My internship at a venture capital firm is a great chance to practise some of my new skills, writes GARETH KEANE

IT IS hard to believe that my first year in the MBA programme at Wharton is over. It has been an intense experience, and I am already wondering how the second year could possibly be as busy and exciting.

There was finally some good news on the employment front a few weeks before we finished classes. Although it took a long time, I managed to secure a summer internship that is pretty much what I wanted. It also appears as though internships are sort of like buses. No sooner did I have one offer than a number of others appeared.

I ended up accepting a summer job with an early-stage venture capital (VC) firm based in Philadelphia looking at investments in information technology. It will be a great chance to practise some of the skills that I have been honing over the course of my first year at Wharton, and hopefully allow me to make some progress towards my goal of moving into a VC firm after my MBA.

This job in Philadelphia will run for nine or 10 weeks. Once it concludes, I plan to find a startup or growth-stage company that I can join for the remainder of the summer to experience the other side of entrepreneurship. I have been talking to a number of companies and hope to convert one of these opportunities into a firm offer in the next few weeks.

Similar to my experience, many of my classmates eventually managed to secure a job in the industries or sectors they are targeting, although the macroeconomic conditions mean that some positions are unpaid. Even with people willing to work for free, the downturn has meant that some are still looking for jobs.

Every week usually sees a triumphant e-mail or two as people send out their updates about finding a job and where they will be for the summer.

It was amazing to see how fast people scattered to their summer adventures once exams finished. In some ways it was an emotional experience as we realised that the people we had spent an amazing year with in our respective learning teams and cohorts were going their separate ways.

Second year is much less structured than first year at the Wharton MBA programme, and all of us will be choosing from hundreds of elective courses rather than the common set of core classes we experienced in first year. As a result, we won’t see as much of the close friends we made in the first year unless extra efforts are made.

Being in Philadelphia will work well for me as Alison is not finished with kindergarten until June. The logistics of how to juggle a job away from the city and family was something we were scratching our heads about, so having the opportunity to work in VC in Philadelphia was great.

Staying put for the summer also allows me to get a head start on some Wharton activities for next year.

One of the many programmes that the school runs is the Non-Profit Board Leadership Programme, where selected students are paired with non-profits to allow the non-profit benefit from the skills that Wharton students can bring to their organisations.

Like everything at Wharton, getting into this programme is competitive, but I was lucky enough to be selected and matched with a local arts organisation, the Rock School for Dance Education. I will contribute to the work of the board, helping it with strategic issues and governance.

Feedback from students who have participated previously in the programme is that it will be a fruitful experience for both sides, as the non-profit will be able to leverage the skills I can provide and I will get exposure to decision-making at board level.

My wife and I have already had one unexpected benefit from my involvement with the school as we were invited to the annual gala fundraiser almost as soon as I was matched with the organisation. It meant that we got a chance to mingle with some of the heavy-hitters on the Philadelphia social scene, something that we don’t get to do very often on a student budget.

Who knows, if the whole VC thing doesn’t work out maybe I can leverage my non-profit experience into a new career in interpretative dance.

Gareth Keane, from Moycullen, Co Galway, is studying for an MBA at the Wharton school of the University of Pennsylvania