Allie Kornstein

New York University, Leonard N. Stern School of Business

“Ambitious and motivated MBA student, thoughtful friend, devoted daughter and sister.”

Hometown: Roslyn, New York

Fun fact about yourself: I once had dinner with Anthony Bourdain!

Undergraduate School and Degree: Washington University in St. Louis, BA in English Literature

Where was the last place you worked before enrolling in business school? HarperCollins Publishers, Marketing Strategy

Where did you intern during the summer of 2018? Facebook, New York

Where will you be working after graduation? Facebook, Product Marketing Manager

Community Work and Leadership Roles in Business School: I’ve been on the boards of Stern Women in Business and Stern Technology Association for two years. I plan professional development workshops and events for Stern Women in Business and organize company visits and tours for Stern Technology Association. I also served as a Career Mentor during my second year, in which I reviewed first-year MBA students’ resumes, helped craft cover letters, conducted mock interviews, and provided general feedback throughout the recruitment process.

Which academic or extracurricular achievement are you most proud of during business school? During my first year at NYU Stern, I took the Stern Solutions experiential learning course “Consulting: Branding + Innovation Lab.” The class was split into groups and assigned a real-world project to complete for our client, Mastercard. The teams competed against each other for the chance to deliver our final presentation to Mastercard’s CMO. My group won the competition, which was really exciting after having worked on the presentation for an entire semester.

I’m also very proud of my work as a Career Mentor; it was very gratifying to be able to provide guidance to my fellow classmates during a stressful time for them.

What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career? Prior to starting at NYU Stern, I handled the marketing strategy for HarperCollins Publishers. I’m most proud of the work I did there relating to performance marketing – I built and managed a corporate presence on various ad platforms for the company, averaging a 200% ROI. I also increased the size of our email subscriber list by 600K+ email addresses.

Who was your favorite MBA professor? My favorite MBA professor is Dolly Chugh. I have taken two courses with her: Leadership in Organizations and Managerial Skills. She’s got a great sense of humor, is really engaging and incredibly smart. She has a talent for taking abstract concepts and making them practical.

What was your favorite MBA event or tradition at your business school? Stern Student Government puts on a Spring Fling event every year that I loved. Last year, it was held at the Central Park Boathouse, which was a beautiful venue.

Why did you choose this business school? I knew I wanted to be in New York City long term. I felt it was important to choose a school that was located in or near the city, which would give me access to networking and recruiting opportunities for New York-based roles. After visiting Stern’s campus, I was truly blown away by the kindness and camaraderie demonstrated by the students I spoke with and knew I wanted to be part of a community like Stern’s.

What is your best advice to an applicant hoping to get into your school’s MBA program? Try to visit the campus and sit in on a class – it will give you a great sense of the feel of the community, along with providing great insights for your essays.

What is the biggest myth about your school? The biggest myth about NYU Stern is that it’s predominantly a finance school. While the program does have a very strong finance department and places many students in finance roles, I have seen in my experience that there are many other areas of interest for Stern students, including tech, consulting, entertainment, and real estate.

Looking back over your MBA experience, what is the one thing you’d do differently and why? One thing I’d do differently is take more courses that intimidated me; for example, I am taking Corporate Finance this semester, which I had previously avoided because I had zero prior experience with finance. It turns out that I really enjoy the subject!

Which MBA classmate do you most admire? I most admire Anna Ward, who is the president of Stern Women in Business. She is extremely dedicated to this role and you can tell that she really feels passionate about what we do in this organization.

Who most influenced your decision to pursue business in college? My manager at my job prior to coming to business school was very influential in my decision. She had also gotten an MBA and would often tell me what a great experience it was for her; she was very supportive of my decision to apply and helped immensely with the application and interview process, which I really appreciated.

What are the top two items on your professional bucket list? (1) Become an effective and respected team lead/manager and (2) Develop a strong mentor/mentee relationship (as both a mentor and a mentee)

In one sentence, how would you like your peers to remember you? I would like to be remembered as an enthusiastic, bright, and helpful classmate and friend who is ambitious while also remaining kind and thoughtful.

Hobbies? Reading, travel (I’ve visited 19 countries on 4 continents), photography, and vegetarian cooking

What made Allie such an invaluable addition to the Class of 2020?

“Allie has been an incredibly impactful part of the class of 2020. I worked with Allie during her time recruiting for an internship in tech and during her time in leadership roles at Stern. During Allie’s first year, she put together a panel for Stern’s annual Tech Conference on product management careers to educate students on this career path and the variety of opportunities. I was extremely impressed by Allie’s initiative on reaching out to speakers and researching their backgrounds to find people with diverse and unique perspectives. She was incredibly organized, driven, and professional when reaching out to alumni and making sure to develop those relationships, not only for the panel but long into the future. Not only did she organize the panel and manage the communication with alumni, but she also presented at the Tech Conference where she moderated a panel of several alumni on the topic, PM Stories: Launching a New Product. She was incredibly confident, poised, and asked thought-provoking questions to generate a meaningful discussion. This was one of the highlights during Tech Week and it came together through her dedication.

After working hard throughout her first semester to build relationships and tailor her applications, Allie secured an internship in product marketing at Facebook, which was one of her goals in coming to Stern. She took the experience she gained in tech recruitment her first year to become a Career Mentor, where she was one of 28 students selected by the Office of Career Development to act as mentors to our first-year MBAs on industry-specific recruitment topics. Allie mentored 12 students, which entailed helping them customize their resumes and networking pitch, interview preparation, and being a supportive figure in their search. She truly made a difference to all of the students that she worked with and was a crucial part of the program. She went above-and-beyond to help those passionate about tech and offered her industry knowledge and guidance to all that asked.”

Carrie Magelowitz
Senior Associate Director, Career Coaching

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