Meet The Texas McCombs MBA Class of 2021

Sofia Baeza Perez

University of Texas at Austin’s McCombs School of Business

“Mexican girl, Financial Professional, looking to make an impact using financial tools and technology.”

Hometown: Mexico City, Mexico

Fun Fact About Yourself: I am left-handed

Undergraduate School and Major: Universidad Panamericana, majored in Administration and Finance

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: RION M&A, Associate

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: Starting a company and being able to exit it without killing the project

What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? Good vibe, helping, proactive, ambitious, smart people. Every McCombs student I have met so far has done everything they can to help me in some way, whether it is to look for apartments, get tips, answer questions, get recommendations, etc. All of them are always taking part in events, clubs or competitions, while they have clear goals and are working hard to achieve them.

What makes Austin such a great place to earn an MBA? Besides the nice weather and convenient location, the energy of the city is different to the ones of other places. You can feel that it is a place that is evolving and thriving with technology and entrepreneurship, but with a familiar relaxed kind of vibe. People in general are very kind and always willing to help. It offers you a great exposure to venture capital and technology without having to pay the big bucks you would have to pay in a place like Boston, LA, San Francisco or New York. You have great weather, great outdoor activities, and fun places to hang out, and that is why, I believe, a lot of people from very different backgrounds are moving down here.

Aside from your classmates and location, 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? Having a finance and business background, and loving my job, I wanted to use my MBA as a tool to grow (both professionally and as a person), more than just to change industries or to discover my professional goals. Therefore, I was looking for a flexible, almost made-to-measure program, where I could strengthen my interests and abilities, and I got this from McCombs.

The difference with other programs is that core mandatory courses are only for the first semester of the program. From the second semester on, you get to select the courses you want to attend, customizing your program almost entirely. From the moment I started looking at the different programs, I knew what courses I wanted to take and what kind of activities I wanted to attend, which in my case were related to venture capital and private equity. After looking at the list of courses and the program structure at McCombs – as well at the number of events going on in Austin – I realized this would be a great program for me.

What club or activity are you looking most forward to in business school? I hope to be a part of Venture Fellows.

What was the most challenging question you were asked during the admissions process? Whenever I asked for tips for my application, everyone used to tell me that the most important thing was to have a defined path for your professional future. With this in mind, I remember having carefully prepared for my interview and planned my program and post-program professional goals step-by-step, so I could be prepared for anything. On the day of the interview, I felt I was rocking it until my interviewer asked me this sort of “anti-question”: What would happen if nothing went according to your plans? What would you like to do? Which was the exact single thing I had not thought of, so I improvised.

What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? The strongest reason for me was wanting to push further my growth possibilities in my professional future, wherever I would go, and I also wanted to learn about the holistic view of a business beyond the mere financial view. This point of my career was perfect for me in both my job and my personal life, so rather than feeling I was sacrificing something, I felt I was starting a phase of new opportunities.

What other MBA programs did you apply to? I was originally looking for 1-year programs so I applied to Babson, Notre Dame, LBS MiF.

How did you determine your fit at various schools? First, I tried to look at the culture of the programs and at the kind of people that attended each school. Having various local admission events in Mexico City was super helpful for this. Whenever I attended one of these conferences, I tried to picture if the people I met there, whether they were alumni of prospective students, could be good friends with me. In general, I was more inclined to like schools that organized events in my city because it showed they had an interest in attracting Mexican students and there would probably be a large alumni community in Mexico. I also looked at the locations of the different schools and evaluated the kind of exposure I could get in every place – at the number of events that were organized by each school or that took place in that city. Another important thing was for them to have a certain focus on Private Equity and VC, as those are my intended industries. I evaluated the tangible tools each school offered me for entering them.

What was your defining moment and how did it shape who you are? In my opinion, the best lessons in life come from moments of falling and making mistakes. The months lived during my entrepreneurial experience were filled with these kinds of lessons. My defining moment was when I exited my venture for two reasons. First, it allowed me, for the first time in my professional life, to clearly define and discover my real professional interests and goals and where I wanted to steer my path, which was definitely Finance (but within the M&A industry). Second, it showed me that a positive attitude can move mountains and that I was capable of doing many things when I set my mind on something.

Where do you see yourself in ten years? I see myself starting or directing an investment fund (whether it is PE or Venture) or conducting a startup focused on democratizing financial services for low-income people.

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