Set For Life?
Note: This is an entry I wrote for my Kellogg Student Diary, which was a student life blog I kept as a student at Northwestern. Now that I’ve graduated, I’m copying my entries to my personal blog to preserve my writings. You can read all of the entries by viewing the category Kellogg Student Diaries.
Every now and then, I’ll catch up with a non-Kellogg friend and mention that I’m getting my MBA at Kellogg. Their response, “Oh, you’re set for life.”
There seems to be a misconception out there that some employer is going to see my resume with the word ‘Kellogg’ on it and hand me my dream job. I hate to break it to anybody who is reading this, but that is simply not true.
The caliber of MBA students out there is simply too high, and for every job requiring an MBA student, there is somebody out there who is incredibly smart, incredibly motivated and incredibly passionate for that job.
In my opinion, the need to prove that I am the best person for the job is higher than I’ve ever experienced. The word ‘Kellogg’ isn’t going to get me anything, but Kellogg offers a variety of resources to help me make my case with any company.
The CMC offers career counseling, mock interviews and web resources to help me target perspective careers and job functions. Kellogg alumni are known to come back to campus to offer mock interviews and preparation sessions for the dreaded case interviews that consultants know too well. Recently, I found an internship opportunity with a local consumer electronics company, and I was able to contact a Kellogg alumnus to get a fresh perspective on the company.
Does that mean I’m set for life? Hardly. If I choose to put in some time and use all of Kellogg’s resources, then I can walk into a job interview with a solid perspective on any company and its industry. If I don’t, then the word ‘Kellogg’ by itself won’t do anything for me.
