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November 20, 2005
KPMG PhD Conference
written on Thursday, November 17, 2005
I’m writing from my oh-so-comfortable bed here at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare hotel. I’m attending the annual KPMG PhD Project Conference. It’s an initiative to recruit more people of color into doctoral programs in Business so that there will be more people of color available as professors who can in turn attract more business students of color who will go out into the world and diversify the various power structures that make the world the place that it is. So this is some serious business. An organizer of the conference told me that they had a budget of over one million dollars, which I completely believe, because they are really taking care of all 360 of us. Although I don’t think that a PhD in Business is something I want to do in lieu of the MBA, it definitely looks like an attractive offer after I’ve been in the business world for twenty years or so. I love to teach and write, and I don’t HATE researching—although I’ve learned that that’s a HUGE part of the PhD. We’ll see. Right now, I’m on the fast track to trying to get my MBA.
Here at the conference, I have been so inspired by seeing so many successful Black people! There’s a fairly even number of women and men, and I have gotten to hang out with so many inspiring professionals, the vast majority of whom have earned their MBAs and are in high positions of influence in their field.
Once the conference is over on Friday, my girl Shadiah and I will be embarking on the vacation part of this trip, which is two full days of shopping, museum-hopping, and bar-lounging in Chicago. We love to travel—especially when it’s free. We’re going to stay with my friend Laura from high school, who has a specious, adorable apartment with her boyfriend. I’m excited about seeing a little of Chicago after spending a few days in New York City last month. I hear Chicago is a lot like NYC—just smaller, more affordable, and way colder (at least according to New Yorkers).
Another wonderful advantage of my coming to the PhD conference is that I’ve been snatched up by someone who has offered to be my mentor. Her name is Keitha Pansy and she’s a Berkeley Haas graduate who works in corporate finance. She’s nothing short of amazing, and I think we’re a great match, because she’s high energy, funny, and very outgoing. (Yes, I love myself.) She’s also a Howard grad, a member of the Delta’s Alpha Chapter, and lives in Oakland, making her the most interesting, connected Black woman I know. These three things are important because I’ve recently become fairly enamored with HBCUs (Why didn’t I go to one?!?!—although I do love Pomona…), know I want to join the Deltas once I’m in graduate school, and love the Bay Area and can hang out with her when I go visit my friends and the B-schools at Stanford and Berkeley. Keitha is also great friends with a woman who is an HBS grad and heavily involved with SEO, the internship program I have my eyes set on for this summer.
As for the actual application process, I feel stuck and on the move at the same time. It’s like I wish I had more time while hoping that everything would just move faster. I’m studying (slowly and intermittently) for the GMAT, reading up on how to write a great essay, and looking out for useful B-school forums in the area. As I study for the GMAT, I wonder if a prep course would not have been extremely beneficial. While I kicked butt on the SAT, the GMAT is proving to be significantly more challenging for me. Since I’m not taking it until Dec. 29, I figure that I have some time to bring my score up to Harvard and Stanford standards.
However, reading the books on how to write a winning essay have helped me realize that my essays are the one thing in my application that I have complete control over. Therefore, I need to put my writing skills to work and really wow the admission officers with my lyrical, thought-provoking, intriguing writing. I’m sure all three of my blog-readers would agree. Just kidding… Writing these entries are a great way for me to sort out my thoughts and really figure out what my goals are in this process. Whether two or twenty people are reading, it’s a great part of the process for me.
Some other things in my life are that I turned 22 on November 4, and it was actually way more fun and less stressful than turning 21. (Thanks for the birthday message, KD!) I had a BBQ and a party—both really great, with food and drinks actually left over, which is always nice. My friend from high school, Meghan, came to visit and we had such a great time! She and my friends got along really well, and I was so happy she got to see what life is like for me in California. The week of Thanksgiving, my friend from high school Leah will be visiting me all the way from Memphis, TN. Her visit will be a bit different than Meghan’s since school will be out half the time she’s here, but it’ll be great nonetheless. I think “Self-Care, Pampering, and Releasing our Creative Energies” will be the theme of Leah’s visit. And yes, I am making an itinerary for her visit (talk about micromanaging…).
As for Thanksgiving Day, my church Agape International Spiritual Center, will be having their annual Thanksgiving service and potluck, so I’m really looking forward to that. Then, I’ll pick up Leah at night and we’ll begin my action-packed itinerary. Oh, speaking of my church, I’m still in the just-got-there mode, so I still get very excited about things that happen there—especially celebrity sightings. This week, my friends and I saw Jasmine Guy (Whitley from A Different World) who sat pretty close to us, and, from the food line after church, my friend spotted Eric Benet (beautiful, award-winning singer once married to Halle Barry).
Last Sunday I was especially excited because our guest preacher was Brother Ishmael Tetteh from Ghana who runs the Etherean Mission, the largest metaphysical church in Ghana. I’m currently reading the pre-release of his spiritual self-help book (by far, my favorite genre) called “The Way Forward: Principles and Practices for Empowered Living.” I’m so excited I’ll have a spiritual community to belong to during my year in Accra.
Okay, now I’m just starting to get off topic. I’ll end it here and let ya’ll know how the rest of my Chicago trip goes and where I am on my MBA journey.
Posted by kaneisha at 04:11 AM | Comments (1)