Meet The Minnesota Carlson MBA Class of 2017

Jay Sekhon

Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota

Hometown: Madison, WI

Undergraduate School and Major: University of Wisconsin-Madison; B.S. Biomedical Engineering

Employers and Job Titles Since Graduation: Cofounder, Formula-Database.com; Study Technician—Dose Formulations, Covance Laboratories

Recalling your own experience, what advice do you have for applicants who are preparing for either the GMAT or the GRE? Start early and practice often. The test is standardized, and that means that it has specific patterns and a level of predictability that you are able to learn and adapt to. It is definitely worth it to invest in courses to practice, since a great score can really make a difference in your admissions chances.

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? Visit schools and talk with their recruiting teams in person! You leave a much more memorable impression when you can interact face-to-face, and it gives you the best opportunity to get a sense of what the school’s environment is like. A top school may be desirable on paper, but if you aren’t comfortable with its culture then you will only be holding yourself back.

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? Utilize an admissions consultant. It is the closest thing to having an insider on the admissions team and it can really help take your essays, resume, and overall application to a level well beyond what you might be able to accomplish through traditional means. Just like GMAT or GRE preparation, you should invest in making yourself the best possible applicant that you can be—it will pay off substantially down the road.

What led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA? I chose Carlson for several reasons—it is a highly ranked and well known program, and that name does carry a lot of weight. Beyond that though, I was very drawn to the fact that the class size is very small compared to other schools of its caliber. The environment as a result is highly collaborative, and I have a level of access to the faculty that wouldn’t be possible in larger programs. So having the resources and brand power of a large and renowned university available to me at a much more personal level was a deciding factor.

What would you ultimately like to achieve before you graduate? I would like to eat at all the 4 and 5-star rated restaurants on Yelp in the Twin Cities. There’s a lot of amazing places, and it’ll definitely be a challenge to fit that in between school and further developing my career, but I hope that I’m up to the challenge.