Running Late

Sure, internship interviews hold their terrors—including a stalled train on the way—but the right attitude and an MBA can bring some surprising results

by Rachael Klein

Rachael Klein
Georgetown
MBA Class of 2008

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So what else is going on over here? Second semester, which for us is third mod, entailed elections for student organizations and student government. I ran for social chair, and now I have to plan a 500-person spring formal, buy paper and crayons for kids to draw on while their parents (yeah, we have some families in the program) have a beer and a burger at our spring barbecue, and find a formal springtime dress to boot. Help!

But I still was getting about four hours of sleep a night, which is just greedy. So I applied to be a research assistant for a professor doing work on the biodiesel industry. And I said it before, but I have to mention it because they are the school's greatest resource: the professors—the caliber of educator here makes me feel spoiled.

Do I really deserve this kind of exposure? I'm working with a man who reminds me of a climate-change-focused Albert Einstein. His résumé zapped the ink cartridge in my printer. Honestly.

That is one thing. But find a world-renowned researcher and a natural teacher and let me know, because they are few and far between. Apparently graduate school seems to be a favorite for this kind. At least my experience at Georgetown implies this.

So now let's talk about what keeps students up at night and their appetites confused: the summer internship.

Madcap Monday

Interview at 2 p.m. requires a 7 a.m. train. It should arrive in New York City at 10 a.m., which should leave me an ample four hours to find the bank that is interviewing me.

Hold on. Bank? Doesn't that indicate finance? Well, as a matter of fact it does. You may recall me mentioning that I was a history major who worked in human resources. So how in the world did I end up winning interviews in finance? O.K., so we were on a train, but since that was delayed for over three hours, I can delay for a few minutes.

In answer to the question as to why in the world any bank would want to talk to me: I am one poster child for the idea that an MBA not only makes a huge difference in your preparation, education, and know-how, but most essentially (as any job-searcher will tell you) your marketability.

Market-a-what? You may know this term. I didn't. I just tried my very best to relate my experience to the position (for me, almost laughable), explain how fantastic and differentiated and competitive I thought companies were, and of course I had a Georgetown MBA on my résumé. And lo and behold … my inbox became increasingly full of unread messages with good news.

Well it couldn't have been my experience, because we all know how much human resources has in common with finance. Other than need for follow-up, finding similarities between them is about as easy as men and women truly understanding each other. Sorry, men and women.

Anyway. The companies all knew how fantastic and differentiated and competitive they were. So that could only help so much. What was it?

I did have a top choice—a private banking internship at a bulge-bracket bank. Did I have a fighting chance? In my opinion, no. The closest thing in my résumé to "banker" is my undergraduate institution, which also happens to start with a "B."

Initial Surprise

But then all of a sudden, I was in a group of seven people preselected for a first interview out of 23 submissions. That was my first shock. And this is truly a bittersweet excitement because no matter how fantastic it is to get an interview it only means one thing: You actually have to sit down and interview. Scary. Nauseating. Think Blair Witch Project scary. Because if you don't get selected after your interview it's very hard not to arrive at the conclusion that you clearly are not magnetic, nobody likes you, and you ruined your own chance. But no pressure.

Given my fragile ego (which I don't recommend advertising if you're in graduate school, so that's about how smart I am), it is a very good thing I got the offer. "What?!" you ask? I know because that is what I said.