My Day at a Glance
Hometown: New Delhi, India
Education: BSc. Mathematics, St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University
Before Wharton: Consultant, Risk Advisory Services, Ernst & Young and Principal Consultant, Entrepreneurial Aviation Consulting Venture
After Wharton: Investment Banking
The Wharton community has some of the finest brains from across the world.
On being an early career student
As an early career student, I was a little intimidated about the quality of my work experience as compared to other students. Prior to Wharton, I worked as a management consultant for Ernst & Young, then moved on to an entrepreneurial venture, setting up regional aviation firms. While working for the company, I realized I needed to polish my leadership skills and strengthen my skills in finance and accounting in order to grow as a professional. But even though I was nervous being an early career student, I’ve been immensely happy with my time at Wharton.
Fundamental changes
Experiencing the diversity of people at Wharton and looking at things from different perspectives has fundamentally changed me. I came here because I wanted to start my own firm after Wharton, but that has changed as a result of my interactions with my classmates and learning from their experiences.
Wharton gives us a lot of opportunities. When we come in, we have certain set paths, but once you are here, you realize there are so many different things you can do out of Wharton that you never even thought of. It’s made me a more open-minded person.
As an early career student, I initially was intimidated about the quality of my work experience as compared to other students- there are a lot of us here.
On being part of the Wharton’s global community
The Wharton community has some of the finest brains from across the world. Just hearing all the different perspectives in class has made me a more globally attuned person. Through Wharton, I’ve become involved in a project that promotes education in North Africa. I’m helping them with corporate strategy so they can expand into different countries and broaden their education base.
Coming in to Wharton, I thought business school was supposed to be very competitive and very finance focused. But people here are very passionate about social impact. Students are working actively towards helping the global community, and the school is also promoting social impact initiatives. This environment has been influential in my own decision to do volunteer projects and community service.
A Wharton moment
One of my greatest experiences at Wharton was during the spring when I participated in the Quantico leadership venture. The venture itself is designed to get the best out of you in extreme circumstances. And because you are working in teams, you also have to motivate team members to mentally push themselves to do what they have to do. In the end, I realized how important mental strength is, and one of the key learning experiences was seeing how you react under intense stress. I don’t think I have had that kind of experience before either personally or professionally. That really opened my eyes to how I perform under extreme physical and mental stress.
