Meet NYU’s Incoming Stern Class of 2017

Dwane Omar Jones

NYU Stern School of Business

Hometown: Kingston, Jamaica and Brooklyn, NY

Undergraduate School and Major: Howard University School of Law, J.D.; Hofstra University, Zarb School of Business, BBA, Legal Studies in Business

Employers and Job Titles Since Graduation: Marcus & Millichap REIS, Investment Associate; JonesRyan LLC (Real Estate Investment Company), Partner; Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP, Corporate Reorganization and Bankruptcy Attorney; Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP, Litigation Paralegal

Recalling your own experience, what advice do you have for applicants who are preparing for either the GMAT or the GRE? Start studying early and enroll in a preparation course that suits your learning style. Also, be prepared for the process to take longer than you originally expected it would.

Based on your own selection process, what advice do you have for applicants who are trying to draw up a list of target schools to which to apply? The first and most important step is to get clear on what you want to get out of business school and what your short- and long-term career goals are. This will help you better understand which schools will be the best fit for you.

What advice do you have for applicants in actually applying to a school, writing essays, doing admission interviews, and getting recommenders to write letters on your behalf? I suggest gaining admission to Management Leadership for Tomorrow’s (MLT) MBA Prep (MBAP) and Professional Development (PD) programs. MLT MBAP allowed me to interact with other high-achieving applicants to the top business schools, receive coaching on essays, admissions interviews, and approaching recommenders. Finally, through relationships that MLT has with the top business schools, I was able to receive feedback from Admissions Officers via a series of conferences held on the campuses of top business schools in the year before submitting my application.

What led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA? I chose NYU Stern because of the people I interacted with at the institution and its strength in real estate, which I plan to continue to focus on post-MBA. The Admissions team and the Office of Career Development have been phenomenal (even before starting classes); my colleagues joining me as part of the class of 2017 have all been exemplary as well. Stern’s membership in the Consortium allows another extremely valuable touch-point between classmates, admissions, career development and prospective employers. Finally, my numerous interactions with the Association of Hispanic and Black Students (AHBBS), because of their deep partnership with Stern throughout the admissions process, and genuine engagement from the head of the school, Dean Peter Henry, sealed the deal for me.

What would you ultimately like to achieve before you graduate? I would like to become very involved in NYU Stern’s community and increasingly involved with the Consortium, Toigo, and MLT to help others that are interested in real estate. I want to continue to build my relationship with Stern’s Center for Real Estate Finance Research (CREFR), and be a leader in the Real Estate Club to help guide the programming, speakers invited, and build relationships with fellow students, faculty, and executives-in-residence. Finally, I would like to complete the two-day Argus training provided by the Real Estate Club and NYU Stern CREFR; participate in real estate case competitions hosted by some of the other top real estate programs throughout the country; and engage in and lead some of the various NYU Stern real estate treks.