Meet NYU’s Incoming Stern Class of 2017

Sabrina Yurkofsky

New York University, Stern School of Business

Hometown: Wayland, MA

Undergraduate School and Major: Hamilton College, double major in Psychology and Communication

Employers and Job Titles Since Graduation: I am attending business school straight out of undergraduate college as an NYU Stern William R. Berkley Scholar. My work experience consists of summer internships at companies that include: The Weinstein Company, ITV Studios America, and StrawberryFrog.

Recalling your own experience, what advice do you have for applicants who are preparing for either the GMAT or the GRE? Test preparation is a grueling process and it can be especially difficult to devote as much time and energy as you’ll need on top of other commitments. Because of this requirement, I recommend planning ahead. If you think there’s a chance you will apply for business school down the line, take advantage of less hectic periods of your life, such as while you are still a student in college, to check the GMAT or GRE off of your list. Even if business school isn’t in your immediate future, scores are valid for five years and you’ll be grateful later.

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? Each school has its own strengths. Understand which school will benefit you most (and, in turn, which one is most likely to view you as a good fit when making an admissions decision). It’s important to recognize not only these strengths, but also how they match up with you as a candidate. In my case, this was fairly straightforward. Since the typical MBA student has several years of work experience under his or her belt, I only applied to schools that had specific programs for students directly out of college. These programs allowed other aspects of my application to shine through.

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? My advice has become a cliché because it is true: to know your story. To convince an admissions officer that you would benefit from an MBA, and that the program would benefit from your admission, you must understand this yourself. The most difficult part of the application is the self-reflection it requires, but if you have a firm grasp of who you are, where you’re going, and how business school will help you get there, then the admissions committee will as well.

What led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA? Stern has a wonderful program for students attending business school immediately after undergraduate college, The William R. Berkley Scholarship Program. This program provides an added level of support, both financial as well as professional, that I hope will allow me to take the fullest advantage of the next two years. Since I am going into the television industry, I was of course also excited by the specialization Stern offers in Entertainment, Media & Technology.

What would you ultimately like to achieve before you graduate? My goal is to take advantage of all that a school like Stern has to offer, including programs outside of the classes themselves. I’d love to participate in the “Doing Business In…” course, in which students spend a week or two abroad, studying the business challenges specific to that region. Given my interest in entertainment, the course at the Cannes Film Festival would be particularly incredible. I just want to make the most of the next two years.