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Devon
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Concentration: Finance, Entrepreneurship
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GMAT 1: 750 Q48 V46
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WE:Engineering (Other)
Schools: Booth '17 (D) HBS '17 (D) Wharton '17 (D) CBS '17 (D) Stern '17 (M) Tuck '17 (D)
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Stern Question 2 09 Oct 2014, 12:08
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I have no idea how to approach this. I'm in private equity, and plan on staying in private equity after my MBA, so option A is tough because I don't have a second career path in mind and it would be dumb to make one up. However, it also seems silly to answer option B and be all like "Hey I'm xyz I'm into fitness and art and do abc things in my free time" on an admissions essay. This is my last application so someone help me out please!
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phlaym39
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Schools: Haas '17 (A) Stanford '17 (D) Sloan '17 (D) HBS '17 (D) Kellogg MMM '17 (M)
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Stern Question 2 09 Oct 2014, 13:31
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If I were you, I'd do option A. But don't just randomly make up an alternate career path. Think hard about what else you would do if in 5/10 years, you realized that you didn't want to be in PE anymore. Its good to have a secondary interest, it makes you more rounded and interesting. Don't think of it as a backup plan, instead think of it as a curiosity.

Personally, I wouldn't do option B. Maybe I'm just not that creative but when I was researching NYU, I read that some people submit some awesome things. For example, a person filmed themselves literally running into campus. If your first instinct on reading option B was to write an essay, then it probably isn't for you.

Good luck.
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Devon
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Concentration: Finance, Entrepreneurship
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Schools: Booth '17 (D) HBS '17 (D) Wharton '17 (D) CBS '17 (D) Stern '17 (M) Tuck '17 (D)
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Stern Question 2 13 Oct 2014, 08:33
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So I did that, but now I don't know how to answer the third part of Option A, i.e. "what factors will play into which path you choose?". Any tips?
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DinaFortuna
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Stern Question 2 14 Oct 2014, 08:31
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Hello Devon,
You are not alone in wondering how to approach the Stern essays! When I worked at Stern we received a lot of questions from applicants like yourself, worrying about how to even get started. Think about these essays as a way for Stern to get to know you better. How do you make decisions? What drives your motivation? What is it about private equity that appeals to you? What else do you spend your time on outside of work?

If you've already started the two paths essay, what type of alternate long term career path did you come up with? Is there something else that you've ever though about doing or are curious about? What happens if a few years down the road if you find that you don't want to be in PE anymore? Think about what type of issues or changes could come up that could make you want to pursue something else in the long term. In terms of what factors will come into play, think about any factor that could impact your decision to stay in PE or to want to do something else. There are so many possible factors to consider and a few examples could be your work hours, your passions in life, changes in your family, economic/financial circumstances, people you meet, work environment, etc. Is there anything in PE that you've been exposed to that's made you wonder what it would be like working in a different area? What if you become very successful and decide that financial rewards aren't as important anymore? These are just a few examples to get you thinking about how to respond. By sharing circumstances or factors that could make you change your long term career path, Stern gets to learn more about you and what matters most. This also shows how you make decisions and what is important to you. Think about your career plans in terms of the Stern mission around transforming the challenges of our time into opportunities that create value for business and society.

Hope this helps and feel free to reach out to us at Fortuna Admissions if you'd like more in-depth advice. Thanks!
Dina
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Devon
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GMAT 1: 750 Q48 V46
GPA: 3.02
WE:Engineering (Other)
Schools: Booth '17 (D) HBS '17 (D) Wharton '17 (D) CBS '17 (D) Stern '17 (M) Tuck '17 (D)
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Stern Question 2 14 Oct 2014, 10:19
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DinaFortuna
Hello Devon,
You are not alone in wondering how to approach the Stern essays! When I worked at Stern we received a lot of questions from applicants like yourself, worrying about how to even get started. Think about these essays as a way for Stern to get to know you better. How do you make decisions? What drives your motivation? What is it about private equity that appeals to you? What else do you spend your time on outside of work?

If you've already started the two paths essay, what type of alternate long term career path did you come up with? Is there something else that you've ever though about doing or are curious about? What happens if a few years down the road if you find that you don't want to be in PE anymore? Think about what type of issues or changes could come up that could make you want to pursue something else in the long term. In terms of what factors will come into play, think about any factor that could impact your decision to stay in PE or to want to do something else. There are so many possible factors to consider and a few examples could be your work hours, your passions in life, changes in your family, economic/financial circumstances, people you meet, work environment, etc. Is there anything in PE that you've been exposed to that's made you wonder what it would be like working in a different area? What if you become very successful and decide that financial rewards aren't as important anymore? These are just a few examples to get you thinking about how to respond. By sharing circumstances or factors that could make you change your long term career path, Stern gets to learn more about you and what matters most. This also shows how you make decisions and what is important to you. Think about your career plans in terms of the Stern mission around transforming the challenges of our time into opportunities that create value for business and society.

Hope this helps and feel free to reach out to us at Fortuna Admissions if you'd like more in-depth advice. Thanks!
Dina
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Well here's another reason why this question is annoying. It doesn't really say if these are two completely different paths to different goals, or different paths to the same goal. My answer that I've developed since starting this thread assumes the latter (if I'm wrong it's going to be a headache as I'll have to rewrite this entire response before tomorrow's deadline), with the goal of starting my own firm. My two paths then are two different ways of reaching that goal. And then the factors are the advantages and disadvantages of each path, the opportunities provided along the way, etc. Just seems fairly straightforward now but I still don't know if it's a valid way to answer the ambiguous question.

I'm also now having trouble with the whole "how does it fit with the mission of Stern" part. My first essay extensively covers what I want to get involved with at Stern and how it applies to what I want to do after graduating, so I don't want to just rephrase that. However, the mission is so vague it seems like anything I write directly addressing the mission is going to sound like fluff.