Meet Wharton’s MBA Class Of 2021

Sanya Ohri

The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania

“Keen problem-solver, currently figuring out how to create impact at scale.”

Hometown: Mumbai, India

Fun Fact About Yourself: While I wouldn’t call myself a foodie. I love trying new restaurants and cafes – and usually always know the best places to eat! My friends all constantly reach out to me for recommendations and I’m currently building my list for Philly.

Undergraduate School and Major: Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Program Lead, Founding Team, Khan Academy India / Associate Consultant, Bain & Company

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: At Khan Academy, I helped us kickstart a partnership with India’s largest public school system, the Kendriya Vidyalayas (over 1.2M students), which is primarily meant to serve students of government employees. This is potentially the largest partnership for Khan Academy globally yet!

What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? Self-aware – and this is something I’m super inspired by and hope to inculcate in myself too. Everyone is extremely confident about their skill set, what needs to be honed further, and where they see themselves 5 or even 50 years down the line.

Aside from your classmates, 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? What stood out most about Wharton for me was the focus on data-driven decision making. As someone coming from the consulting as well as the impact space, I found that a lot of organizations do not necessarily have a sharp outcomes-driven approach towards measuring their actions and success. I knew that Wharton’s MBA program would help me think about prevailing social problems in an analytical manner and help me develop a sharp focus on a data-driven approach to solving these problems at scale.

Talk to us about the team-based project you completed during the application process. What did you do that helped you stand out during it? The TBD was a great peek into life at Wharton, where a lot of our activities (especially studying!) happen in smaller learning teams. We had to design a retreat for our team, which included defining its learning objectives, programming, and success metrics. It was great to hear the suggestions from my team and the discussion was extremely lively. I tried my best to make sure everyone was included in the conversation and bring conversations to a conclusion within an appropriate time so we could cover all the points.

What club or activity are you looking most forward to in business school? I’m extremely keen about the various Leadership Ventures that Wharton offers through the McNulty Leadership Program. These could be either in the form of expeditions or intensive immersive experiences – and would really push me out of my comfort zone and inculcate leadership skills.

What was the most challenging question you were asked during the admissions process? I think the most challenging question I was asked was around how I planned to leverage a Wharton MBA in the social impact space, vis-a-vis an MPP/ MPA/ Masters in Social Work. I spoke about the potential power of bringing skills from the corporate world to the impact space and how that could help make it more effective – which I think my interviewer liked!

What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? After working straight for four years in a mature company and then transitioning to an early stage one, I was looking for an accelerated learning experience that would allow me to enhance my leadership and teamwork skills. I was also excited about being in a diverse class – with students from different countries and industries – and learning from their experiences.

What other MBA programs did you apply to? Harvard, Stanford, Kellogg

How did you determine your fit at various schools? Since the opportunity cost of an MBA program is very high, I wanted to make sure that I selected schools that would best fit my long-term goals. I focused on looking at schools with a culture of impact and those that had great opportunities and professors in the skillsets I was looking to develop. I also knew that it was important for me to go to a place where I was a cultural fit and that I would be able to make some great, long-lasting friendships. I did my research by speaking to various seniors and alumni, attending the events that the colleges conducted online or offline, and by going through the websites of the schools to determine the opportunities they presented that I could best use.

What was your defining moment and how did it shape who you are? Back in college, I used to mentor Anjali, a 15-year-old from an underserved background. She was preparing for her engineering entrance exams. While she was hard-working and ambitious, her parents,uneducated themselves, were opposed to Anjali’s aspirations. Their singular objective was to get her married right after high school. The journey of convincing her parents about the importance of education and helping them realize the long-term value of it further inspired me to create this impact at an even larger scale and help more people like her.

Where do you see yourself in ten years? I plan to return to India and work to solve some of the most critical problems being faced across the various social indicators. I hope to be able to unify the various stakeholders that are necessary to do this: social enterprises, policymakers and governments, researchers, and philanthropists.