Student of the Month for October

Andrey Kozlov

Our student of the month for October is Andrey Kozlov. Andrey studied with Pericles and got a 700 on the GMAT, so is currently applying to Chicago, Darden, Duke (Fuqua) and Columbia .

Andrey is from St. Petersburg , and "commuted" to Moscow for six weekends in order to study GMAT with us. Long commute Andrey! We have to admire that determination.

Andrey has the classic success profile for an MBA candidate. He graduated with honors from St. Petersburg State University Economics Faculty, specializing in international economics. He started his career working for a chemical company, and then went into paper, becoming General Director of a holding company in paper production. You see, when Andrey was only 24 he took a bold step and joined a group of investors who purchased a bankrupt paper mill in Kaliningrad , and he spent the next few years figuring out how the paper market ran, and developing this defunct factory into a viable and quite profitable business. This gave him a chance to use his finance skills and also develop entrepreneurial experience and broad ranging managerial that is particularly useful for B-school classes.

Andrey was mainly the financial expert in the paper operation, but, wanting more international experience, he did a complete career "about-face" and took a job in sales for Profine GmbH, (a German company owned by US private equity fund Carlyle Group) which makes PVC window profiles. Now Andrey is area sales manager for NorthWestern Russia , for Profine. These sales/marketing years are yet another skills set to apply in B-school .

Andrey sees B-school as the next step on his steadily developing career path. You see, his plan is to go back into finance, but now on the international level, to make good use of that undergraduate degree as well as round out all his prior experience to date. He is interested in eventually working in consulting or investment banking with global private equity funds. Hence, his choice of schools are all heavy hitters in finance, and are all located in heartland industrial areas where he can leverage his career experience in chemicals, papers and plastics.

At 30 years old, Andrey is slightly about the age curve for B-school, but still well within range. The average age of most entering students in 28-29, and he will be 31 when he starts his MBA. But this is an advantage for Andrey because he has made the kind of career moves that give him real quality experience to bring to B-school and to post B-school employers.

Congratulations on the great GMAT performance and sound career planning Andrey. We wish you every success in your MBA plans and future career.