Meet The MIT Sloan MBA Class of 2019

Patricia Irisarri 

MIT, Sloan School of Management 

Describe yourself in 15 words or less: Adventurous, petite traveler who loves connecting with different people and devoted to anything I do

Hometown: Madrid, Spain

Fun Fact About Yourself: I first skied in 1993 and over the years competed in alpine, cross-country, back-country and off piste. I starting racing in giant slalom competitions in the North of Spain where my parents set up a ski school with some friends. When I turned 18, I had to decide whether to go professional or remain a casual competitor. While I opted for studies which led me to MIT Sloan today, I continue to use skiing to decompress mentally

Undergraduate School and Major: Colegio Universitario de Estudios Financieros (CUNEF), Finance

Employers and Job Titles Since Graduation:

Organization Name: HIPCHIPS

Dates of Employment: July 2016 to Present

Position: Chief Operational Officer (part time from Nov 2014 and full time from July 2016

Industry: Food & Beverages Retail

Role I worked on the idea generation and brand development, secured the Soho site, hired and

managed staff. Set the strategy with the CEO to expand into Harrods, EAT and Soho House. Focused on

optimizing business costs, product development, partnerships and brand extensions.

Organization Name: Nomura International Plc.

Dates of Employment: July 2013 to July 2016

Position: Analyst/ EMEA Debt Syndicate Desk was my starting position and left as an Associate/EMEA

Debt Syndicate

Industry: Investment Banking

Role: I ran the short-term funding desk and was in charge of pre- and post-trade execution risk

management, hedges, bond settlement, and investor feedback. I tracked market dynamics, then drafted

recommendations on funding strategies for our rate clients.

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: Bringing HIPCHIPS from an idea to a reality and opening our first store in such a vibrant city like London has been my key accomplishment. After seeing how large companies succeed and fail operationally, I managed to use my banking skills for a new eating concept. Hence why I believe my transition from Nomura to a crisps store came surprisingly natural, because of my capability of creating positive synergies between my time in a bank and a new food and beverages shop.

Quitting banking proved to me that I had the ability to take a risk which turned into a success after hard work, self-commitment and having to push myself outside my comfort zone in numerous occasions.

As the saying goes, nothing ventured, nothing gained – I had a vision and pursued it!

Looking back on your experience, what one piece of advice would you give to future business school applicants? I believe it is always easier to speak when you have already overcome a tough situation rather than when you are trying to overcome it. However, I would like to share my main takeaway with all prospective students looking at the past with perspective and being able to take a step back.

Give yourself time and don’t expect everything to fall into place on your timeline. Plan for a couple of GMAT exams and not only for one sit. What I learnt is that for a good GMAT score, there are many variables that do not involve studying (nerves, self-esteem on the day, good sleep the night before, confidence, relaxation) and hence I recommend pairing your GMAT revision with work on the rest of the application. I had the misconception that an MBA application was a GMAT score, essays and recommendation letters, but there are MANY other pieces to it. They include getting to know the school properly, minacious descriptions of your full-time jobs, and putting together A LOT of admin stuff from school and university (transcripts, GPAs, etc). All of this takes time and at the same time allows your brain to take a break from GMAT problems.

All in all, see all the application items as a whole and not as individual check boxes. They are all linked — and the closer together you keep them the better! It is important that you get to know yourself along the path so that you can excel as a person later in the interview, not trying to be someone else.

What was the key factor that led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA and why was it so important to you? There were many things that made MIT Sloan my top pick, but the most important one was the people and my personal fit. I am a strong believer in personal relationships. Regardless of expertise, strengths and weaknesses, I find that sharing basic values and principles with the people you surround yourself with is vital (friends, family members or business partners).

I knew two Spanish students studying at Sloan when I was submitting my application, and the energy that they transmitted when we had long chats about the school was astonishing. They spoke as if they had never seen such an environment before. In fact, one of them got married last March and approximately 20 MIT students were invited after only 6 months of knowing each other. My friends portrayed the profound and life-changing experience that I was looking for. Not all MBA Programs are known for having humble and down-to-earth students, and for me, this is the true differentiator.

I visited Sloan twice before getting accepted and I could not be happier of having done so. The efforts made by members of the staff to welcome me were impressive. Actually, I visited the campus with my boyfriend in January and they had someone from the Significant Others community come and speak to us – I found this such a beautiful touch. In addition, I felt that MBAs were very close to PhDs, undergrads, research and LGOs which clearly conveys what Sloan is all about. This cross-campus integration of people with different backgrounds seemed such a natural blend that in my eyes was very different to any other school.

What would success look like to you after your first year of business school?  I like to think of success in 9 months’ time as the start of a worldwide network that will be there with me for the rest of my life. Success would be to start building close relationships with people very different, not that different or similar to me. I cannot wait to meet everyone!

Simultaneously, success would mean having learnt about business areas I had knowledge gaps in; having pushed myself into subjects that I had no clue; and travelling as much as possible. My aim is to have been able to build a tool set to leverage on my second year to pursue my future goals, both personal and professional. I am eager to take full advantage of the experience, becoming the luckiest of the “lucky.”

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