Discover Forté...In L.A!

Hello TBE Readers! We’re back with another post about the Forté Foundation, an organization that brings together women from top corporations and MBA programs to promote their advancement in the business world. We hope you enjoyed reading Vivienne’s TBE post last week about her experience at Forté Foundation Financial Services FAST Track. This week, first year student Katie Blodgett shares how she geared up for business school by attending the Forté MBA Women’s Conference last summer. Whether a recently admitted or current female MBA candidate, this year’s conference, aptly titled “Advantage Women: Use Your Strengths to Build an Exceptional Career,” is a great way to prepare for the upcoming year and expand your network. The conference will take place June 29 - 30, 2012 in Los Angeles, California.

Check out Katie’s story below to hear firsthand about the conference experience and visit the 2012 Forté MBA Women’s Conference page for more details and information on how to register for the event.

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When admitted to an MBA program, a door is opened to innumerable opportunities – both for the two years of your MBA program and beyond. As a new admit last spring, I found this to be incredibly exciting, but I also found myself a little nervous about what the coming two years would entail and how to best use that time to build my career and grow as a person. When the invitation to attend the Forté Foundation MBA Women’s Conference hit my e-mail inbox and I perused the agenda for the weekend, I thought that it sounded like a great way to help acclimate myself to business school and allow myself to feel better prepared for what the next two years might hold. The event definitely lived up to my expectations and then some.

During the course of the Forté MBA Women’s Conference, I was exposed to so much helpful information about potential future career paths and ways to help prepare myself for internship interview season. I found a workshop session I attended on perfecting your elevator pitch to be extremely helpful and put my mind at ease a bit about the recruiting process. The panels of women leaders were inspiring and motivating, and I had the opportunity to meet wonderful women from MBA programs around the country, as well as from Chicago Booth.

Looking at the agenda for this year’s Forté MBA Women’s Conference, it once again looks filled with many helpful workshops and panels, and will surely be an opportunity for new MBA women to become better prepared to hit the ground running in August and September when orientation starts. If I can make it work with my internship schedule this summer, you may see me there!