Shoumodip Roy

Ohio State University’s Fisher College of Business

“A spontaneous person who likes to face challenges and find innovative solutions to them.”

Hometown: Bhagalpur & Bihar

Fun Fact About Yourself: I like to write and so have published two novels, The Two-Faced Truth and Kedarkantha, on Amazon. I run a website, www.dfloatingthoughts.com, a platform to showcase creative works, including travelogues, photography and visual arts from people worldwide.

Undergraduate School and Major: National Institute of Technology, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Tata Steel Ltd, Senior Manager Operations

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: My first project in the past company was to reduce energy losses and thereby reduce fuel consumption rates. Working in a cross-functional team and diving deep into the ideas generated helped us incorporate a novel solution to the issue. We were able to reduce fuel consumption by 25% thereby reducing carbon footprint by 15%.

What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? I believe collaboration and openness to new ideas are what differentiates them. There is an underlying motivation to grow together with an inclination towards learning from each other.

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? The design of the course curriculum is one of the best features that piqued my interest in Fisher’s MBA program. Academics are described as personalized, integrated and experiential. The personalized approach provides the flexibility to choose electives that best suit your career pathway. The integration enables us to identify the connection between various business courses. And Fisher places the most emphasis on taking learning outside the classroom with the experiential implementation, solving real business issues through programs such as Global Applied Projects and Business Lab Challenge. This program structure provides a holistic experience and be better prepares us for the future.

What club or activity are you looking most forward to in business school? I’m part of the leadership team of Supply Chain Club and Fisher Indian Student Association. I’m also a member of Fisher Board Fellows that enables students to use their business acumen in serving the community nonprofit board membership. In addition, I help prospective MBA candidates learn more about Fisher as an MBA Ambassador.

What was the most challenging question you were asked during the admissions process? The one that stood out was, “What would you do if the leader of your team fails to set up a clear roadmap to the task at hand?”

What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? At this point, I’ve developed strong technical capabilities and process improvement know-how. I’ve also refined my people management and analytical skills while executing multiple in-house assignments. However, to add better value and make decisions that positively affect each rung of the organization, I needed to refine my strategic skills and learn how operations is interrelated with other functions. I wanted to pursue an MBA to upgrade my business analytical skills, refine my leadership style and develop a strategic vision.

What other MBA programs did you apply to?

Michigan State University, Eli Broad

Georgia Tech University, Scheller

University of Texas at Austin, McCombs

Indiana University, Kelley

How did you determine your fit at various schools?
I extensively used Poets&Quants as the source to read about the latest happenings at the business schools and read the blogs to learn about the current students’ experiences. I also interacted with current students and alums from the colleges via LinkedIn. I wanted to be a part of a college that has a small and diverse class size with flexibility in designing the curriculum.

What was your defining moment and how did it shape who you are? My leadership stint in Toastmaster Club. Public speaking preparation club was a defining moment for me. I learned how important it was to persevere toward a goal incorporating critical feedback on the way. It made me realize that taking small steps at a time and learnings from failures is the key to success.

Where do you see yourself in ten years?
I aspire to work in operations consulting to drive innovative operating models and improve the quality of end-to-end development processes, and help organizations operate with minimal waste of resources. I will promote digital transformation in the Indian manufacturing industry and enhance production through operational efficiency using the latest technology and analytical tools.