Kellogg MBA Graduate Assists Companies in Teambuilding

It takes gumption to leave India’s premier education institution in search for something more. Yet, this is exactly what 17-year old Suchi did when she dropped out of St. Stephen’s, a month after enrolling, and moved to United States to attend the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.

Undergraduate Experience

University of Michigan provided exactly the kind of environment that Suchi sought in order to bring her leadership skills to the fore. In her freshman year, Suchi represented the Indian Student population at University of Michigan as the Co-President of the Indian Student Association. She was involved with AIESEC and International Student Association. Suchi was also the Resident Advisor of a Resident Hall for two years. RA’s facilitate harmonious living in dorms and are available as resources to mentor students, build camaraderie and resolve conflict.

Suchi downplays her involvement saying, “I got involved with anything and everything that could get me away from studying.” On digging deeper, we discover that despite her strong extra-curricular involvement, Suchi managed to get a competitive GPA as she had her sights on business school in the future.

In addition to these leadership opportunities, Suchi also helped her father when he started an insurance company in India.

Career Prior to Business School

Fresh out of UMich, Suchi joined Deloitte Consulting in the Human Capital group in New York. Co-incidentally, she was working with her next-door neighbour and childhood friend who was also a UMich graduate. Together, the two experienced corporate America, explored New York and lived the American Dream. This was Suchi’s first experience managing human capital. While, she was not sure she wanted to make a career out of it, she liked what she saw and was open to the possibility.

Love at First Sight

Suchi got first-hand exposure to the world of business schools as she helped her older brother, Prerak, with his MBA applications. She experienced Kellogg when she visited Prerak, who was a first-year student in the full-time 2Y program. When Prerak would be busy with coursework and team meetings, Suchi would sit at the Atrium – a place where students would gravitate in their free time between classes. She marveled at the collaborative environment where it was the norm for people to go out of their way to help classmates. She saw second year students staying up until the wee hours of the night helping first year students prepare cases for management consulting recruiting.

Suchi knew then that Kellogg was the school for her. Therefore, when she got her acceptance letter in March 2008, she was thrilled.

Admissions-Related Tip

Suchi believes she succeeded in her application for Kellogg, as she knew the school well. She had visited Kellogg numerous times and loved it. She was familiar with the culture and imbibed the value of student leadership that is a focus for Kellogg. Further, Suchi had strong involvement in Community Service, which is another important value at Kellogg. Kellogg wants to see individuals who want to give back to the community.

Suchi is also an active alumni interviewer for applicants from India. She says, “What works for me is when people have done their research. Put a lot of thought into your essays. People underestimate how crisp their story needs to be. I have read applications where Essay 1 does not relate to Essay 2.”

Coming back to admissions interviews, Suchi tries to assess, “Are you interesting enough? Can you add value to the student experience? Can you challenge other students? Can you help them grow?”

• Don’t start your application 1 month before it’s due
• Put thought into it so you can get your story right
• Step back and see how you can showcase your personality and show that you are well rounded. You don’t get admission purely on intellectual ability, that is a given

Student Life at Kellogg

Located in Evanston, IL about 12 miles north of Michigan Avenue, Chicago’s Fifth Avenue, Kellogg has a close-knit community feel. As you step into restaurants and bars, odds are you will run into people you know. We are surprised to learn about the vibrant nightlife within Evanston. In fact, people typically go out within Evanston and Chicago is for bigger events, as it requires greater planning. One can either get to Chicago using public transport (CTA or Metra) or one can take a cab for $40-45.

Academics: Favorite Classes

Leadership Coaching: Suchi designed a couple of her courses. Kellogg has a huge focus on Leadership. In her Leadership Coaching class, Suchi was part of 6 or 7 students where they were assigned a leadership coach who worked with them on their leadership style. Suchi enjoyed this class so much that she decided to design a personalized course for herself. She approached a Professor and designed a course where she communicated with professors across various universities to find out what they were doing for leadership. Further, Suchi coached undergraduate students on leadership and had a coach provide her feedback on her coaching skills.

Suchi has fond memories from her Entrepreneurship class on New Ventures, where she designed a business plan for a waste management concept. She also liked Financial Derivatives as it helped her learn about valuation.

Finally, Suchi helped the Experiential Learning model at Kellogg helped her learn and contribute to the real world. She worked on a project where she consulted with the Chicago Olympic Committee and on another project where she assessed whether or not India would be ready to bid for the 2020 Olympic Games.

Travel Log

At the start of the program, Suchi traveled to Portugal as part of KWEST. During the program, she led a team of classmates to India as part of the Global Initiatives in Management program.

Suchi’s leisure travel comprised visiting Playa Del Carmen in Mexico during her spring break in the second year.

She regrets missing the annual Ski Trip in December both years. This trip is a big part of the student experience at Kellogg.

Leadership

Suchi was a leader as part of the GIM India program. She was also President of the India Business Club and the Marketing Committee Member for the India Business Conference.

As is evident from those leadership roles, Suchi was keen to move back to India post MBA and wanted to explore India-related opportunities in her time at Kellogg.

Career Post Kellogg

Suchi used business school as an opportunity to figure out what she wanted to do. She knew she wanted to move away from Consulting, as she did not want the Monday to Thursday lifestyle that a consulting job entails. She wanted something more stable.

She went into Kellogg thinking she may want an industry role. She worked at Abbott Industries in the summer between her first and second years and decided she missed the fast-paced consulting environment, and wasn’t ready to go into an industry role just then.

She started exploring other options and came across ‘Executive Search’. She came across a Kellogg alumnus who worked in a similar role and spoke to him for an hour exploring what he did on a day-to-day basis. She learnt about Russell Reynolds Associates and applied to firms in ‘Search’ and ‘Talent Consulting’. Mid-way in the recruiting process, she decided she wanted to move back to India. Russell Reynolds Associates was able to accommodate her preference and she knew she had found her fit.

She trained with Russell Reynolds in the Chicago office for three months and then moved back to India. She has been working with them since the time she graduated and is currently an Associate with the firm.

Finding Her Soulmate

In her second year at Kellogg, Suchi met her to-be husband, who was part of the 1Y MBA class. He was blue chip all around, a gold medalist from IIT-Kanpur who went on to work at McKinsey.

Given the huge pool of Indian Male Engineers who vie for those coveted business school seats, we ask Suchi what she thinks helps candidates from this selective pool succeed.

Human Capital / Talent Acquisition

Suchi’s job entails working directly with recruiting managers to help them ascertain the kind of people they need to achieve their strategic objectives, and to help them find and recruit that individual.. Therefore, she plays an integral role in business managers’ search to build the right teams. Suchi is grateful for her MBA as it helps her pick up the nuances of any industry from solar to aluminium to EPC in a short span and she has the business sense to be on the same page as her client. Finding the right person for the right job is important and identifying and interviewing suitable candidates is an important part of Suchi’s job. While there is some travel, Suchi is happy about not having to live out of the suitcase throughout the week. Working for a global firm, Suchi has the advantage of working with colleagues in United States & London. Moreover, Suchi’s clients are spread all over the world as well. Suchi asserts, “Russell Reynolds Associates truly is a global firm”.

I <3 New York

Suchi is grateful to have her family with her and that is what makes her move to India worthwhile. That being said, she misses the independence of being in the U.S., the ability to experience new things, going for a walk in Central Park, visiting museums.

Kellogg Alumni in India

2005 onwards, there has been a greater number of alumni from Kellogg who have moved back. People move into careers in management consulting, entrepreneurship, and family business. In Suchi’s class, 6-7 individuals moved back to India. The alum committee is closely knit and engages socially frequently on weekends. There is an instant connect as soon as someone finds out you went to Kellogg. A recent event involved alumni and their families going to Goa for a weekend. Many alumni are actively involved with the interview process. They organize Kellogg Interview Days where alumni sign up to interview prospective students and make a social interaction out of it as well.