Meet NYU’s Incoming Stern Class of 2017

Sarada Anne

New York University, Stern School of Business

Hometown: Hyderabad, India

Undergraduate School and Major: BITS – Pilani, India; Major: Engineering Technology

Employers and Job Titles Since Graduation: I worked for a couple of years in a procurement consulting company that engaged with the global sourcing teams of US-based healthcare and CPG companies. I then moved to my family’s construction business, where I’ve been working for the past three years.

Recalling your own experience, what advice do you have for applicants who are preparing for either the GMAT or the GRE? The official GMAT guide, in my opinion, is all an applicant really needs to prepare for the GMAT. It covers all question types comprehensively and is the best resource for understanding the nature of the test and the concepts to be learned. A few practice tests from any of the leading GMAT prep courses will further help in assessing and improving one’s timing.

Based on your own selection process, what advice do you have for applicants who are trying to draw up a list of target schools to which to apply? My selection process was driven as much by my personal goals as it was by career objectives. While rankings, placement statistics and general prestige of the school are obviously important factors, I think one has to really determine if the experience offered by the school really works for them or not – this could be in terms of school culture, location or something as basic as class size.

What advice do you have for applicants in actually applying to a school, writing essays, doing admission interviews, and getting recommenders to write letters on your behalf? Be completely honest about who you are. While I had been told this by everyone who advised me, it was only when I completed the entire process that I realized how important it was. Do not tell the school what you think it wants to hear about you – be it in your essays, interviews or recommendation letters. The admissions team will know when your response is from the heart and that will have far more impact on your final outcome. The first few minutes of my Stern interview, for example, were spent, much to my own surprise, discussing how a NYC local history blog inspired me to do the same for my own city. It isn’t exactly what one would expect in a B-School interview, but hey, it worked!

What led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA? New York, New York! I knew right at the start of my application process that I wanted a city school and it doesn’t get more ‘big city’ than the Village. The specializations offered by Stern, coupled with everything I learned about the school’s culture from current and past students, sealed the deal for me. And being offered a Named Faculty Scholarship was just the cherry on top.

What would you ultimately like to achieve before you graduate? The MBA is as much a personal endeavor for me as it is a professional one. Having spent most of my life in India and a bit of it in Europe, I want to truly understand what it entails to live, work and do business in the U.S. I am counting on my professors, classmates and the city to help me get there.