Pursuing an MBA is a catalyst for personal and professional growth. How have you grown in the past? Also, how do you intend to grow at Kellogg?

“They said it was because you didn’t come off as passionate about the job,” my friend Alex from BlackRock told me over the phone. I sat in a state of semi-shock in my college bedroom. After spending weeks preparing for this interview, the rejection stung. My post-college roadmap had disappeared into an empty landscape.

What stung even deeper was that “they” were right: besides the reputation and money, I couldn’t think of a single reason why I wanted to work in finance. Actually, I didn’t have much of a sense of what I wanted to do at all. Fortunately, the rejection came early enough in my senior year that I could discover what I was looking for in a career. After regrouping and investing myself in my career search, I accepted an offer with Deloitte Consulting in their research group. Not only did their work sound fascinating, but it was a collaborative culture where managers placed great responsibility on junior staff members and provided the resources to grow. The experience altered the way I looked at my career: I needed to find something that could excite me once the initial enthusiasm faded. Looking back, I feel fortunate that interviewers at BlackRock understood my career ambitions before even I did.

I now sit at a similar crossroads but no longer am I intimidated by uncertainty. The old movie posters wallpapering my room show I’ve always retained my childhood love of cinema. While researching my passion for the entertainment industry, I’ve determined a new goal: becoming the head of distribution for a major film studio. Passion is essential, but I also need to develop skills as a leader and a problem solver. I believe Kellogg is the ideal place to help me grow my passion into a career.

When I sat in on Professor Z's Customer Analytics class this spring, one of his comments stuck with me: analytics are only valuable when managers understand the business problem at hand. As someone well versed in data, Kellogg will improve my decision-making intuition. Classes such as Learning and Organizing Media Companies and Changing Business Models in the Media Industry will help me understand the problems of the modern media landscape. I’ll also continue consulting on pro-bono projects through KICC, providing me the opportunity to lead project management teams.

Kellogg will also help me grow as a leader through a leadership role in Kellogg’s Media & Entertainment Club. I also love learning the specifics of how business environments differ from country to country; the GIM course is a great opportunity to continue developing this understanding. I’m confident Kellogg will surround me with others equally passionate and I can’t wait to grow with the Kellogg community.