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MBA Journal: Introduction November 28, 2006, 8:41PM EST

The Road to Sloan

"I was never a stellar math student. Now, I could round out my talents and abilities by developing quant skills at an overly-quantitative program"

by Brian Glenn

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Brian Glenn
MIT Sloan
MBA Class of 2008

It's funny how things come full circle.

I never did a summer internship during my latter years of college. Instead, I racked up another two summers as a lifeguard on the beach. Beach Patrol isn't the "relevant" work experience most employers looked for when I began my job search at the end of my undergraduate education, but rescues and lifeguard tournaments made for some good stories at the interview table and also served as evidence of handling pressure, responsibility, and exercising quick judgment. Moreover, as a varsity swimmer who represented my school in the NCAA Swimming Championships during my sophomore, junior, and senior years, I pitched my competitiveness as an additional attribute.

I must have impressed the gentleman on the other side of the interview table enough to hire me, because I received an offer to join the 15-person startup tech firm. Eighteen months later, I moved toward the other end of the spectrum, joining one of the largest U.S. brokerage firms. I was now one of 55,000 employees. Within weeks, I began to realize the pros and cons between a large, mature, bureaucratic firm and a nimble, underfunded firm still growing from its infancy. Like I said, both sides maintain their respective pros and cons.

CFA Ally

During my 3 1/2 year stint in the professional workforce, I also committed myself to the Chartered Financial Analyst Program (for those candidates who found this site by Googling "CFA," stop right here. I'll begin to tie the knot between CFA and MBA in this and several other journal entries). The CFA exams were difficult, but certainly not impossible. Anyone can do it with a little elbow grease, and this is coming from someone who was not a straight-A student in college. In the CFA Program, study discipline was my biggest ally, and from early March to the first week of June, my friends hated me because I would dodge their phone calls every Friday and Saturday night.

And speaking of allies, the CFA Program has been one of my biggest allies through the MBA application process. Upon completion of the program, you gain membership to both CFA Institute and a local society (New York Society of Security Analysts for me). This provided ammo for the section of each application beginning with: "Please note any professional or community clubs or societies that you belong to and state your affiliation." For those seeking to enter or stay in the finance industry following business school, I urge you to at least learn about the CFA Charter (www.cfainstitute.org).

For me, the CFA was my first priority and during this three-year commitment, I never thought about going to business school or any form of graduate school. During my second and third year of work, I started to get anxious and began to passively look at other jobs. I even interviewed and turned down an offer for one. I realized I needed to stay put a bit longer.

Staying Put

Why? Two things were anchored in the back of my mind: 1) I needed to pass one more CFA exam to earn the Charter, figuring things might be different within my firm once I complete the program; and 2) Maybe I should give business school some serious thought. After all, I had a friend at Darden and another at UNC encouraging me to check out the MBA route. If I applied to business school, I would need recommendations, and most likely at least one from my current supervisor. This might be a tough sell if I switched to a new job…

"Thanks for hiring me. My first week was great. When you have a chance can you fill out a few recommendations because I may leave for business school in five months?"

…so I decided to stay put. But first, I needed to finish studying and completing that darn CFA ordeal.

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