunting. The best part about it is everyone is going through a similar experience and that shared…misery?….is something that helps further solidify relationships. Before I knew it, the first semester was over and it was onto winter break.

Returning to campus at the end of January (January and interview season can be a post all on its own) is a special experience. The feeling I had right before classes started was similar to the feeling I had at LAUNCH, except the nervousness was replaced with excitement. Seeing your friends after a month, hearing about their travels and interviews and time off over a beer (or two) is GREAT. Also, second semester is less structured than the first so I had the opportunity to craft my own schedule, get involved with different activities and meet more people than the fall.

Hopefully I have been able to convey that I have truly loved every moment of my Stern experience… even the recruiting and finals. The academic programs are top notch, the faculty and staff are the best around, and you cannot beat the location. However, it is the students that truly separate Stern from its peers. My initial intuition served me well, and if I had to make the decision all over again it is safe to say I would make the same one again.