em00 wrote:Hey guys. I was wondering about my response to the question concerning career goals that is on almost every application. Upon entering school I will have 1 year experience in IT consulting and 1 year experience of running my own successful business that started and ended while in college. I plan to have my concentration in entrepreneurship.

For my response I am discussing how I would like to initially work in venture capital/private equity and then eventually open my own business or consulting firm. The concern I have about this response is that I know it is hard to break into the venture capital world right out of any mba program, especially if you don't have much experience in the industry such as myself (although my entrepreneurial experience is probably helpful).

Now, would it be wise to explain in the essay that I know this may be a hard feat to accomplish and that I would also like to possibly work in consulting dealing with small businesses as opposed to venture capital if not possible. Will this look like I do not have a set goal in mind? I am just worried about looking as if I don't know that it may be hard to get a job in venture capital, or that they may think I am a weak candidate due to having goals that might not be met as planned. Let me know what you think, thanks.

It seems like you have two options you are considering for your post-MBA goal. One you acknowledge to be unrealistic, the PE option. Since one of the factors schools will look at is the realism of your goals and your employability given your goals, you are wiser to go with Plan B -- consulting.

You may also want to show familiarity with firms that provide small business consulting and hire MBAs to provide it.

For more information, please see
Goals in MBA Admissions
What is an MBA Goal?

Best,
Linda

This is a really interesting question.

In many ways, I agree with Linda. If you do indeed think VC/PE to be unrealistic, than go with a route that is more palatable, like consulting.

But I'd challenge you to really analyze whether venture is fully unattainable. I know lots of MBA's that got associate roles with venture capital firms with no previous VC experience. Almost all had some entrepreneurship or other related experience. The key for them was relentless focus on their career goals.

My opinion is most admissions officers would not consider your goals unrealistic because you already have some entrepreneurship experience. I also know that most admissions departments need to include a target number of students interested in each industry and most people are not fully focused on VC. If you can demonstrate that this is the passion of your life, your career dream--than you'll have a very compelling story that will help you stand out.

Finally, career shift or change is a great reason to get an MBA, especially when there's some reasonable thinking behind the shift.

MBA Helpers offers a free essay edit--I'd be happy to review your career goals essay. I'm also a entrepreneur (MBA Helpers is my second company) and I attended all the VC conferences at my B-school. Happy to share my experiences with you.

Best,

Jay