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| 文章出处：学生大 发布时间：2005-10-11 |
Hello, my name is Eugene Podkaminer, soon-to-be
first-year MBA student at the Yale School of
Management (SOM). Now, deep into the summer, I'm
excited and anxious about the new experiences,
people, and "lovely" East Coast weather that await me
in Connecticut. I hope that my experiences will
soothe your worries and answer some questions about a
graduate business education.
Flight to the U.S.
I am the product of several significant influences. In my past,
nothing stands out more than immigrating from the Ukraine to the U.S. in
the late 1970's. Not only was the dislocation a powerful change, but the
underlying reasons that brought it about were even more important. My
family became refugees from the U.S.S.R. in the summer of 1979, fleeing
from religious intolerance and persecution. We hawked trinkets and sold
whatever jewelry we managed to get past customs officials to pay for
plane tickets to America.
Arriving in San Francisco, we possessed less than nothing, indebted
to the various Jewish organizations and network of friends that pulled us
across the sea. My parents began to reinvent themselves to fill new roles
in a new country and give their children the opportunities that they
never had. Being able to start over and the necessity of adapting to and
thriving in a new world are two factors that affected me early on and
continue to be powerful motivational forces in my personal and
professional careers.
Stumbling into Finance
My path to an MBA involved twenty years of planning and many
unexpected twists and turns. After a phase when I longed to be an
astronaut (which culminated in my going to space camp), I stumbled upon a
program in high school that altered all of my professional aspirations:
The Academy of Finance. The program essentially weaves business classes
-- including accounting, economics, and money and
banking -- into the
high-school curriculum and sets participants up with mentorships and
internships throughout their last two years of school. Through this
program, I interned at Schwab and Smith Barney Shearson before graduating
from high school at the top of my class.
Three years later, I graduated from the University of San Francisco
with a degree in economics and joined Barclays Global Investors working
in the company's portfolio accounting department. Under the investment
services group, I had access to traders, specialists, portfolio managers,
trade operation staff, and strategy engineers. In addition to handling
certain processes within the group, such as tender and cash-merger
notification, I created an information system named PARS (portfolio
accounting resource system) that provides up-to-the-second information on
each element of the daily valuation process to all accountants through
the corporate Intranet. My experience at Barclays cemented my desire to
pursue an MBA. It made me realize just how much more I have to learn.
B-School on My Mind
I started my MBA quest in a very spontaneous and random fashion.
After my first year of work, I was left with a choice of exams to tackle
after I had finished the CFA (chartered financial analyst) level I: The
Series 7 or the GMAT. At that point, I realized that going to grad school
had always been on my mind (I had almost applied to a Masters economics
program fresh out of USF) and that I may as well focus my energies on the
GMAT. The remainder slowly fell into place after I took the exam in
October. Five long months later, I had the answer I was looking for and
least expected -- admission to the Yale School of Management.
On many occasions I've been told, "You just can't," or "You're too
young." Each time I've proven my detractors wrong. I completed USF in
three years on a nearly
full-ride scholarship and graduated as a finalist
for valedictorian. I passed the CFA level I (there are a total of three)
at 21, and I'll be at Yale SOM as a 22 year old.
The need for a compelling challenge is the primary factor in my
decision to get an MBA, as philosophical as that may sound. Several
months of soul searching have illuminated other reasons for desiring the
degree: I want a solid general management background; financial
engineering seems sexy to me; and although I like financial engineering,
I'm drawn to the venture capital/entrepreneurial segment of finance as
well. Getting into a good MBA program would mean more than intellectual
fulfillment; it would also mean making strong friends and covering
material in a depth that I had only previously dreamt about. And to be
perfectly honest, I want to be a student again. No classes on Fridays,
New York and Boston a short road-trip away, and the ability to sleep in
and have lots of fun all sound rather appealing.
Of course, I weighed the benefits after graduation in my calculations
as well. The respect and compensation commanded by an MBA these days is
impressive. At this point in my life, it seems like the ideal decision:
I'm not tied down with a family or a mortgage; I probably won't go into
serious debt; I can subsist on Top Ramen for weeks at a time; and I'm at
a natural career junction where I'd like to take a different set of
tracks to an altogether different destination.
I'm currently enjoying the remainder of the summer in San Francisco
with my friends and family while also consulting for Aeneid, an Internet
startup in San Francisco that has opened my eyes to new avenues to pursue
at B-school. Aeneid is now building a series of vertical portals tailored
for different professions, from financial managers to high-tech analysts.
Since I'm dabbling with entering a new segment of
finance, I thought it
wise to work in it before the rather finite choice of B-school summer
internships arrives.
Whew! So, there you have it. Stay tuned for my future installments
about my B-school experiences.
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