After excelling early in his career, Anson Fraser (UT-McCombs, ‘20) realized he had greater aspirations and decided to pursue an MBA to achieve some of his future career aspirations. With the support of The Consortium for Graduate Study in Management (The Consortium), Fraser enrolled at UT-McCombs, and built a path toward those ambitions. In this interview, Fraser reflects on his decision to apply to business school, the value of The Consortium, and his advice to MBA applicants who are considering an MBA degree.
MBASchooled: When and why did you decide to go to business school, and how did you hear about The Consortium?
Although I had thoughts about pursuing my MBA as early as 2012, it took me until 2017 to rule out pursuing an MSBA, CFA or CBAP, and focus on an MBA. There were two primary reasons I decided to pursue my MBA. First, I hit a point at work where I could do most of the day-to-day tasks, but when I was assigned jobs that involved advanced accounting or financial concepts, I spent more time looking up how-tos than I did getting work done.
My undergrad degree in Film and Television taught me how to be creative, but lacked the quantitative aspects of how to analyze a business or forecast. Second, I did my research on the people who were in the roles I wanted to be in 10-15 years down the road and how they got there. An MBA degree was a common factor across those people. Still, I wasn’t convinced to commit to pursuing my MBA until I talked to MBAs in my network about their business school experiences and how it transformed their careers.
I heard about The Consortium from my cousin, who met several Consortium members during her MBA experience. Everyone I talked to about The Consortium spoke highly of their experience with the group. In doing my own research, I felt like it was aligned with what I did in my professional and personal life, so it was a simple decision to apply to business school through their process.
MBASchooled: During your first year, what resources did The Consortium provide to you to assist in your transition and experience to business school?
Most importantly, The Consortium provided The Orientation Program (OP) in June before school started up. OP was a whirlwind initiation into the MBA ranks that allowed me to meet a subset of my Texas McCombs classmates, network with MBAs from the 20 other member schools, and have informal conversations with a number of The Consortium’s partner organizations.
Once at school, The Consortium served as a club and network of people I could go to when I needed help with schoolwork, wanted assistance in getting an initiative off the ground, or just felt like chatting about shared experiences. As one of the larger Consortium cohorts, a mix of formal, informal, and digital get-togethers are how many of us stayed in touch because schedules were tough to coordinate. The support the McCombs Consortium members give each other, in all aspects of life, was and continues to be one of my favorite things to witness.
MBASchooled What did you do for your summer internship, and what were some of the lessons that you learned?
For my summer internship, I worked in Product Marketing at Facebook. I learned a lot over the 12 weeks, but here are my two biggest takeaways:
Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Yes, as an MBA intern you will be expected to produce something impactful without a ton of direction, but you don’t have to do it alone. I was lucky to have a perceptive manager that sensed when I hit a lull during a complex piece of my project. They stepped in to offer some helpful guidance and advice that quickly alleviated what I was stressed about and it improved my work and overall internship experience. I could have saved myself a lot of stress had I reached out for help sooner.
Speed is relative. Every company works on different timelines and has different expectations. What takes months or quarters in the insurance or finance industry, takes days or weeks in the technology industry. As you’re getting acclimated, always ask about due dates and timelines, dependent work that might delay your deliverable, and whether someone has taken on a related task and run into an unexpected issue. That last piece is really important. Most companies have a searchable archive of presentations and research that you can reference. Use it to avoid running into old problems or duplicating work, and to produce actionable insights based on existing institutional knowledge combined with the new work you produce.
MBASchooled: One of the valuable aspects of The Consortium is the network that it gives you. How has that helped you?
I wouldn’t be where I am without The Consortium network and that is in multiple facets of life – academic, professional, and personal. Academically, having an extra support network was invaluable in those instances where a professor, TA or study group couldn’t explain a concept in a way that made sense to me. Professionally, I never went into an interview without full understanding of what was coming my way. I used The Consortium network to find out everything about a company I couldn’t find online (i.e., how long does it take to check in?, what is the interview room set up?, what is the office vibe?).
It’s a network that sets you up for success by ensuring you have all the information you need before going into a stressful situation. Finally and most importantly, personally, over the last two years some of the most honest and frank conversations I’ve had were with people from my Consortium network. Were those conversations easy? No. Did they help me realize something I could do better or think about differently? Yes, and I can’t be thankful enough to know a group of people who will hold me accountable and expect that I do the same for them.
MBASchooled: What advice do you have for underrepresented students who are considering business school?
I have two pieces of advice. First, know your reason for pursuing business school and write it down. Refer back to that reason when you second guess your decision during the application process, and refer back to it again during stressful study and interview prep sessions when you might be thinking about whether you “belong” in business school. It’s easy to lose sight of what motivates you during stressful times so make recharging your motivation simple. Second, talk to other underrepresented students and professionals – current MBAs, graduates and people who thought about pursuing an MBA but went a different path. There is no single path that will get you where you want to be 10 years from now and I’m confident you haven’t considered all your options.
Business school is not a small commitment and the time, money, and effort required is something you should be well versed in before you move forward. You won’t fully understand the commitment required from talking to your immediate connections and reading a few articles. Do the work now so you can make a well informed decision.
MBASchooled: If the pandemic happened as you were applying to business school, would you still attend if it meant attending classes, networking, and interviewing online? What other factors should MBA applicants consider?
My short answer is absolutely. Looking back on where I was professionally and personally, I would still attend regardless of format. Other factors are highly personal, so I’ll give you my process and I recommend that you tailor it to your situation. After I decided an MBA was the right path for me, I focused on how my decision would impact essential parts of my life: my family, my significant other, my friends, and my quality of life. For each of those areas, I asked, “Will attending business school help or hurt?” I recommend that you come up with questions for the most critical areas of your life. Some that I asked: In what ways does my family depend on me, and can I maintain that while in school? Will my significant other move with me? Can I handle missing out on major life events of family and friends? Am I prepared for the stress that comes with pursuing an MBA? If you can answer those questions honestly, you’ll be less likely to second guess your decision.
MBASchooled: How are you feeling about graduating into the current job and economic environment? Do you have any advice on how best to handle it?
It’s a familiar and varying mix of feelings that go from worried one day to excited the next. I say familiar because I completed my undergraduate degree at the start of the Great Recession. The circumstances are different, but the ongoing uncertainty gives me flashbacks of 2008. The days I worry are born out of a world going through a pandemic and a country reckoning with it’s racist foundations that have permeated all aspects of life. The days I’m excited are inspired by taking on new professional challenges and the relentless work people are doing to make our country a more equitable place. It’s not lost on me that I’m fortunate to have a job that allows me to be safer than most people by working remotely, and I’m thankful for that in a time where unemployment is at record levels. That being said, there are three pieces of advice that got me through graduating into a recession in 2008 and they are just as applicable now:
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- Acclimate at Your Own Pace – in your personal, professional, and social life, don’t spend too much time worrying about what other people are doing. If you’re spending time looking left and looking right, that is effort not spent moving forward.
- Fill Your Calendar – find your routine and don’t be afraid to bail on commitments. Early wake-ups and bedtimes are fine, and so are 1 pm wake-ups and 4 am bedtimes, do what feels right. Some days will be wildly productive, and other days will pass with little to no change – and that’s okay. There will be days when you don’t want to attend something you committed to under different circumstances. Don’t wait until the last minute and feign a prior commitment or emergency, let the person know you won’t be attending and do the appropriate level of apologizing.
- Don’t Forget to Enjoy Yourself – make time to have fun and relax. You just finished up a degree during a trying time for the entire country. Under other circumstances, this would be time for celebration, so find your small moments amongst family and friends to recognize that.