How will WHARTON MBA help you achieve your professional objectives?

My long-term career goal is to become chief financial officer of a large natural resources company such as AAA, BBB or CCC. Over the past three and a half years, I worked in the energy finance and investment fields and built a solid understanding of the industry. Through engaging with energy company executives, I have now clearly defined my career vision and decided to pursue a path to corporate leadership. A Wharton MBA education will make possible my shift from investment to management.

To reach the level of CFO and succeed in that position, I will need to hone my leadership aptitude and capacity for dynamic problem solving. Success will require fostering team effort, employing creativity, and mastering the navigation of a company’s global assets and customer relations. With enhanced business skills acquired at Wharton, I plan to utilize Wharton’s Career Management office and alumni network to secure a corporate development role at a natural resources company. This job will be my first step in climbing toward the eventual position of CFO. From speaking with ‘13 students Jared Smith and Cathy Jones, I became excited about Wharton’s broad array of intellectually stimulating courses and clubs as well as the school’s emphasis on international business. The natural resources industry is inherently global, and Wharton’s Global Modular Courses will be central to my better understanding of international business issues. Classes such as Strategic Implementation and Multinational Business Strategy represent building blocks of the general management education I plan to obtain. I intend to focus my elective studies on business operations to complement my strong financial background. On campus, I will take leadership roles in Wharton’s General Management and Energy clubs as well as the squash club for athletics.

After visiting campus in November and attending a class on Managing the Established Enterprise, I know that Wharton’s classroom structures will sharpen my leadership abilities and expand my perspectives on business challenges. In addition, interacting with my deeply committed Wharton peers outside of class will buttress my abilities to listen, integrate, and persuade creatively. The new ideas and skills learned at Wharton will help me innovate in an industry that is often steeped in tradition. In summary, a Wharton MBA education will be central to my transition to natural resources management by providing leadership training, relevant courses, engaging extracurricular activities, and recruitment opportunities at my target group of companies.