Meet Ohio State’s MBA Class of 2018

Indeed, GAP has emerged as a popular tradition at Fisher. Completed during the end of the first year, this all-expense-paid, 10-week course serves as practice for the all-important summer internship says Matta. In recent years, for example, Matta notes that students have completed international consulting projects and presented in front of top executives at firms like Phillips Health Care (China), DHL (Germany), Abercrombie & Fitch (U.K.), Aditya Birla Group (India), Columbus Industries (China), Global One Health (Africa), and RG Barry Brands (China, and Europe). Matta adds that students can also gain further international experience through Global Business Expeditions (GBEs), 7-9 day classes and travel opportunities held throughout the year. Here, students can gain regional or functional expertise in areas like technology entrepreneurship or marketing strategy in nations such as Malaysia, France, India, Tanzania, and China.

COLUMBUS A MECCA FOR FORTUNE 100 FIRMS AND STARTUPS

Fisher keeps its classes purposely small to foster an intimate level of education. It is a proposition that resonates with many members of the 2018 class. “I wanted an MBA program where I get to develop a deep connection with my classmates and professors,” Chandrasekaran explains. “Fisher’s small class size fosters collaboration and allows me to build long lasting relationship with my peers. The close-knit community feel is ingrained in the culture at Fisher.”

Despite the program’s size, it boasts the resources of one of the five largest universities in the country.  Fisher MBAs can earn joint degrees in areas like law, medicine, public health, and public affairs. They can also create custom degrees and take electives outside the business school. Fisher itself features nearly 80,000 graduates across the business school, with over 500,000 Buckeye alumni roaming across the six continents, giving students potential regional, company, and industry connections that few business schools can match. “The small class size of Fisher combined with the vast resources of Ohio State University offers the ideal balance between fit and function,” adds Chandrasekaran.

Let’s not neglect Fisher’s Columbus locale. Forget all of Ohio State’s research capabilities. The city holds the honor of having the highest concentration of Fortune 1000 companies per capita in the United States. It is home to 20 of these firms, ranging from Cardinal Health to Nationwide Insurance to Big Lots. Even more, Columbus ranks in the top 15 for the Kauffman Foundation’s startup index, with nearly 72 startups for every 1,000 businesses. That translates into great career and recruiting opportunities says Vakeeshan Periyathamby, an Akron native. “The program has an impressive recruiting network and is located in a great city and region for doing business. Many large firms are located in Columbus and, as the executive director in the career department stated to me, 50% of Fortune 500 companies are within a 500-mile radius of Columbus. With OSU’s large alumni network, I am confident in the opportunities that will be available to me after graduation.”

CLASS INTRIGUED BY THE PROCESS BEHIND THE RESULT

When graduation day does come, the Class of 2018 is poised to follow an array of different paths. Like many, Uganda native Louis Tumukunde hopes to enter management consulting — but for different reasons than you might think. “I want to understand the thought processes that go into making million and even billion dollar decisions and how these are implemented,” he says. “I intend to start or lead an enterprise back home in Uganda with the same discipline and focus that management consulting instills in you. My goal is to positively influence the business space and impact in my region in order to bring about a much needed improvement in the quality of life there.”

Learning the process is also a driving force behind Chandrasekaran’s move into tech and product management.  “I see myself connecting with diverse teams to formulate the next ground-breaking product, beginning from its ideation state and working through its production development life cycle right up to its final launch,” he explains. “Whether it is developing the product strategy or the marketing plans or managing the product roadmap, I want to be in the thick of it all, acting as a bridge between the senior leadership and the customer. This experience would enable me to challenge conventional thoughts and become an agent of change in the world of technology.”

Terranova plans to combine her humanitarian background and business education to carve out a corporate social responsibility role in a Fortune 500 firm. “Corporations such as Unilever, ExxonMobil, and Chevron have acknowledged their responsibility to “give back” to impoverished communities worldwide and, with the resources to do so, are in a unique position to truly affect quality of life globally,” she observes. “Upon joining a social responsibility department, I hope to assist in developing the corporation’s strategy towards humanitarian aid, identifying worthy causes and administering grants to nonprofit organizations.”

In the meantime, the class is looking to make an impression on their peers. When they look back on their time at Fisher, each has a legacy that they’re hoping to leave. Chandrasekaran, for one, wants to be remembered as someone who was “passionate in whatever I did and went above and beyond the call of duty.” Tumukunde hopes to gain the reputation as someone who acted in a way where the community always came first. Similarly, Hartley pictures her classmates saying that she had her eye on both the present and the future. “I really feel like she was committed to making Fisher a better place, not just for our class, but for future classes.”

DON’T MISS: THE STEREOTYPE-DEFYING MBAS IN THE CLASS OF 2018 OR MEET OHIO STATE’S MBA CLASS OF 2017

To read profiles of incoming Fisher students — along with their advice on tackling the GMAT, applications, and interviews — click on the links below.

Garrett Michael Black / San Jose, CA

Karthik Chandrasekaran / Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

Brittany Fennel / Dublin, OH

Murphy Jordan Goodman / Nashville, TN

Mireille Hartley / Woodbury, CT

Averie Kenney / Marengo, OH

Barry Knight / Ogden, UT

Marisa Ratajczak / Columbus, OH

Vakeeshan Periyathamby / Akron, OH

Thais Batista Ronconi / Espirito Santo, Brazil

Rajani Singh / Bokaro Steel City, India

Gabriella Terranova / Wadmalaw Island, SC

Louis Tumukunde / Kampala, Uganda

Lisa Walsh / Beaver Creek, OH