Meet Carnegie Mellon’s MBA Class Of 2019

Carlton Forbes 

Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University 

Describe yourself in 15 words or less: I am a reformed pragmatist who is slowly regaining the confidence to dream again.

Hometown: Brooklyn, NY

Fun Fact About Yourself: I pursued a career as a rapper for 15+ years, so in other words I’m a poet just trying to up my quant cred.

Undergraduate School and Major: Brown University – International Relations

Employers and Job Titles Since Graduation: 

Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC – Associate (Regulatory Practice Group)

Various – Paralegal ,Rapper

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: Delivering at a high enough level of performance to repay the faith the good folks at Goldman showed by giving me a shot in spite of my non-traditional career path.

Looking back on your experience, what one piece of advice would you give to future business school applicants? Be honest with yourself about your credentials if you want to get into your top choice schools. If you do not have stereotypically impressive career highlights, then you will need a high score on your GMAT; if you have neither of the preceding factors working in your favor, you will need to craft one hell of a story. Also, employing the services of GMAT/MBA-prep professionals can help improve your odds by fixing gaps in your profile.

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? The combination of Tepper’s status at the forefront of data analytics and the broader Carnegie Mellon community’s reputation for nurturing and producing world-renown technology leaders attracted me to the school. I hope to benefit from this fertile and collaborative ecosystem by bringing my creativity and hustle to a partnership with designers who possess the technical skills to breathe life into some of my crazy ideas.

What would success look like to you after your first year of business school? My dream (goal?) is to create a platform that compensates consumers for providing the content that powers the data economy. We deserve more than targeted ads for liberally allowing companies to generate trillions of dollars of value by sinking their creepy little fangs into our lives to spy on our daily activities.