WHY DID YOU GET AN MBA
I’ve been asked that so many times – as an icebreaker in a Zoom interview, on a date at Nobu, by the uncle who’s not really an uncle but it’s simpler to just call him that. And I understand from where the confusion stems: I come from a family of lawyers, I studied law, I practiced law at one of the ‘tier 1’ law firms. An MBA was not the natural ‘next step,’ and more than anyone else I needed to justify why I was there.
I always had a standard, perfectly manicured and well-rehearsed answer for all occasions and audiences, of course. But if I’m being raw-to-the-bone honest, I got an MBA because I was seeking something. Was that to find my purpose, find myself, find my next job? Idk. But it was something that had been welling up inside me. I didn’t know what it was but I knew what direction it was in.
On the professional side, I felt like my career/specialization was getting increasingly narrower in a way that I didn’t feel totally in control of. The MBA was a way to gain a broad ‘general’ skillset, from which vantage point I could then pick what best suited me. On the personal side, it was something I’d always been drawn to. In early 2020, on the cusp of the outbreak of a global pandemic, my closest friend asked me to join him in Victoria Island, Lagos: Columbia Business School was hosting an admissions event and he thought I’d like it. I loved it. I was immediately captivated by this M7 B-School in the center of New York City, ‘at the very center of business’. I spoke with alumni who were young Nigerians like me, and I opened the MBA application form that night. Though I didn’t complete the form or apply that year, I did keep Columbia in my heart and it was my dream school from then on.
Fastforward, blitz-style, through a pandemic that changed all of our lives forever, a job change, writing the GRE, writing the GMAT, writing the EA, applying to schools, getting accepted to my dream school (and others), getting a student visa, packing – and in August 2022, I landed in JFK Airport and came to reside in New York for at least the next 2 years of my life. I was 25 years old.
FIRST YEAR
Looking back, my first year in the US was terrible. I spent some time thinking of a much sweeter word to use but terrible is the accurate word, if not the palatable one. I severely underestimated the intense pain and confusion that would come with relocation. And I, in particular, had no business making such an underestimation.
Yes, I had traveled previously but never lived outside of Nigeria for longer than 3 months, or even longer than a month. I had never gone a week without seeing my parents and family. It felt like what I imagine cutting an umbilical cord in slow motion must feel like. But I didn’t even have the time to stop and nurse that pain because everything in the MBA just crashes in on you at once.
Every past and current MBA student hears the ‘drinking from the firehose’ analogy but hearing it and experiencing it are 2 different worlds. Classes back-to-back-to-back, assignments due every day, coffee chats (you sent a thank you note after right?), better sign up for all the recruiting events or you’ll graduate unemployed, participate in clubs and affinity groups, you missed the deadline because you didn’t check whatsapp group #171 so sorry try again next year, mid terms! (you should’ve been studying your statistics problem sets), apply for internships, go to that party, be social, don’t neglect your friends and family.
The learning curve was particularly steep for me because of my law background: I was learning accounting, economics, corporate finance, strategy, and valuations, with brilliant classmates from around the world who’d been doing this all their lives. I felt plain stupid in class, struggling with basic concepts that others around me seemed to glide through. I felt like a disappointment to the parents who sacrificed to get me here and in the depths of seriously doubting my intelligence and worth, I spoke with an academic advisor about dropping out (but perished the thought when I discovered my scholarship was not guaranteed if I deferred lol).
I did the barest of the bare minimum to simply get by and not fail classes, while I focused on recruiting (also not going very well). Things did not really begin to look up until by the end of December of that year, when I went back home for Christmas. I spent barely a fortnight but I felt like new life had been breathed into me by my parents. Coming back again to the US, I worried about how long this new feeling of peace would last, wondering what would happen if I relapsed into depression again before the end of the year. Fortunately, I would never have to find out.
When I got back to school in January 2023, things just started to work themselves out. I took elective courses in fun areas that I found interesting/novel (Product Management, Fintech, Macroeconomics) so academics didn’t feel like such a drag. After several stops and starts, I got 3 offers for the summer internship and chose to go to Goldman Sachs. I wrote about that experience here. I made a few close friends and started building what I felt like could be a life, not just a makeshift world I’d meander through before running back to ‘safety’ in December.
SUMMER
That life and feeling of security were tested that summer.
I moved to San Francisco for the summer internship (always wanted to go there). And once again, I was back to square zero – a new environment with new people and everything I had tried so hard to build came back again to naught. Oh well. Two things lifted my spirits: I made friends at work and I had a very dear friend in SF who was there for me. Also SF is so beautiful, just walking through Dolores park gave me life.
Work itself was fantastic. My manager became a sponsor, recommending me for important projects where I had instant visibility and mentioning me in rooms of influence. It was the first time I experienced the exponential power of sponsorship in my career. I found purpose in my work, discovering a niche where my legal background was valued but where I could also stretch myself in the world of investments and finance. But most importantly, I could be myself there and I felt more like myself than I’ve ever felt in the workplace. I believe that a big part of that was that I knew myself so much better now; I traveled from Lagos to New York and from New York to San Francisco, only to find myself waiting inside me. This at last was my hard-won treasure.
SECOND YEAR
I returned for my final year, then eventually graduated with this treasure – I know who I am (and who I am not) and I have a clear sense of my purpose. Not that I know what that purpose is exactly, or where exactly it’ll take me, but I am in the vicinity and I have the map. I’m on my way.
Looking back at my MBA application essays recently was an interesting experience. The gaps – who I am, what I know, and my clarity of purpose – are palpable. It’s been two years (almost) but it feels like a lifetime.
Moving to the US and getting my MBA have been some of the most difficult things I’ve done in my life. I know that for the rest of my life (and particularly around Round 1 application deadlines from applicants), I will get the question, ‘Do you think I should get an MBA?’ and like a true MBA (and a true lawyer) I’ll always reply ‘it depends’.
Though the MBA worked for me beyond my wildest dreams and permutations, it’s not a cure-all for everyone, or even most people. But one thing that everyone should do is find themselves, and that path is inherently solitary and unavoidably uncertain. But I pray for you, that on the other side of uncertainty, you’ll discover your true nature and find your calling the way I believe I have now.
Imade. 