Score: 715 GMAT Focus
GPA: 3.7
Pre-MBA industry: Consulting
Post-MBA industry: Entertainment and Sports
I have worked in Sales for 1 year and Consulting for 2 years. I am working as a Strategy Consultant in the Media, Entertainment and Sports industry. Post MBA I want to work as a leader in thus industry, specifically as someone who can manage a team, product or athlete to success. I want to be known in the industry as a go-to when there is a company that needs to increase profits and grow market share. My dream is to be a CEO in motorsport, ideally in Formula 1 and lead my team to a world championship.
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A lot of media and entertainment and sports is networking. A number of internships are even unpaid and people are super gung ho to apply for them just because the space is so competitive.
I had a classmate from NASCAR background but that was a totally American thing… and Formula One here is pretty low coverage. it’s doing better but it’s not getting a lot of coverage. I just didn’t want to be disappointed.
It sounds like you already have pretty good ideas and understanding of what you can achieve and reach with an MBA. Going from the same industry into the same industry is a very good thing for admissions and also career chances. The only area I feel you could improve and that could be a bit tricky to navigate with admissions is what can each program do for you. You don’t want to say in your essays or on your applications something that the school doesn’t really do or cannot help you with. This could be an easy fix if you connect with some of the current students which are looking into the sports and media space. A quick 30 minute call can give you a pretty good idea of what you can count on in each of the programs and what challenges you will face so you will be better equipped and not just for the applications.
PS. I’m going to throw @chenalan21 under the bus who is heading to Wharton and looking at media and entertainment space. in case he has some wisdom.
Managing a team or athlete is generally a different pathway from MBA. Starting from being an assistant at a talent agency for an athlete, or being a athlete or coach for managing a team. The few examples I’ve heard of are pretty rare. I mostly have context on the basketball case but examples I would think of that came from MBA are Sam Hinkie and Daryl Morey, who went to Stanford and Sloan, but the way they got their starts is very unstructured.
In the case for CEO, I’m not sure how F1 is structures to, but generally in the sports I follow the responsibilities are separate from the General Manager who actually manages to team, signs athletes and coaches, etc. Columbia and Stern’s Media Entertainment and Sports conference recently had CEO of the Brooklyn Nets Sam Zussman speak a bit about that, he’s mostly focused on growing the complex around the Brooklyn Nets and their arena.
Growing profits and market share and leading your team to victory seem separate to me at least for the sports I follow. For profits and market share, your typical mba stuff and goals, and how your MBA will help you in typical ways, will help you the most, just with a little Media Entertainment Sports flavor.
For leading your team to victory, I would go to as many Sloan Sports Analytics Conferences as possible. Unfortunately most MBA programs, even your HSW or M7, aren’t going to have set pathways to go here. A lot of it will be taking shots on getting anyone’s ear and seeing if you can hook anything promising yourself. A great place to catch some ears are conferences like that. A great school name will help, of course, and guys like Morey give back to conferences at their own schools.
I can go a bit deeper into my own findings/experiences networking Pre-MBA if you want to chat. Of course, I haven’t even started my MBA yet so I don’t have that exact context yet.