Meet Carnegie Mellon’s MBA Class Of 2019

Nilvea O. Malavé Torres 

Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University

Describe yourself in 15 words or less: Passionate problem solver. I am a nerdy extrovert who enjoys solving problems and loves uncertainty.

Hometown: San Juan, Puerto Rico

Fun Fact About Yourself: During my undergrad, I worked as a research assistant to a Musicologist in one of UPR’s research centers. This job not only helped me pay college but also gave me the most memorable moments. Half of the time the job entailed going to music events and meeting and interviewing different people from the music industry. The most fun part was getting free tickets to music events every weekend.

Undergraduate School and Major: 

• BA in Economics and Sociology, University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras
• MA in Economics, University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras

Employers and Job Titles Since Graduation: 

1. Banco Popular de Puerto Rico, Business Analyst – Team Leader
2. Center for the New Economy, Research Assistant
3. Social Research Center, University of Puerto Rico, Research Assistant

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: The biggest accomplishment in my career so far has been helping in the development of a business case for a new business line in Banco Popular. It started as some plain vanilla default rate forecast of the bank’s mortgage portfolio but during the development of the model different questions started emerging about the behavior of the market and the effect it would have in the institution as a whole. To my surprise, this exercise started a whole new discussion about the future of how the bank should manage its real estate portfolio and served as a base for a new business that is changing the real estate landscape in Puerto Rico.

Looking back on your experience, what one piece of advice would you give to future business school applicants? Go beyond the GMAT. This is the most valuable piece of advice my Forté MBA Launch advisor gave me. Try your hardest to get the best score that you can in the test. However, don’t let the score deter you from applying. Every piece of the application is important, but I believe understanding your career journey, goals, and motivations are components that will make your application stand out.

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? Choosing an MBA program in not an easy task, but Tepper’s focus in Analytics and friendly staff were the main drivers for me to choose Tepper.  Working in the strategy field for the last five years, I saw how important using data in new and creative ways helps finding opportunities that would have been overlooked before. For this reason, I strongly believe that the business leaders of the future need to be versed in the field of analytics and this is exactly what Tepper’s MBA program offers.

What would success look like to you after your first year of business school?  After a year in business school, success would look like to me as having  a strong network of people from all around the globe who are passionate about contributing in positive ways to the world and want to engage in high impact projects to make their vision a reality.