“I came to school from consulting and was trying to make the transition into finance.  MBA JumpStart, started me on the path to success, giving me the exposure, contacts and confidence to earn seven investment banking offers.  Elton and John not only marshaled top resources and programming, but also took a personal interest in our success.  I am very grateful for their mentorship and willingness to help throughout the process.”

- Alexander Grau,
... The Wharton School

Minority MBA
Building Relationships, JumpStarting Careers
By Pam Chwedyk

For the future minority MBAs who attended the 2006 MBA JumpStart Diversity Forum, the summer before starting B-school was a time for getting a jumpstart on their job search — and the edge on their competition.  Read More

Business Week Magazine Online
B-Schools' Latest Tactic: Super-Early Recruiting

As quoted in a Business Week article featuring MBA JumpStart, Elton Ndoma-Ogar commented on the need to get a jumpstart… “the hectic nature of B-School requires MBAs to start looking before they’re mired in coursework…and are too busy to seriously consider opportunities in banking and consulting industries. If you can start making career decisions before you get to b-school, it helps the corporations, the students, and the schools know what resources need to be made available.”  

Jump-Starting Careers: Pre-MBA Program prepares students for life after school.
By Tenille Robinson

Black Enterprise
"Financial services provider Merrill Lynch hired five of its summer employees directly from last year’s group of JumpStart attendees..." Read More

Bridging The Gap

Fuqua Exchange (The Fuqua School of Business Alumni Magazine)
"You’ve invested $80,000-plus to pursue your education, and sacrificed two years of income. So if you can gather information, make connections and determine early on exactly what you want to do, you can build on that when you start school.”

"From the corporations’ standpoint, we’re bringing together the ‘cream of the crop’ students across five top-tier schools, and we’d like them to come out of the weekend feeling that they’ve identified several superstars that they want to go after, come recruiting season ..." Read More

Minority MBA
Jumpstarting Diversity:
How Two Recent MBA Grads created an innovative solution for increasing minority MBA's access to career opportunities in consulting and investment banking.
By John Burt and Eton Ndoma-Ogar

"Despite the current lack of diversity in consulting and financial services, the opportunity for minority MBAs to pursue a career in these industries is indeed attainable, but a specific plan of action is required.”

“…it is imperative that minority students jumpstart their financial services and consulting job search—even before they actually begin their MBA program. While the summer before matriculation may be a vacation for some newly admitted minority MBA students, for others it can be an opportunity to feed their brain ..." Read More

Minority MBA
Seven Rules of Engagement in the War against MBA Unemployment:
Two Recent MBA Graduates' Perspective on Getting a Job Offer
By John Burt and Elton Ndoma-Ogar

"Upon entering the MBA program at Duke University, we were focused on switching
careers. A major challenge to us—and to just about every other job-seeking professional in the country—was attaining results similar to the “good ol’ days” of a few years ago (several job offers, huge signing bonuses, six-figure salaries, etc.).”

“The following Seven Rules of Engagement are career “tool kit” imperatives and provide a strategic advantage in your quest. By incorporating these rules into our career searches, we received a total of 19 employment offers..." Read More