In this episode, we sit down with Simo Mohamed Senhaji Rhazi (WG ’22) to unpack his journey from Morocco to Boston College, Wayfair, and ultimately Wharton. Simo shares how he navigated the challenges of being an international student, built an authentic narrative around making a difference in the world through entrepreneurship, and found community in the Lauder Institute’s MBA/MA joint degree program. He reflects on the ups and downs of the GMAT, his experience as a Leadership Fellow, and his transition from McKinsey Canada to the startup world at Clutch. This episode is brought to you by Juno, the collective-bargaining platform that helps MBA students secure lower rates on student loans. Learn more at juno.us/m7a.
I am from Morocco. I was very fortunate in that I could attend the French schooling system. Most of my friends went to France to study and I actually followed them in that path. I spent a year in France studying engineering, but I realized the whole point of going abroad is to explore other cultures. When in France I was exposed to all the same mindsets, same friends from high school - it was very comfortable, but I needed to move beyond that. So I decided to go to the US with no college admissions. I literally didn't know anyone. I didn't even speak English. But I went there and I chose Boston initially because I knew it was where there was the highest concentration of schools in the world. So I went there on a very uncertain journey, but very rewarding at the same time. Through a lot of perseverance, I was able to gain access to Boston College, where I attended my undergraduate studies. I studied finance and math.
The experience was really good in that it gave me what I was looking for - completely different backgrounds, completely different mindsets. I was the only Moroccan on campus. Great journey. The school was amazing. It was a lot of diverse mindsets but also very good academics, very good teachers. I felt empowered. I studied finance almost by default because I didn't really know what I wanted to do. I added math to the mix as a second major.
I did intern in finance, but then it was very challenging to recruit full-time, and that was the first realization as an international student of the additional obstacles I needed to face when applying for different jobs. I would apply to the same opportunities as my local friends, I would not get invited to interviews, and in fact most employers don't sponsor international students. That was the moment when I felt that I needed to eventually solve for that, and it became a big pain point in my career generally speaking.
I was fortunate - very fortunate - that I was able to gain access to Wayfair. Amazing place. I really liked the growth trajectory it was seeing at that moment. People seemed very approachable. I didn't realize how good Wayfair was until I experienced other things at McKinsey and down the line, because this was my first job out of school. The beauty of it was that you can really make a difference and see the impact of your work very quickly. You also own a lot of responsibility very early on - you can manage multi-million dollar budgets, and that was very rewarding. Eventually I became a manager, was able to develop those early managerial skills, lead a team, and set up a vision. It was really fulfilling.
But at the end of the day there were those other elements. One was that I felt very constrained in the sense that I could not move employers easily with my work authorization status. I knew for a very long time that eventually I wanted to be more entrepreneurial, and moving to startups was not really an option in the US because of work authorization. I felt too dependent on one employer, just from a principal perspective. And if I were to apply to places outside of the US, I would not be eligible, because in Europe particularly, you automatically have a master's degree, which I didn't have - even though my experience was more substantial at that moment.
So those elements, on top of a lot of meetings with leaders at Wayfair who became mentors - two of whom wrote my recommendation letters for my MBA application - led me to see that consulting was very exciting, at least from the outside. It was an opportunity to discover different things, be part of influential meetings, and learn about different industries very quickly. I was attracted to that. For me, I went to business school because I wanted to solve for all of this. I wanted first to gain access to the international market so that it's not a constraint anymore, even from a psychological perspective. I wanted to explore more entrepreneurial journeys - at Wharton, I focused on entrepreneurial majors and classes. And I wanted to gain credibility but also try consulting for a couple of years while solving for the work authorization aspect.
Coming into Wayfair, I didn't know what consulting was, what an MBA was. I had no idea. I was just starting there, and as an international I didn't even have local mentors who knew about the local system. I didn't think about business school, I didn't think about next steps. All I was thinking about was: let me get the most learning I can, make the most impact I can, and hope that the authorization aspect will get solved so that I can continue my journey.
I started learning about business school through the lens of mentors at Wayfair, mostly. They were telling me about their paths, and I feel like maybe there's a bias in that regard at Wayfair, because the leaders that I respected the most had gone through MBAs. Over time, even some of the colleagues that I enjoyed working with the most started going to business school. I remember vividly the day Alex announced that she got into HBS. I was really happy for her, because very candidly I really appreciated working with Alex. It was always a joy, with a lot of impact. Alex is just one example, but there were many others. The idea of business school started representing a door towards a successful path.
On top of that, I had started recruiting abroad as I saw that the work authorization aspect was very uncertain - it's a pure lottery system. I needed to find a solution, and the MBA was part of it. Even if I was not in the US after the MBA, I could continue and pursue my career elsewhere.
For me, the answer - which still remains true today when I think deeply about it - is that entrepreneurial journey, not because I want to get wealthy or whatever that might be; that's not it at all. It's more about the opportunity to make a difference in the world. I really mean it. To me, that's the only way I can sustain a career and be driven in life generally speaking.
I did not lead with work authorization concerns in my application - I can confirm that, though I'm sure all admissions officers know about that. I tried to dig deep in my application process, and I tried to be the most authentic possible.
At Wayfair, one thing I mentioned earlier came into play when I was applying to business school. I was very fortunate and I'll always be grateful for my experience there. But at the end of the day, especially after you get the business and you settle in well, I didn't find meaning in what I was doing. The end goal was still to sell furniture, which I can understand is very valuable to a lot of people - and the mission at Wayfair was along the lines of making you feel at home in a way that you feel great about it. I didn't feel that meaning waking up every day.
When I think long term, my goal is to help people, and ideally to help them through empowering them with education. Education, at a personal level, is what drove me - what saved me in a lot of ways. I was extremely fortunate to have access to good education, and I do recognize that is not something that should ever be taken for granted. I want to help, to whatever scale it may be. Entrepreneurship doesn't need to be multi-billion dollar companies. I want to make a difference. That's the lens, which remains true to this date, that I used in my MBA applications.
In all transparency, I didn't have the full answers going into the MBA or when I was applying. I literally saw the MBA as a way to solve for freedom first before solving for entrepreneurship. But when it came to entrepreneurship, it's mostly the networking. That can help in multiple dimensions - it could be raising funds, but also just brainstorming ideas. And down the line it will be extremely helpful to have had the MBA.
During the MBA journey itself, as I mentioned, I took a lot of entrepreneurial classes. It was definitely a good first step into the ecosystem - not only about trying to find ideas. There's an innovation class which I really enjoyed. Also thinking about the legal aspect of it. Things I wasn't aware of were, for example, the legal aspects of entrepreneurship and the structure that is most optimal to use when you launch and when you go on your growth journey. So these things I learned - at least I got the first step on them - during business school.
Raising funds is not something I was thinking about at that moment, and it's not even something I'm thinking about right now. The journey is a long journey, and I'm enjoying the journey, but the end goal I'm getting closer to every day.
The GMAT was the main bottleneck. I signed up for an MBA prep class - I think there were ten sessions - where, along with other MBA applicants, I learned about the GMAT questions and tricks. I did that, then did a lot of practice for a month and a half, and went to do my first attempt. The score was 680 or something like that, so below what I needed. I knew I would not invest the time and financial resources toward an MBA if it wasn't one of the top MBAs. The goal was to gain international access, and it's only the top MBAs - mostly the top three - that would give me access to that. So it was not enough.
I told myself I was going to double down the effort, and I became very devoted to it for an additional two months. Every day I would do practice - I would finish at Wayfair, go home, and just do GMAT. It was too much in retrospect. I should not have done that and would never recommend anyone do that. After those two months I took the next test, and my score was even below the first one - I think it was around 650.
It was really driven by the English portion. The math portion was straightforward, but the English portion didn't suit me for two main reasons. One, I was not a native speaker, and I think native speakers have a natural advantage on the GMAT. The second reason is the way the test - especially the reading section - wants you to think. I think very differently. So it was a challenge.
After that second attempt, I told myself maybe the MBA path was not for me, maybe I'd do a master's in Europe and continue my career. But I was applying for round one and could have one more attempt a month later at the latest. So I signed up for it, but I did not practice at all. I literally did not open the book, because I told myself it wasn't necessary - I had done the maximum I could and it had only hurt the score. So I wasn't going to review whatsoever. I went in with a very calm mindset, and for some reason I scored a 710, which was good enough, given my strong GPA from college, to aspire for the top schools. That was my GMAT journey - very unpredictable.
Frankly, I would not recommend it. Personally, even as an international getting exposed to the GMAT for the first time, I don't think it helped that much.
What was your experience with those courses?
Those courses are great for a baseline - they'll get you to the 650, but if you want to get to the next level, the questions you miss are more to do with what you specifically need to work on. You need more personalized work. I ended up working with a tutor afterwards, and the tutor could focus on exactly the kinds of questions I was stumbling on. Having an individual tutor can definitely be much more beneficial to get there.
I knew the schools I would apply to - mostly the M7. For round one, though, I didn't have enough time and I didn't want to rush my applications for the ones I cared about the most. I ended up applying to Booth, Sloan, and Columbia for round one. I ended up getting invited to Booth and Columbia. Columbia I actually decided to give up on, because they have this binding thing - I don't know if they still have it now, but essentially if you do the interview and you get in, technically you're bound to go there and give up on your other applications. So I decided not to go through with it.
I got into Booth in round one. Getting in told me this is achievable - it is within the realm of possibilities. When I went to campus, it was a great experience. Nothing bad to say about it, but it just didn't feel like a fit for me at that moment. I did make the deposit, because you don't know what's going to happen. But I felt it wasn't as international as I wanted it to be, and I wasn't sure I really wanted to be in Chicago - it felt further away from my home base. So it wasn't a good fit for me.
I was applying to the other schools in round two. I applied to four schools: HBS, Stanford, Wharton, and also INSEAD. I wasn't invited to interview at HBS or Stanford, and I got into Wharton and INSEAD. So ultimately the choice was between those two.
It was COVID times. As COVID picked up, I was at Wayfair and the director said we were tentatively going to a two-week remote setup, just for two weeks. It was before everything got shut down. I considered going to Morocco, but my director said it was very uncertain and I probably shouldn't go. So I said I'd stay.
The day after was the last day in the office, and Morocco shut down borders with all countries - but the US was still open. So I took a flight that same day, and that's how I left Boston. It's always a little bit sad, because I spent so much time there and left in such an abrupt way. I packed up anything I could in just two hours and went home.
Morocco was shut down in a very strict manner. I received the news when I was in Morocco, and then there was a huge debate: should I defer, should I not? Contrary to HBS - HBS gave the flexibility to defer to everyone very early on - for us, I think only international students got that flexibility, and it came a little bit late. I had to make a decision and considered it both ways. I did not go to the welcome weekend, but I had the virtual version of that. Not as good, but yeah.
Wharton was an amazing choice for me also because of the dual degree program. It's called the Lauder program - Wharton/Lauder - and out of roughly 900 MBA students, about 70 do this dual degree program. You get your MBA from Wharton and your master's in international studies from the Lauder Institute. It's not advertised very significantly. You only realize what it is once you get it. I was incredibly impressed by the level and the caliber of my classmates, but also the alumni network - it's quite impressive.
You travel the world with your classmates. You have different tracks. You don't start in August; you start in May, and for a month and a half to two months you travel, and then you go back. You do classes just for the Lauder portion - it's the Lauder pre-term - and then you start with your MBA class with the Wharton pre-term. An amazing experience. I'm really grateful for it. Amazing network. A very tight-knit community. Even at Wharton, we had our own building just for Lauder, which really strengthens the ties. I missed a big portion of it because of the virtual context, but ultimately I ended up attending - not deferring. I just didn't want to waste time.
Is the Lauder program something you apply to at the same time as the MBA application?
Absolutely - it's part of the flow. The way I learned about it was through a former Wayfair colleague who had done the undergraduate version at Wharton undergrad, which was called the Huntsman Program. The Lauder program is essentially the graduate version of that. As I was applying, it felt like a great fit because it's tailored for you to become a global leader. It intrinsically has a higher population that is international, which mattered a lot to me, and it gave me access to more opportunities. It even has its own recruiting resources - there is one amazing woman who has been working there for years and helps connect students with alumni individually. That level of connection is something I wouldn't have had as just a Wharton student, especially given how big the class is. I highly recommend that anyone who wants to be global at least consider it.
Being an LF really changed everything.
The Wharton experience starts a little bit differently versus other schools. You come in and there is a pre-term - an academic aspect of it, meaning you go to class, you study leadership mostly, with world-renowned professors. Adam Grant is one of the four key faculty members who do that. I was an LF - a Leadership Fellow - which means you lead the orientation, you lead the pre-term, you welcome the students.
The journey as an LF is twofold. One is the preparation and the training. That group of about 50 LFs is the most impressive group I was ever part of in my life - no question asked - and it might be the most impressive one I will ever be part of in my life. People who are so driven. I learned so much from them. I felt like I was the error in the selection process. It's a very selective process to be part of that group. I will forever be grateful for it because it exposed me to things I didn't even know existed from a leadership perspective.
The other thing about it is that we were in charge of welcoming the first class back in person after COVID. You would handle situations that nobody had ever faced before. Somebody comes in and this person tests positive - what do we do? We had a lot of planning to do, and it was a very rewarding experience.
Just to clarify the pre-term as well: there is that class, but there is also what we call team-based learning. You are put into teams of five or six people as you come into Wharton - that's your learning team. The bonds you can create through that experience with those five other people are so strong. You also go through a simulation as part of the class: one of you is the CEO, so how do you determine who is the CEO? How do you delegate tasks? All of that was an amazing experience as a new class member coming into Wharton, but also as an LF later down the line.
At that moment, consulting was the goal - at least the first-step goal. I applied for the MBB firms and it just didn't go well for me for that internship recruiting. The COVID setup, the time difference - there were just too many factors that led to not performing particularly well in interviews.
But then it actually opened a door that I didn't even suspect at that moment, in that I could go and intern in Dubai with another consulting firm in strategy. That was an amazing - probably the best summer experience I'd had in a very long time. It was very well-timed given the COVID struggles; it was the first time I was able to leave the country after COVID. I did a typical consulting internship - you go in, you're part of a team working on a project. For me it was an interesting project working with a big hospital chain, so I could understand the dynamics locally, and I definitely felt happy about it. I felt happy being in a country which felt more welcoming given my roots and origins. I definitely considered going there full-time, especially given that Dubai is very financially attractive.
I got my full-time offer going back into my second year, which was great, but I knew I still wanted to try recruiting for MBB firms again. I did the recruiting journey again and this time ended up getting offers from BCG and McKinsey. Choosing between the two was not easy.
I had applied for McKinsey Canada because someone mentioned that the process to become free in Canada from a visa standpoint is much faster and much more meritocratic - it's not a lottery system. If you have a background that justifies it, you get access to it, and that's something I'm very grateful for in Canada. Today I have that freedom that I didn't have before, and it changes your perspective, it changes your view on the future. BCG was in the US. And then I had the full-time offer in Dubai, which financially was literally more than double. So the least financially attractive option was definitely the Canada one, the more interesting from a work perspective was probably the US option, and the one that combined a bit of both was the Dubai option.
I did some deep thinking into myself about what is most important to me, and it was an easy decision at the end of the day. What I wanted to solve for was that freedom. Freedom is number one. Down the line I would be able to solve for the other factors. So I decided to go to McKinsey Canada.
The journey was very interesting. I enjoyed my time there a lot. I definitely got to meet some very inspiring leaders. I got to see why there is this aura around it from the outside, but I also realized the realities of it. It's not all that - there are a lot of things that personally I don't agree with, a lot of corporate politics that I honestly just don't want to be part of.
Once I had my permanent residency, I started thinking about what I really wanted to do, and that's always been getting into the entrepreneurial ecosystem. One thing I did that I couldn't have done otherwise without the PR is an incubator program - not to raise money, but more to establish a local network and start understanding the VC ecosystem, which would be very important down the line. I did that for a couple of months, and in the meantime I was considering different startup options, and that's how I ended up in my current role, which I really enjoy much more than I ever enjoyed consulting.
I'm at Clutch right now. Clutch is the equivalent of Carvana in the US. I get to work at a rather senior level overseeing a lot of different parts of the business, so I can get exposed to all of it from a startup perspective and learn very quickly. The growth is quite significant - we're expecting to double this year. It's not only a marketplace where people who want to sell their cars put their cars online. Whoever wants to sell us their car, we buy your car. We give you a firm offer right now. We hold the inventory, we hold the risk, and we recondition the car to make sure that it meets the standard for customers. So there's a whole operational aspect that I had never had access to before. The learning is very tangible in a way that I had never experienced before.
It really validates what I was always thinking - that the startup ecosystem is much more tangible, and I find myself in it much better. There's less politics in the sense that you need to act quickly and it's about getting the work done, not about making it look good, which tends to be the case in a lot of big corporations in my opinion. The other thing is that it validates my long-term goal of always being in an entrepreneurial ecosystem.
There are two different components to the application. First, the pre-application stage: think deeply about the schools you want to be part of. Even though you can tell yourself that if you get into one of the schools you'll be happy, the reality is that each school has its own personality - it's really, really different. As I mentioned earlier, the boot experience was just not a fit for me personally. So try to diversify your options to the extent that you can.
The GMAT component can be as easy as just taking it - it's intuitive and you get your 750 and you're all set. It can also be a long journey. It really depends on how your mind thinks. One thing I would say is: never give up and try it again.
During the application process, I did leverage an MBA consultant for a couple of applications. It was beneficial for sure.
And then there is the stage after you get in. If you do have a choice, just take the time - there's no rush. Take the time to evaluate the opportunities from all dimensions. It can be financial, but I also highly recommend going to the schools. I know it might be an investment in time and money, but just go visit the schools, because it's going to make a big difference down the line.