Recap of the NYC trip – Part 2

OK, I know I’m late with posting this entry. I had to drive out to the country to visit my mother so I could fix my uncle’s computer. Now that I’m back, I can get to the run-down of these events.

Wednesday: The Bain Pre-MBA Program and Goldman Sachs Welcome Reception

Going into the Bain Program, I already knew that I would apply for an internship there (along with McKinsey and BCG) because I want to go into strategy consulting after school, so I saw this event as a chance to get some insight into the company. Little did I know that the Bain folks would completely win me over that day…their event was off the hook. Basically, the Bain program was one-day event intended to give a set of Black MBAs an introduction to the Consulting industry and Bain as a company. I knew several of the other attendees (including a few members of the MBADiversity.com Forum) so it was like a big reunion of folks I’d grown cool with throughout the application process.

The session started with welcome statements by Modupe Akinola (Bain’s Head of Diversity Recruiting and Professional Development) and James Root (head of the NYC office) followed by an overview of Bain given by Dave Sanderson (a partner in their LA office). This is the point where they got me because Dave explained that Bain was a company that not only worked on devising a strategy for a client, but also worked through the implementation of that strategy. I think that sort of client work will give me the strongest learning experience as I approach my future career as a CEO. Another high point of the day was the Consultant Panel, in which 6 current Black Bain consultants shared their experiences working there. Later, the CFO of Bad Boy Entertainment, Derek Ferguson (a former Bain Manager), gave the keynote address and showed me a glimpse of what could be coming for me and other kids in my position in the future. Toward the end of the day, a Manager named Dave “Coop” Cooper did a presentation on interview skills that will be really helpful when it comes time for all of us to apply for jobs with the company. And, the last part of the day was a case interview workshop, where I learned that I have a LOT of practicing ahead of me if I want to get a job at a place like Bain…case interviews are a different beast than I’ve ever had to face before. After the closing remarks, there was a cocktail hour where a bunch of current consultants interacted with us to share their experiences and give advice…and, best of all, there was free sangria and wine there, so your boy was REALLY happy with that :-). I’ve got to give a huge shout out to Modupe and the other Bain folks who helped throughout the day. They earned a huge fan in me and I will be HURT if I don’t get an internship or full-time job offer from that company. They don’t have a DC office (which sucks because I want to be close to my fam in VA), but I’d be willing to be in NYC or Atlanta so I could work in a Bain office.

At the conclusion of the Bain event, several of the folks in attendance had to make a mad dash down to the Southside Seaport area of NYC to hit up the Goldman Sachs Camp welcome reception. I ended up piling into a cab 5-deep with some of the other kids. Halfway to our destination, the cabbie looked back and realized that we had 5 people in there are gave two of us the boot. In all of the commotion, my cell phone fell out of my pocket and none of the 3 remaining kids in the cab noticed it. I don’t know about any of you, but my cellie is like my second heartbeat, so I thought I was going to pass out when I noticed it was missing.

At any rate, we all eventually got down to the reception and had a great time. Goldman invited over 100 soon-to-be first year minority students and it was wonderful to look around the room and see all of the diversity in there. The crowd at the reception included some of their summer intern and current employees. Best of all, they had a full open bar with top shelf liquor available to all in attendance for free…another reason for me to be grinning ;-). After the loss of my cell phone, a few drinks did a lot to help mellow me out. This session was more of a meet-and-greet thing than a true informational one, so we all just hung out with each other and vibed. At the end of the night, a bunch of us gathered in the hotel bar and did more talking and networking. I didn’t really have much interest in banking going into this event, but it felt good to know that I’d be surrounded by a bunch of cool cats while I was taking in all of the info that GS had to offer.
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It’s past 1:00AM, so I’m going to catch some Z’s. I’ll try to get the overview of the GS Camp written up tomorrow.