Meet The Top First-Year MBAs From India

ami-shastri-washingtonfoster-poetsandquants-classof2018

Ami Shastri

Foster School of Business, University of Washington

Describe yourself in 15 words or less: Cupcake craving, business consultant ready to take on the tech world.

Hometown: Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India

Fun Fact about Yourself: I love travelling solo. I have traveled solo across three continents. Four more to go!

Undergraduate School and Major:

  • Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Pune: Master of Business Administration ā€“ Marketing Management
  • Institute of Engineering and Technology, Indore: Bachelor of Engineering ā€“ Electronics and Telecommunication EngineeringĀ 

Employers and Job Titles since Graduation:

  • Ernst & Young ā€“ Senior Consultant
  • Aon Hewitt ā€“ Consultant
  • Computer Sciences Corporation ā€“ Associate

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: Iā€™d say that effectively handling the most challenging project of my career has been my biggest accomplishment so far. In mergers and acquisition, several lives get impacted, whether itā€™s the employee or his/her family members, to a certain degree. But, things compound if itā€™s a hostile takeover. I was in charge of a post-merger integration project of a hostile takeover of the largest media conglomerate in India. My team and I not only made sure that the merger process was as smooth as possible, but also went ahead an extra mile to engender a sense of trust between the two merged entities.

Looking back on your experience, what advice would you give to future business school applicants? My advice to all the applicants is to assess yourself by taking a mock test before you start preparing for the GMAT/GRE. Your mock test score will act as a baseline for preparations. Analyze your mistakes and work on key areas of focus based on the gaps between your current performance and desired result. Repeat this process until you start achieving your target score on tests. The key is to maintain the discipline and rigor throughout the duration of preparation.

Your essays are all about sharing your story with the admissions team. They form your first impression and reflect a lot about your personality. Spend a good amount of time gathering your thoughts on essays before jotting them down. It will take a number of iterations before you can turn them in. Have patience!

The interview is your moment of truth! All your hard work and preparation are just these 30 minutes away from success. Clarity of goals and post-MBA needs matter more than anything else and a dash of sense of humor never hurts. Be honest and straight forward with your answers and the right program will find you!

What led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA? As per my personal preference and post MBA needs, there were multiple factors that led me to choose the Foster School of Business. The schoolā€™s reputation, collaborative environment, proximity to cloud computing companies in the Greater Seattle area, and focus on technology product management led me to choose the program.

Tell us about your dream job or dream employer at this point in your life? Cloud computing is shifting the paradigms of Enterprise IT. I have grown to be very passionate about cloud computing. My dream job would be to be the chief evangelist of a large enterprise cloud computing company.

What would you like your business school peers to say about you after you graduate from this program? Iā€™d like them to say that I was someone who raised the bar, and someone who is a champion of women leadership in the technology industry.

Questions about this article? Email us or leave a comment below.