the LGO journey

Anonymous asked: Hi Paul,

i graduated with a BS in EE from Purdue last May, and I'm a few months away from finishing my first year at work, which is pretty great so far! i'm working as a network engineer, and I’m happy I learned about the LGO quite early, so now I have plenty of time to prepare a solid application. I wanted to ask you which projects and assignments i should focus on working on? What sort of skills and experiences would set me apart from other applicants? And finally would professional certifications make my application stronger? Thanx a lot for your advice it’s much appreciated! ☺

Honestly, this is going to sound real vague, but I think some of these points are missed by most people in their 20’s:

1. Work with the smartest people you can find.  The ones that will challenge you and make you better.
2. If you hate what you are doing, change it.  Find something that challenges you and makes you want to come to work.
3. Don’t do what you think other people want you to do.  If you are doing this, I think it will ultimately lead to you admitting you are unhappy.  Hopefully this doesn’t happen at 45 years old or something.
4. Be open to feedback.  Admit you suck at a lot of things.  Read about everything that interests you, or even things you don’t know anything about.

Ultimately, I understand you do need some sort of “story” to tell a business school, but I think if you follow what you are interested and look to take advantage of all opportunities you have, the story kind of takes care of itself.  Even if its not what you’ll do after the MBA, you’ll have that story of what happened pre-MBA.

18 April 2011 · Comments