Shivani Gupta
Undergraduate Institution
Pre-MBA Career:
Shivani’s journey from finance to ISB
It’s not every day that you come across someone with Shivani’s pedigree.
Armed with an undergraduate degree from Delhi University and the much-coveted FRM certification, Shivani had a successful professional career in the financial services industry. Working with top global banks such as Macquarie, UBS (formerly Credit Suisse), Mizuho, Shivani steadily climbed the ranks helping these banks manage their credit risk during tumultuous times.
As Shivani gained exposure to global projects and started managing teams, she became convinced that an MBA was the next logical step in her professional journey.
Here we deep dive into Shivani’s application experience
Q 1: So, Shivani you have an interesting background, why don’t you tell us about that?
- I have over four years of work experience working across multinational banks like Macquarie, Credit Suisse and Mizuhos. I am a certified Financial Risk Manager (FRM) and have been working with clients to enhance their Risk frameworks.
Q 2: Despite having a solid work experience working with some of the leading banks, what prompted you to apply for an MBA?
- I want to explore different functions within finance industry and as I climb the corporate ladder, I want to enhance my understanding of different business aspects, thus an MBA seems like a great fit at this point.
Q 3: Can you briefly talk about the application journey and what your experience was like going through the grind?
- The experience was quite overwhelming, but at the same time, quite enriching since I got to interact with a bunch of currents students and alums across many schools
- I wanted to apply to only the top schools in the US, Europe and India and Abhinav helped me shortlist the ones that were right for me personally. He helped me craft and edit the essays that will bring out the real story.
- After the submission, gladly I got interview calls from Tuck, LBS, UNC and ISB
- Abhinav setup mock interviews with me that helped me refine the way I present my story to the interviewers.
- I got into UNC with a 100k fellowship and an admit to ISB
I wanted to apply to only the top schools in the US, Europe and India and Abhinav helped me shortlist the ones that were right for me personally. He helped me craft and edit the essays that will bring out the real story.
Abhinav setup mock interviews with me that helped me refine the way I present my story to the interviewers.
Q4. You have a solid admit from Kenan Flagler (with a great scholarship) and ISB, where are you heading finally and what made you choose the program?
- Since I got admitted to ISB, one of the best MBA programs in India with a rich alum network, I decided to go ahead with ISB.
Q5: What are your Post MBA plans?
- ISB would help me explore different roles within Finance like Investment Banking, Corporate Finance and more where I can pick the right fit for me.
Q6: Any advice for those planning for their MBA? 3 main takeaways
- Talk to as many current students and alum as you can, before shortlisting the schools, since markets keep on changing year on year and it’s best to take into account what is right for you at that particular time
- Get done with your GMAT/GRE as early as possible, since it gives you enough time to find the right consultant and network
- Attend information events, virtual and offline, schools are happy to get to know you as well and it shows your interest in the school during your application.
I had a great experience working with Abhinav since he was quite responsive at each stage and patiently answered all my queries, guided me at every step, how to shortlist schools, how to approach people for networking, how to get started on essays where I stuck, and giving a lot of time to mock interviews, which helped me refine my skills to a greater extent.
If you are planning to apply to MBA programs this upcoming application season, reach out to our team at info@thembaedge.com to explore synergies to collaborate together.
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