Reaction to recent MMS commentary

I entered the UCLA School of Law, at 19, as the youngest person to have ever been admitted there. When I soon discovered that law was simply not for me, and that I wanted to do business instead, I did not have many options. As it turns out, the rumors about a JD are wrong: You can’t do anything you want with a law degree. These days, you can’t even get a job at Starbucks with a law degree. Applications to Bain, Accenture, Capital One, Deloitte, AT Kearney and so on.… I sent out over 75 applications in total, and all of them fell completely flat. I was nearing the end of my time in school, and I did not have a plan. An MBA requires at least two years of work experience for one to get anything out of it, and I had never worked a full-time job in my life.

That’s where MMS came in. Similar to the many students who decide after college that they wish to become a doctor and pursue a Postbaccalaureate, I came to MMS to start over, to pursue the path that I knew was right for me. Where else could I have gone to do this?

If the MMS program did not exist, I would currently be taking my $200,000 in debt and a steady flow of unemployment checks to my mom’s basement. Because of the MMS program, I finally got those interviews with Accenture, Capital One, Peter J. Solomon—somewhere on the order of 15 interviews, whereas my law degree could not get me even one interview.

This program has provided me with an invaluable gift: the chance to start over. And I am not alone. The MMS program is full of stories of people who started a job, or picked a major, where they simply were not fulfilled, and have come away with the opportunity to do what they want to do. I should also add that the caliber of my classmates, both intellectually and morally, is truly unparalleled. Maybe my baseline is the cutthroat world of law school, but I can’t imagine another situation where everyone is graded on a curve but there are still 50 people ready to help me get through an assignment, or help me catch up on what I’ve missed.

MMS does have its share of issues, but most of these are simply a function of how new the program is. For one thing, it is getting exponentially more competitive to gain entry; I may not have even been admitted had I applied this year, despite my past credentials. The number of placements in top three consulting firms is hardly an issue for this program; for the uninitiated, obtaining a job in BCG, Bain or McKinsey is extremely competitive, and the fact that even one person out of the 100 in our class could obtain a position would be remarkable—as it turns out, there have been several more than that.

I came to MMS hoping for a fresh start, for the opportunity to begin a career that I love. I got much more than what I bargained for: the opportunity to learn with and learn from a supportive, talented community of men and women who are passionate about what they do.

Karl Siganporia

MMS Candidate, Class of 2012