Saturday, December 15, 2007

A Fine Balance

As a former three-sport athlete for the Lawrenceville School in New Jersey, I am very competitive and driven. It’s unacceptable for me to fall short of a goal because I could have worked a little harder. And I’m uncomfortable when I’m not being productive or getting something done. But at the same time, I’m a fun-loving person, and I try to maintain a good work/life balance.

I chose the School of Management (SMG) because of the real-life applications it presents and because the curriculum offers early exposure to all the different functional areas of business. The competitiveness and team orientation of SMG was also a factor in my decision. I love to compete, and the emphasis on competitive teamwork at SMG provided me with a new ‘field’ on which to excel.

Investing in Investment

My plan is to concentrate in finance and accounting. Numbers tell a story about a business. Accounting is the language of business and provides the tools to communicate and understand a company’s strategy and performance. Finance is what moves the business world forward—and sometimes backward—whether in the stock market or at a company in need of capital.

After I graduate, I plan to work in investment banking and then return to school to get an MBA. In investment banking, you get responsibility early on and exposure to management and the decision-makers. Investment banking not only stresses finance, accounting, and analytical skills but also emphasizes the ability to communicate and work with others, and to perform and compete under stress and pressure.

Teamwork

Through my internship at Morgan Stanley this summer, I learned that there is not one thing you can do by yourself in the business world. You depend on others as they depend on you, and you need to be able to leverage those relationships to be successful in the real world. The SMG curriculum is designed to force students to seek help from each other and work together.