Welcome to another episode of ‘Crack The MBA’ show. Our guest today is Keerthana Wuppulur who is a first-year student at Harvard Business School. Keerthana completed dual bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Mechanical Engineering from IIT Madras. Joining ITC, she became a member of a start-up like founding team where she setup a first-of-its-kind greenfield US FDA approved plant to cater to nicotine derivatives in smokefree product category. Thereafter, Keerthana joined Unilever, becoming the youngest and first female manager to head the world’s biggest manufacturing unit of Pears soap bars. At HBS, Keerthana has been awarded over $115,000 as financial aid scholarship. Keerthana is a member of sustainability club, food and agriculture club, women’s business association and iLab. In a departure from traditional recruiting efforts, Keerthana is not sitting for consulting or tech placements and is instead applying to become a Rock Summer Fellow and is founding a startup, Next-Zero, where she’s building a carbon accounting software that will cater to the Indian B2B market space.

00:00:00 Episode Highlights

00:00:45 Introduction

00:01:56 Fun Fact

00:04:33 Winning Habits & Influences

00:09:27 Social Entrepreneurship Ventures in College

00:12:03 Experience Working with CTM

00:14:07 How to Approach the HBS Essay

00:19:10 HBS’s Evaluation Criteria

00:21:12 Identifying Key Essay Anecdotes

00:22:35 Approaching Career Goals

00:24:37 HBS Admissions Interview

00:30:36 Wharton Team-Based Discussion

00:33:50 HBS’s Unique Identity

00:35:08 HBS Class Profile

00:37:26 Section X

00:39:43 Dating at HBS

00:40:41 Flagship Events

00:42:51 Boston Location

00:46:56 Food Scene

00:49:05 Extracurricular Activities

00:50:47 Favorite Spot on Campus

00:51:40 Biggest Challenge at HBS

00:52:33 The Case Method

00:57:02 5 Ps of the HBS Classroom

00:58:21 Star Professors & Popular Electives

00:59:37 Speakers at HBS

01:01:16 Entrepreneurship Post-MBA

01:04:59 Rock Summer Fellow

01:07:30 Resources for Aspiring Entrepreneurs

01:09:14 Internship Recruiting

01:11:21 Parting Reflection

Thank you for watching!

—

Nupur Gupta is the founder of Crack The MBA (https://crackthemba.com), India's leading MBA admissions consulting firm. Every year, Crack The MBA's clients attend ivy league, M7 and other top MBA programs globally. Nupur is a graduate of the full-time MBA program at The Wharton School. She has been recognized by Economic Times among the 'Most Promising Women Leaders', by Business Insider among the 'World's Leading Admissions Consultants', along with other honors. Nupur served two terms as president and two terms on the board of the Association of International Graduate Admissions Consultants (AIGAC) - the primary industry association in MBA admissions.

Follow Nupur and ‘Crack The MBA’ on our social media platforms for more updates:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nupurgupt/

https://www.facebook.com/CrackTheMBA/

https://www.instagram.com/crackthemba/

Disclaimer: The opinions shared by guests in this video in no way, shape or form represent advisory provided by Crack The MBA. Each candidate’s circumstances may vary, and our advice is always provided specifically based on an applicant’s specific profile.