What do you aspire to achieve, personally and professionally, through an MBA from Wharton?

Professionally, I want to further develop skills needed to achieve my career goals. My short term goal is to join a corporate strategy team at a large healthcare company. Subsequently, I would transition into a management role at one of that company’s business units. I would then pursue a CEO position at a mid‐size healthcare IT business such as Vitera Solutions. I grew up close to someone with a chronic illness. This situation created turmoil in my family and eventually led to my parents divorce. The condition eluded effective treatment until one doctor found a combination of six drugs that brought the symptoms under control. This experience motivated me to pursue a career in healthcare and particularly healthcare IT, where data mining can be used to identify novel treatment combinations. To reach my career goals, I need to refine my leadership and analytical skills.

Ive demonstrated leadership potential through projects inside and outside of work but need to further develop as a leader to be highly effective in corporate strategy, as a manager, and as a CEO. I would accomplish this at Wharton through coursework and extracurricular activities. Specifically, I would take courses focused on leadership including Executive Leadership and Advanced Persuasion. Outside the classroom, I would take advantage of the Executive Feedback and Coaching Program. I would also participate in the Tall Ship Sailing leadership venture, first as a participant and then, hopefully, as a venture fellow.

At Wharton, I would improve analytically by learning to better apply academic theory to business problems. I studied economics and mathematics at the University of Chicago. Whereas Wharton’s philosophy is Knowledge for Action, the University of Chicago's could best be described as Knowledge for Theory. This training gap has prevented me from fully utilizing economics/statistics to solve business problems. I would address this at Wharton through collaboration with other students and faculty on research projects. For example, I would apply for a Mack Institute Research Fellowship to explore novel ways to use patient data to improve healthcare outcomes.

Personally, I want to make close friends who share my interest in business. I met most of my close friends in college. Very few went into business. I could build similarly close relationships with other students at Wharton through my core learning group and student clubs. I have been impressed with the professional aptitude and personal qualities of the Wharton alums that I have met in my career and would be excited to build friendships with others like them. As an example, I worked on a project with John Smith (WG 99), an executive at CDE Medical. John is not only one of the smartest guys I have ever met, he is also one of the nicest.

Wharton is the only program that can help me attain my professional and personal goals: developing skills inside and outside the classroom to be an executive of impact, and forming networks and lasting friendships with like‐minded individuals.