Edition 1: for Pre-MBA, Vets, and First-Gen Students

Hi there :) My name is Eun Young and I'm an immigrant, first-generation college student, vet, and current rising 2Y at Columbia Business School. A talent of mine I've found to be unique both during the MBA internship job search (we had a rough market this year... iykyk) and throughout my life/career is the ability to source things. I'm passionate about mentorship, knowledge sharing, and empowering the next generation. As such, this is the first of many newsletters collating and sharing valuable resources to do just that.

I'm experimenting with LinkedIn newsletters, so I'm open to any and all feedback on formatting, structure, or other things you'd like to see. Please let me know! This first edition will be focused on 3 target populations: pre-MBA candidates, transitioning veterans, and first-generation students. You can scroll down to the relevant portion. I hope this helps!

Pre-MBA Candidates

So you're gearing up to start Year 1 of your MBA. As someone who was very budget-conscious (no trust fund here), I worked up until the last minute. I made a huge move from Hawaii to New York on a tight timeline: finding roommates, apartment hunting, selling things, packing, etc + working + saying my goodbyes to the island. In hindsight, I wish I had given myself a little more time to explore my options, relax, and reset before diving into all the Pre-MBA festivities. Your mindset going into the MBA is your most valuable resource.

You've probably already heard tons of advice on ignoring the noise. This is much easier said than done, especially if you haven't taken the time to really think about what you want to do post-MBA. Do the reflection NOW before you start your program. What do I mean? Learn about specific roles in each industry and grab a coffee chat (or two) with connections who work in that space. Ask them what they actually do on a day-to-day basis, because job descriptions can be super vague. Think about whether you can picture yourself working there. Be brutally honest with yourself. The title may sound cool, but if you won't enjoy it - what's the point? There's a certain amount of learning that's done while attending company presentations and networking events - you may go to a few and realize you don't vibe with the people or the culture. That's totally normal. BUT let's control for as much as we can before you start school because trust me, it gets overstimulating and overwhelming VERY fast. Here's some industries you might want to think about and explore while you have time.

Tech

This industry primarily operates in what we call "just in time" hiring, but in recent years the summer internship deadlines have followed traditional consulting/IB timelines. The difference though, is WHEN YOU APPLY DOES MATTER. Most applications are on a rolling basis. In fact, some are open now for summer 2025 (I'll list them below).

There aren't a ton of MBA-specific programs in tech, but here's a few I found that can help you narrow down your focus:

1. Amazon Pre-MBA Summit: July 24, 2024 [Register here ]
2. Google MBA Series [aired in 2023, you can watch the recordings here ]
3. Reaching Out MBA Trek (for LGBTQ+ students), July 11-12, 2024 in Seattle [Register here ]
4. Verizon Talent Network

Common Post-MBA Tech Roles:

1. Strategy & Operations, sometimes called BizOps: Problem-solving, curious, very cross-functional in nature. Typically ex-consultants - you can think of this as an internal consulting role. More info here
2. Business Development/Sales: build a book of business, ensure the management and fulfillment of strategic targets, and develop associated agreements.
3. Operations/Supply Chain: managerial role in purchase, logistics, or warehouse ops. I'm most familiar with the warehouse role: involves forecasting demand & supply, managing inventory levels and flow, optimizing the utilization of space within a warehouse and managing the warehouse personnel [note: if you're interested in ops, check out Amazon Pathways ]
4. Finance/Corporate Finance/FP&A: self-explanatory
5. Partnerships: Some variation of partnerships or channel managers will be in the name. Tons of cross-functional collaboration, you definitely need to be a people person. Usually lead partnership engagements with third-party companies.
6. PM/PMM: The PM role is typically favored for those who have a technical background (think former SWE or at the very least someone who knows how to code) - this year's recruiting cycle was particularly nit-picky about it. Amazon is the only company that has a formal "non-technical" PM role, though it's again not impossible for someone without a technical background to pivot into being a PM (you'll likely have to take a PM role at a smaller company first). PMM is easier for non-technical MBAs to land. Here's a good infographic on the spectrum of responsibilities from RocketBlocks :

Media

Media is an industry that's notoriously tough to break into, especially when you don't have a background in the media, advertising, or communications industries - but it's not impossible. I landed several final round interviews this year myself, and my background is in defense consulting. You have to display a deep knowledge and passion for the industry, and keep up with industry news. There aren't formal Pre-MBA internships in media, but this is a very "word of mouth" driven space, so start networking early.

Common Post-MBA Media Roles (sourced from user VanillaIceTray on r/MBA lol, but I agree with what's written:

1. Corporate Development/Strategy: Work on corporate investments, M&A, assist in overall strategic and financial planning. Mostly limited to ex-bankers with a few ex-consultants thrown in. Usually placed within overall corporate parent (e.g., working for Disney)
2. Finance, FP&A: Standard financial planning and reporting jobs, but in entertainment. Seems a bit easier to get into than corp strat/dev without a banking backgrounds. Can work anywhere within the organization (e.g., Disney Parks).
3. Distribution and Partnerships: Analyze distribution channels for your content, and work directly with 3rd parties to negotiate deals and placements. Content-focused. Differs everywhere but tend to highly value people skills and EQ.
4. Marketing: Less creative, more ROI analysis of campaigns, optimizing media load across channels, etc. Prefer folks with marketing experience, though not a hard and fast requirement.
5. Franchise / Brand Management: Can be lumped in with marketing, or be its own function. Responsible for optimizing the distribution, marketing, and monetization of specific brands or franchises. (e.g., determining the right retail partners for a new Harry Potter cpg)
6. Analysis & Insights: Can range from "serious business, you should have a background in data science (Netflix)" to "create templates in excel". Likely going to have analysis & insights roles in every vertical across a company. Job is to take pieces of data and turn them into narratives, reports, or actionable insights.
7. Content Strategy/Acquisition: This encompasses two very different job responsibilities, and the naming conventions for each of the two differs at every firm. One core function is relational and person-forward, maintaining relationships with talent, agents, creatives, and rights holders, and working with them directly to acquire content (e.g., whoever at Amazon was actually responsible for working with the Tolkien estate to hammer out Lord of the Rings deal terms). The other is more back-office and analytical, leveraging data to A) determine what pieces of content are needed for any given channel/customer segment and B) identifying how much any piece of content is worth. This would be whoever at Amazon determined that LOTR was worth up to $250m, and communicated that to the deal team. The latter function prefers consultants and bankers, but it's not as much of a requirement as it is for corporate strategy.
8. Product Marketer / Product Manager: Similar to what you would do as a PM/PMM at a pure tech company, but instead you're doing it for Disney+ or SiriusXM.

Finance

Let's be real, if you're going into IB, you already know what you have to know at this point. If you don't, you're behind (sorry). Here's a short article summarizing what you'd have to do to transition into IB.

For those matriculating later than the Class of 2026, or are currently in throes of MBA applications, here are pre-MBA programs that should be on your radar:

1. Goldman Sachs Investment Banking Pre-MBA program
2. JP Morgan Chase has a ton of different pre-MBA programs
3. Morgan Stanley Pre-MBA program

Consulting

AlixPartners has a pre-MBA internship that's still open , deadline is July 7, 2024

Most of these programs have passed for 2024, but if you're thinking about applying to an MBA program, I'll highlight these for you to track for next year:

1. Bain's BASE (Black, Hispanic/Latin American and Indigenous pre-MBA students)
2. ExperienceBain
3. McKinsey Early Access
4. BCG Unlock
5. BCG Empower (an invite-only three-day workshop intended for incoming MBA students who identify as Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino and/or Native American/Alaska Native/Indigenous)
6. Strategy& Catalyst
7. LEK Pre-MBA Women Program

For Class of 2026 candidates, I don't care what anyone says - start your prep now.

Casing resources:

1. Management Consulted : https://managementconsulted.com/case-interview/
2. Crafting Cases was my favorite, I'd start here: https://www.craftingcases.com/
3. Victor Cheng: https://www.youtube.com/user/caseinterview/videos
4. Case books (these are a few publicly available online, though you should join your respective consulting club on campus for the most up-to-date): Wharton 2017 , Fuqua 2014 , Fuqua 2016 , Darden 2018

Other focused industries: Real Estate, Hospitality, Healthcare, VC, CPG, Search Funds, Entrepreneurship/Startups:

1. P&G's MBA Brand Camp (for brand management)

Internship applications open now for Summer 2025:

1. Apple, posted June 7, 2024
2. Johnson & Johnson Finance MBA LDP Internship
3. P&G MBA Rising Leaders Internship
4. Humana 2025 Consortium Summer MBA Internship
5. Mars Petcare MBA Marketing Internship
6. Mars Wrigley MBA Marketing Internship

Transitioning Veterans

Congratulations on all your hard work and thank you for your service! There's so many resources at your fingertips, and your skills are SO much more valuable than you know. Did you know you get a whole free year of LinkedIn Learning and LinkedIn Premium? Sign up here ; you can also visit www.dhirubhai.net/military for other helpful resources like preparing for an interview.

If you're thinking about applying to school, Service to School is an amazing mentorship program to utilize. You obviously know about Skillbridge , USO Transition Program , and Sitreps2Steercos (plug: they're having an MBA Admissions Fireside Chat with Leland tomorrow, sign up here ), but here are some other industry programs worth looking into.

Tech

1. Microsoft's Software and Systems Academy (MSSA) , applications are open now
2. Google Veterans Series [aired in 2020, watch recordings here ]
3. Google VetNet Career Week (this year's has passed, but it occurs annually around June so make sure to register next year)
4. Breakline is an organization that provides education and coaching for exceptional, women, people of color, people with disabilities, and veterans break into a career in tech: https://breakline.org/

Consulting

1. Deloitte's CORE Leadership Program , upcoming application deadline July 29, 2024
2. Deloitte's ADVF, application opens fall 2024
3. Most of the other consulting firms go through SkillBridge or USO

Finance

1. Wells Fargo VET Program
2. Goldman Sachs Veterans Integration Program
3. Citi SALUTES Program (multiple tracks)

First-Generation Students

First of all, I want you to be so so proud of yourself. You're navigating this really complex world that no one before you has. Not only is it intimidating to have to figure out the financial aspects of college, but then thinking about your career - there's so many paths you've probably never heard of. Luckily, I've noticed a trend in these past 5 years where there's been a recognition of the hardship first-gen students face (at last!) and as a result, open opportunities for you.

My internship this summer is in tech, so my finger is just on the pulse of the tech industry right now. Therefore...this edition's newsletter will be focused on tech, but let me know if there's a different industry you're interested in and I'll have my friends weigh in. Not all of these postings are exclusively for first-gen students, but you should apply anyway. Even if you don't meet all of the qualifications, apply apply apply.

Technology Internships for Freshmen and Sophomores in College:

1. Activision Blizzard Inclusion in Games Scholarship, application opens Fall 2024
2. Explore Microsoft is a twelve-week summer internship program specifically designed for students in their first or second year of a bachelor’s degree program and provides the opportunity to experience the main phases of the product development cycle: Design, Build and Quality. This program is designed to encourage your interest in in computer science, computer engineering, or a related technical discipline: apply here
3. Google STEP, this internship program has a focus of providing development opportunities to students from groups historically underrepresented in tech, through technical training and professional development: apply here
4. Google Summer of Code introduces students to open source code, more info here
5. Meta University, applications not open yet but link here
6. UberStar Internship, a paid student internship program designed to promote equal opportunity, inclusion, and access in tech by encouraging applications from women and underrepresented people, including but not limited to Black, Hispanic, Native American, students with disabilities, LGBTQIA+, and Veterans. applications open in August here
7. IBM Accelerate Summer Program, learn more here & express your interest here
8. Salesforce Futureforce Tech Launchpad: sign up for the waitlist here
9. Two Sigma (a hedge fund) College Mentor (Two Sigma sponsors a yearly summer mentorship program for undergraduate students from historically underrepresented groups): application and info here

For juniors:

1. Google BOLD, this STEM internship welcomes tech students —particularly BIPOC students and others from underrepresented groups. They work on Google communications, finance, sales, marketing, legal, and tech teams, opens in September here

Educational programming:

1. SMASH online learning: https://virtual.smash.org/career-catalyst

If you know of any other opportunities for first-gen/underrepresented students, please send me a message!

I'll be compiling a list of opportunities/internships as they open focused on different industries, so let me know what you'd like to see next!

Happy navigating,

Eun