Meet Wharton’s MBA Class Of 2021

Karlos Bledsoe

The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania

“Follow instructions, do your best, have fun – a Midwesterner who works hard and enjoys life.”

Hometown: St. Louis, Missouri

Fun Fact About Yourself: My brothers and I once went on a hike through the French countryside ending with a steep rock scramble to a scenic overlook. We had to use a leapfrog approach to take cover behind trees because loose rocks dislodged behind each hiker. We made it to the summit… only to discover a well-trodden foot trail at the summit and several hikers coming up the far side of the mountain.

Undergraduate School and Major: Princeton University, Ecology, and Evolutionary Biology

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Trinity Partners – Consultant

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: Learning to ask more critical questions to gain a deeper understanding of a client’s business context was key. In a field where the client’s product is often complicated and the underlying therapeutic area may be obscure, learning to appreciate the process of learning during the project was a pivotal step in both (1) becoming a better consultant and (2) enjoying the job.

What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? “Vibrant” because of the rich mixture of experiences and personalities in the class creates a group of people that is genuinely engaging and incredibly capable.

Aside from your classmates, 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 high level of compatibility between different schools and programs at Penn. I wanted to study both law and business while continuing to pursue my interest in healthcare. To this end, Penn offered a three-year JD/MBA program with a wide variety of course offerings across both schools and a great community of JD/MBA students. On the Wharton side of the program, the ability to major in the health care management program created a trifecta aligned with my background and goals.

Talk to us about the team-based project you completed during the application process. What did you do that helped you stand out during it? My team-based discussion was a nice experience and our group came together quite well. Right off the bat, I presented a proposal very similar to another member of the TBD, so our group ultimately rallied around a hybrid version of our two ideas. There were a couple of things I did in hindsight that may have helped me stand out, but the goal going into the team-based discussion should not be just to “stand out.” The TBD is not a zero-sum game and I like to think that it actually helps to make other people look good and give credit where credit is due. My strategy was to come with a well-planned pitch and from there just focus on working with my group to create the best possible final product. The things that I did to move towards this final product included compromising on parts of my proposal that could be improved, asking questions to understand other proposals, and (at times) suggesting we embrace someone else’s idea that complemented our group’s strategy.

What club or activity are you looking most forward to in business school? Early on in my first year of the JD/MBA program, I heard about the PE/VC Conference and the high caliber speakers and panelists who attend. I was able to participate in a small role as a first-year JD/MBA student at the law school and I look forward to continuing to take part in the conference during my time at Wharton.

What was the most challenging question you were asked during the admissions process? After the TBD, I had to assess what parts of my behavior during the discussion were different than my normal behavior during meetings. Because our group was pretty cohesive and I felt comfortable in the discussion, I found it hard to pinpoint a part of my behavior in the TBD that was outside of my normal conduct.

What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? I think about this question in two parts: (1) Why an MBA and (2) Why at this point in my career. For part one, I pursued an MBA because – as an undergraduate biology major with experience in life sciences and high-level business strategy – the opportunity to focus on learning traditional finance and skills was appealing. The second question of “why now” was more involved. A mentor of mine said there are three phases of consulting: “doing” projects, “managing” projects, and “selling” projects. I was very keen on learning the hard skills of the “doing” phase and I found initial “managing” of workstreams to be an equally inviting challenge. I decided to pursue an MBA only after initial exposure to this “managing” phase because I wanted to combine hard skills with some level of leadership experience before leaving my company for business school.

What other MBA programs did you apply to? I applied to several Consortium Schools (Yale, Dartmouth, Stern, Haas), as well as Cornell, Columbia, Sloan, and Harvard).

How did you determine your fit at various schools? I prioritized the strength of the healthcare program as well as the availability of a JD offering. The strength of these programs was often demonstrated in-part by alumni placement information at each school. As I narrowed down the list, I used conversations with alumni and visits to assess culture and my fit with the school.

What was your defining moment and how did it shape who you are?

When I was younger, my great-uncle took my parents and my brothers on a trip to where he grew up in Mississippi. My great-uncle showed us the cotton fields where my family worked. We went to the little church where my great-grandfather served as a deacon and had to pray with a small gun in his suit to protect the church from klan members. After church, we picked pecans from the tree growing outside the church doors and had a delicious meal with current church members. To see the land where my grandfather and his brothers worked, sacrificed, and achieved despite injustice makes me incredibly grateful for their lives and appreciative of mine. To be a part of their endless prayers and tireless work inspires me to continue the work for the next generation.

Where do you see yourself in ten years? Working at the intersection of healthcare and finance to bring improved care to patients with high levels of unmet medical needs. I hope to do this by bringing funding to novel therapeutics as well as by increasing access to existing treatment and management options.