Advice sought on two career options. Goal: top Business School

No further help needed. Thank you one and all. I realized that despite the anonymity, I was giving my identity away to anyone who even remotely knew me.

 

Go to Spain if you're in search of adventure. It would certainly look good on the MBA apps. If you want to break into finance/consulting, its better to do so with an MBA than with a M.finance - with a masters, you'll be applying to analyst positions, and its always tough to get hired, although doable.

On the other hand, find out a little bit more about the place you're going to. A village outside Madrid may not be that exciting after all. I've never been to Madrid, but I've been to Barcelona, and villages in and around BCN are very unexciting. You're probably gonna be commuting to the major cities for work, so this might not be much of a point, but well worth looking into. Go for a visit if possible.

I personally am going for a masters degree so that I can get another shot at recruiting. But then again, I don't have a european option lined up.

 

Guest1655 and SAC, thanks a lot for your input! seems both of you are in agreement on Spain...Do you mind if I call on you - either on this thread or via PM - to ask some follow up questions?

The Spain opportunity is risky on all fronts, most of all if shit falls apart in the middle of my tenure, say 1 year into the job...but the scope of the role is rare for a young'un, specially for someone from my part of the world, background (lowly scum haha), and whose daddy doesn't run an empire. It may work out. SAC you are in PE...How feasible is Spain => B-School => PE/VC? How about exit opps post MBA into front-office finance in general if I follow the Spain route? Also, do you two really think I would have a shot at a top B-school given this option?

 

Thanks for the herculean effort of reading through my post. (Same goes for SAC and Guest), and your comments...dyor, the chances seem fucking dismal man, if I enroll in anything but the best of Master's. But I don't want to discourage you - shit, discouraging you would be discouraging myself, since I have at least half-a-mind going down the Master's route (and am not very confident of my chances of landing a stellar Princeton/MIT/Oxford/NYU admit), very likely will be competing with other Master's students a year and a half from now. I am sure that if we are at the top, I don't know, 20% of our second-tier school, we do have a(nother) shot at analyst level recruiting.

I am going to go and edit the post, because in retrospect I realize that I may put people off the point by naming my destination (Spain).

 

My thoughts above reflected your SAT/GRE scores and your GMAT target: clearly you're capable of thinking quickly and you have an analytical mind, and you have the potential to work in finance. If you've got the talent, you'll find your way through. As for the laziness aspect - I totally feel you. I blame my subcontinent genes. My case is less extreme - my standardized test scores arent as high as yours, and my GPA is a little higher than yours. Anyways, the point is a lot of people do screw around in college, but as long as you have ambition and the drive to succeed, you'll make your way through. I think those aspects are as important as which school you went to.

Anyways, not to belabor the point here, but find out whatever more you can about your Spain opp. At this age, life should be about taking a few risks - you can afford to.

You're also a little late on the applications game, by now, you should've ideally taken the GMAT. Look at your schedule and see if its gonna work, or else you might have to wait it out and apply for fall 2011.

 

Thanks once again dyor! Which apps would I be late for? I am not applying for MBA this year, nor plan to next year (I don't think any entry before 2012 fall is feasible). I have already applied to most of the MFin programs on my list...

Ahh as for the GMAT...for full disclosure, I did take the GMAT a while back, while still in undergrad, mostly for a piss without realizing what I was doing. I got a decent score of 760. I didn't write about it for two reasons: 1. It's not a score I'm particularly proud of, didn't study for it beyond taking the two official CATs, and 2. People will make fun of me, and most def loose the point of this thread, for wanting to retake a 760...but remember that said score will be gone by the time I apply for the MBA.

Definitely need to find out more about the Spain job...Actually the parent company is hosting the important new hires for the Spain opp (mostly Spanish and Italian people) in India at the end of the month. I'll probably be making a visit to this meeting. They'll be finalizing the organizational structure, five-year business plan, individual contracts, etc.

Yeah man...I think I screwed around literally and figuratively one too many times.

 

I'll be the devil's advocate and say go for the MFE. The Spanish opportunity sounds really risky. Like, why would you be working in a small village rather than Madrid itself? And how good of a liaison are you going to be without fluency in Spanish?

I'd say get into a Princeton, Sloan, Haas, etc. and "rebrand" yourself for a new career. Although note that you'll be facing a lot of competition, both on the admission front and later the recruiting front, since a lot of undergrads who didn't get jobs this year are going into these programs.

BTW you don't sound like any Indian-from-India person I've ever met and I've met a lot of them.

 

Thank you for your response senorita. I don't think you're being the Devil's advocate at all, i mean neither in going against the Spain opportunity nor in suggesting the MFE.

I did originally think of the MFE, for quite a while actually. Thought I'd leverage my math training. But then decided against it after a thorough investigation of what jobs MFE's actually land in the end. Apart from the very top-tier programs, most MFEs' graduates land programming jobs, and that too not as front-office/desk quants or quant traders. My first degree itself is too specialized. If I could go back, I'd do Finance and Mathematics, two majors. I want a somewhat broad degree now - if it can't be an MBA at this stage (given my limited experience), then I'd rather it be a finance degree, or even Oxford's financial economics. At least with a more general degree I can make a case to a broader spectrum of organizations - banks, funds, management consulting firms, etc. (albeit at the analyst level).

I will probably live in Madrid and commute to the village. The plant, actually both of them, are in a village about half-an-hour's drive from Madrid. I am worried about the language barrier for sure. However, the "liaison" role I mentioned would be for the parent company's family-owners. I am also told that they've hired a full-time translator for me and the first-in-command for external dealings (with lenders, buyers/suppliers, etc). Lavish...but probably not haha.

Oh and on the aside - Yeah I would like to think I'm a bit from everywhere I've been I guess, faggotty as that sounds. Many people in the US and other countries - including some KingKongs on WSO - think that there are only two types of Indians, FOBs and American-born. Same goes for other groups such as Chinese, Korean, whathaveyou. There are other types! I have many, many Indian friends who fall into other categories, and who, well to be quite honest, have the drop on both the usual categories...I joke...we're just a different breed. Living in many countries a while. My junior high/high school had 50 countries with a student body of only 200 people...and it was in a sick, sick city in Western Europe. It changes you. It's different than a semester abroad or summer stint in a foreign office, etc. Most people do that to cross an item off their checklist, so they can feel they are getting the experiences that are required for a full life. (Most, not all. Many people are genuine in their interests, their motivation not insecurity). Nothing wrong with that...Yet to me it's about fundamentally moving to new places with the intention of making a new home, because, well, you have none, and something exciting or new or worth experiencing came about. And more than that I think it's just your personal attitude, your own willingness and desire for change, your own unintentional blindness to external differences, etc. And the desire to not live your life by a checklist. Wow this has nothing to do with our post. Thanks a lot once again for the response.

 

Speaking as an entrepreneur I would go for the Spain opportunity. It is one of those things that you may take a risk with but the rewards can be substantial. The pros that i see:

-Get a ton of experience with the ins and outs of running a business or starting a new branch of a business -Meet tons of business contacts that you will keep in your rolodex for a long time. These can be bankers to lawyers, to influential other people in the international business world. -Sounds like your friends father may be highly connected and getting into a friendly business relationship can maybe go a long way for you in the future. Perhaps he can even get you involved in other exciting business opportunities.

The cons I can see:

This opportunity not working out and you moving back home after a few months( happened to me!) but you still have gained some valuable knowledge along the way.

 

May I ask what general industry the venture was in? I hope such regulatory problems don't arise. Although there are a million other kinds that can. For instance, in my case, the employer realizing that i'm an idiot.

 
Best Response

Bud,

You'd be out of your mind to skip the Spain gig. MFE, MBA... it will always be there. And the reason you want to get either degree? To be a banker. Let me tell you... I'm a banker, and I'd give anything for your opportunity. Sure, there's a solid chance that you go to Spain, end up working for two years, and fail as the second-in-command. But if you succeed? I mean... Second in line at a hub cranking $140mm per is pretty solid. I'm assuming you're fairly young, and fail or succeed, the experience will qualify you as unique - something bschools look at pretty seriously. Spend two years in Spain and earn moderate success, and you've pretty much written your ticket to H/S/W.

And if you succeed? Dude... You could completely bypass bschool. Screw any kind of Master's, it's not worth the money, take a bit of a risk and go for the Spain gig. You're young and it's absolutely worth it.

 

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