Meet the Michigan Ross MBA Class of 2019

Tsering Sherpa

University of Michigan, Stephen M. Ross School of Business

Describe yourself in 15 words or less: An explorer with Sherpa heritage who believes in inspiring others through leading by example.

Hometown: Kathmandu, Nepal

Fun Fact About Yourself: I climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro in January 2015 to fulfil a pact I made with my college friend back in 2008.

Undergraduate School and Major: Harvard College, Bachelor of Arts in Economics

Employers and Job Titles Since Graduation:

William Blair & Company, Analyst, 2011 – 2014

DaVita, Inc, Senior Financial Analyst, 2014 – 2016

DaVita, Inc, Manager, 2017

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: While at DaVita, I helped my team weather a significant staffing turnover in 2014 and 2015. I developed a new workflow processes to manage all our M&A transactions with a limited number of senior financial analysts without sacrificing the quality of the deliverables. Despite being short-staffed, my team successfully closed more transactions in those two years than the year before and I was given two awards within a year by the company in recognition of my diligence, team-work, and outstanding performance.

Looking back on your experience, what one piece of advice would you give to future business school applicants? Spend a lot of time working on your essays: You can complete the essays within a week, but spending additional time working on multiple iterations will not only allow you to improve the quality of your final product. More importantly, it will also provide an opportunity to reflect on your achievements, goals, and expectations from an MBA and your life. Despite incessantly complaining about the amount of time those essays took to complete, I appreciated the perspective those moments of reflection brought to my life. All the additional time will certainly help you have better clarity and focus on what you want out of business school.

What was the key factor that led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA and why was it so important to you? There are several top business schools, including Ross, that market their global alumni network, unparalleled career services, global education program, and cutting-edge infrastructures to help students succeed in the MBA program and beyond. Any of these strengths is a good reason to pick one school from the other. For me, I wanted to go to a place where I had the best chance to grow and succeed. This meant finding a student population with similar attitudes, ambitions, and outlook toward life. At Ross, I found a collaborative, passionate, and energetic culture that will be the foundation for my growth in the next two years and beyond.

During my search, I focused more on fit and what I can get out of the program rather than the school’s strength in rankings. The ranking of a school is not necessarily correlated with the growth and success of students and people flourish under different environments and circumstances. Some grow and succeed in a competitive environment, and others in collaborative environment. Some need a very structured program, and others need complete autonomy to grow. Identify the environment that is best for you and pick the program that offers it.

What would success look like to you after your first year of business school? I am going back to school to discover new career opportunities that offer growth and personal fulfilment. At Ross, there are multiple opportunities that align with my interests in healthcare and technology. At the end of year one, I would be happy if I am able to complete a MAP project at a healthcare company working on an operations related project and a summer internship as a product manager at a technology company.

Tsering Sherpa

University of Michigan, Stephen M. Ross School of Business

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