Meet Emory Goizueta’s MBA Class of 2018

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Kevin Loong

Emory University, Goizueta Business School

Describe yourself in 15 words or less: Family, friends, travel, outdoor adventures/road trips, pizza, action movies, trivia, and Alabama football.

Hometown: Huntsville, AL

Fun Fact About Yourself: I try to visit at least one foreign country a year.

Undergraduate School and Major: University of Alabama, Bachelor and Master’s in Accounting

Employers and Job Titles Since Graduation: EY, Senior Audit Associate ­ Financial Services

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: Other than navigating business school applications, I would say being elected to EY’s People Advisory Board. The board worked with the firm’s executives to identify key issues within the core business, identify potential solutions to those issues, and implement the resulting initiatives. We worked on projects such as creating and disseminating a monthly newsletter, restructuring the firm’s counseling groups, and incentivizing audit teams to more timely reward and recognize individual employees.

It was an amazing opportunity to see how leaders in the organization approached strategy from a firm­wide perspective. It was an experience that ultimately led me back to business school in search for similar opportunities.

Looking back on your experience, what advice would you give to future business school applicants? Make sure to get the process started early and really try to understand the fit/culture of each program. There are so many resources that are out there to help you narrow or finalize your business school choices, but it’s crucial to spend time getting a feel for all of the different schools. There’s a lot of talk about the programs as if there is some objective way to determine business school success for every student. Everyone has different academic, personal, financial, and career goals and not every program is right for everybody.

Rankings can be a decent framework, but you should work to find out where you truly envision yourself being successful. Talk to current students/professors. Go to networking events. Meet fellow prospective students and alumni. Visit campus. Everybody says these things, but it definitely makes a huge difference in bringing to life each program’s distinct culture. In that way, not only will you figure out where to best position yourself for success, but that depth of connection will reflect during the admissions process.

What led you to choose this program for your full‐time MBA? There were a couple aspects that were crucial to me: employment success and a collaborative culture.

Goizueta has those things in spades. Emory places well within my targeted function (consulting) and has an amazing career management center. The program has the academic expertise and experiential opportunities that will help prepare me to change careers. The 100% internship placement rate in the program for several years speaks volumes about both the career preparation of the program and the recruiting opportunities available.

I was also after a collaborative environment for my two years. Throughout the application process, it became abundantly clear how close­knit Goizueta students were. Every single person I reached out to was willing to talk or grab coffee. The students actually all knew each other well. It’s one of the benefits of Emory’s class size. It was easy for me to see how I could make meaningful connections that extend well beyond my time at school.

Being able to enjoy the food and the sunshine in Atlanta helped seal the deal.

Tell us about your dream job or dream employer at this point in your life? If you couldn’t tell by my other responses, I’ve always found myself drawn to new experiences and working with others. The prospect of being able to explore different companies while driving impactful change make consulting a really appealing career choice.

What would you like your business school peers to say about you after you graduate from this program? That I spent the time to truly get to know each one of them. That I’m the sort of person they’d never hesitate to reach out to for anything. And, last but not least, that the past two years were incredible and memorable!

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