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MBA Voices
MBA Voices
Graduating high school during the height of the pandemic was yet another obstacle threatening to set me back. Growing up in one of the tougher, under-resourced communities of Houston, Texas, I encountered innumerable challenges early on in my life. I felt prepared to navigate this reality. I wasn’t always this confident. Before I attended SVMP, I had begun to question my own worth and capabilities. [...]
When I talk to people in different industries and organizations, people agree on the importance of mentorship. However, if you look at how people spend their time, there is huge variability in terms of how much people prioritize mentoring activities. Some people see mentoring others as an obligation (that is, just another activity that HR wants employees to do), whereas others see it as an opportunity. We find in our research that a key difference has to do with mentors’ approach to their own learning. [...]
We caught up with Wendi Zhang (MBA/MPP 2013), an HBS career coach with over 15 years of professional experience in high tech - including big tech, startups, and venture capital—to learn more about career coaching at HBS. Among her many successful roles, Wendi also served as the Captain of HBS on-campus recruiting for Google from 2014 until she left Google to join a startup in 2020. [...]
The MS/MBA program is a dual degree program. In two years, you'll earn an MBA from Harvard's Business School and a Master of Science in engineering from Harvard's Engineering School. The core of the curriculum is a set of five classes open only to students in this program, which go through the design fundamentals and the process of launching a new high-tech venture. And it covers the whole process from the initial need discovery process, through developing the idea, fleshing out the product and the business model, to actually pitching to venture capitalists and getting feedback. When you finish the program, you're in a great position to go out and immediately launch a new tech venture. [...]
When I was younger, I watched telenovelas with my mom. I looked beyond the drama and strove to have this luxurious life of executives in the shows. I set my mind on becoming one of these executives. While my undergraduate degree is in engineering, I wanted to explore business more through formal learning. My mentor, Gary Trujillo, shared his experience at HBS and in the 2+2 program, and it was a perfect option for me. I wanted time to grow as a STEM leader and still have the opportunity to develop my business knowledge with this deferred enrollment program. [...]
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The views and opinions expressed in the MBA Voices blog are those of the authors.
Any political views shared by students are their own; HBS does not endorse a
particular party or candidate.