How will the Booth MBA help you achieve your immediate and long-term post-MBA career goals?

I love traveling to interview potential investment targets’ management teams; I have talked with executives at organic food producers, auto manufacturers, concrete block fabricators, and 30 other unique businesses. However, I have yet to encounter more than one woman serving in a senior-level position. I need a Booth MBA to change this statistic.

My long-term goal is to be Chief Investment Officer of a global investment firm’s private equity division and use my platform to campaign for the promotion of women to leadership positions across the industry. Booth’s emphasis on technical proficiency and leadership development will prepare me to assume such a position, as evidenced by [Alum 1] and [Alum 2]), global leaders at [specific company].

In the near term, I will utilize the learnings and network I develop at Booth to achieve my immediate post-MBA goal of landing a private equity role within a multinational investment firm. I will capitalize on Booth’s flexible curriculum to benefit from courses that sharpen my analytical proficiency and deepen my investment strategy knowledge. During my first semester, I will take Booth’s PE/VC Lab, which will provide me the opportunity to learn from Professor Chris McGowan’s extensive industry experience and put my knowledge into practice while interning with a Chicago-based PE fund, such as Kenzie Capital Partners.

I will complement the rigor of Booth’s finance courses with the Polsky Center’s experiential programs. By partaking in the New Venture Challenge, I will further develop myself as a well-rounded investor. In conversation with [Alum] after identifying similar professional interests via Booth’s Connect with a Student resource, he noted that the heightened start-up environment of the program developed his ability to think quickly and effectively communicate a business plan, both of which he used to deepen his proficiency as a private equity investor. Further, by participating in the Sterling Partners Investment Thesis Challenge, I will learn from my peers’ prior investing experience while enhancing my network within the PE industry.

I will initiate my leadership development at Booth with LEAD, which will serve as an excellent primer to understand my distinct leadership qualities. I spoke with [Alum] through Connect with a Student as well, and she noted how she had already practiced learnings from the course when managing undergraduate interns during her summer internship as a VC Associate.

I will further develop the capabilities necessary to lead a team as a senior executive at a global investment firm by taking Linda Ginzel’s Strategies and Processes of Negotiation, which will cultivate the negotiation skills that I will need to implement solutions across a large, cross-functional team. Additionally, Nicholas Epley’s Designing a Good Life will help me explore how to develop and lead teams that are empowered to live a “good” life by seeking both professional integrity and personal fulfillment. I developed a greater appreciation for the role fulfillment can play in women’s career decisions while serving on a women’s initiative task force at [Company]. This course will be instrumental in achieving my long-term goal of campaigning for more female industry leaders.

I also intend to put classroom lessons into practice as a Random Walk leader, a role through which I can refine my ability to unite a group of individuals with diverse backgrounds. Booth’s clubs will further supplement my leadership development. I plan to join Chicago Women in Business and serve as a Co-Chair; during my visit to the Harper Center as part of Booth’s Campus Visit Program, [Alum] described the position as instrumental in learning how to develop women’s full potential.

Booth is the school that can best help me build the strategic thinking and bold leadership skills I need to incite change within the financial services industry.