{"id":47029,"date":"2019-09-13T15:21:53","date_gmt":"2019-09-13T22:21:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/?p=47029"},"modified":"2019-09-13T15:24:24","modified_gmt":"2019-09-13T22:24:24","slug":"harvard-mba-experience-a-current-student-shares-her-story-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/harvard-mba-experience-a-current-student-shares-her-story-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Harvard MBA Experience- a Current Student Shares Her Story- Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"168\" height=\"168\" src=\"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Mansi-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-47033\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Mansi-2.jpg 168w, https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Mansi-2-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 168px) 100vw, 168px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mansi, a Delhi IIT civil engineer and an oil and gas professional, had worked with MER on her application for 5 top programs and was accepted by all of them - HBS, Stanford, Wharton, Kellogg, and INSEAD. She went to Harvard, her dream school. <a href=\"https:\/\/myessayreview.com\/student-interviews\/indian-engineers-journey-5-tops-mba-programs-including-dream-school-harvard-part-4\/\">In her first interview with MER<\/a> (myEssayReview) last year, Mansi had shared her application experience, career objectives, why MBA, preference for HBS, and much more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Today, Mansi has kindly\nagreed to share her amazing first year experiences at Harvard. This interview\nis published in two parts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In Part 1 of the interview, Mansi talks about:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Her Background<\/li><li>GMAT prep\/Application prep<\/li><li>Financing\/Funding MBA<\/li><li>Her favorite things about Harvard (community, case study method, in- class and outside of class experiences)<\/li><li>What her classmates were surprised to know about her<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>In this second and final part of the Interview, Mansi discusses:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Clubs at the HBS- <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=4dcS-yOiVgs&amp;t=983s\"><strong>16.23<\/strong><\/a><\/li><li><strong>Global Immersion program\u2013 <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=4dcS-yOiVgs&amp;t=1073s\"><strong>17.53<\/strong><\/a><\/li><li><strong>Recruitment at the HBS- <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=4dcS-yOiVgs&amp;t=1173s\"><strong>19.33<\/strong><\/a><\/li><li><strong>Advice to incoming students about recruitment and other resources of HBS- <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=4dcS-yOiVgs&amp;t=1274s\"><strong>21.14<\/strong><\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Harvard MBA Experience- a Current Student Shares Her Story\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/4dcS-yOiVgs?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Poonam: <\/strong>Have you become involved in any clubs on campus? Which club\/clubs interest you the most?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Mansi: <\/strong>Yes. I have been actively involved in two clubs-Energy\nClub and South Asian Business Association. I think being from the oil and gas\nindustry, it makes sense to be involved in the Energy Club.&nbsp; South Asian Business Association is more like\na business club of the Indian community. My association with this club is\ncloser to me not just because it is India associated but also because it\norganizes such fun functions such as trips within the community, and that kind\nof community overtime builds a strong support system around you. I enjoy my\ntime with both these clubs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Poonam: <\/strong>I\nremember you are passionate about dancing. Did you get an opportunity to pursue\nthis passion at this club?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Mansi: <\/strong>Yes. The South Asian business\nassociation organized Ekta which is a cultural show from the Indian community\nand the South Asian Community. We had fun doing a Bhangra performance <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Poonam:\n<\/strong>You have mentioned it briefly<strong>. <\/strong>Can\nyou tell us more about the global immersion program you participated in?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Mansi:<\/strong>\nI think it is one of the best things that a lot of business schools are doing\nthese days, not just the HBS. A part of their course is to take a group of\nstudents in a different environment, different country, and cultural context,\nand make them work on a business case so that they can enhance their global\nintelligence in terms of solving a problem outside of their home country- their\ncomfort zone. I went to Argentina, and I really enjoyed the experience. We\nworked on an interesting case in the food Industry which is something I could never\nimagine doing otherwise. To prepare us for the global immersion, we have to\nattend these prior classes wherein they teach us about the economy, the\nhistory, and the politics of the country which is important for us to know when\nwe are trying to solve a business case in that country. As I said earlier,\nGlobal Immersion program in Buenos Aires Argentina changed my perspective about\ntravel and allowed me to look at the country from a different lens. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Poonam:<\/strong>\nInteresting. What does recruitment look like on your campus?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Mansi: <\/strong>The entire recruiting process is a\nhighly structured process at the HBS. We have the CPD department which is more\nlike the Career and Professional Development Center. They have career coaches and\na support system which helps us with all the timelines and gives us support that\nwe reach out for. The first two months nothing happens in terms of recruiting\nwhich I think is good because it gives us time to settle in a different\nenvironment in a different country. Then companies start coming to the campus;\nwe have these career sessions, and we start learning about the different\noptions we have and try to figure out what we want.&nbsp; HBS organizes a couple of programs in which\nthey help us introspect as to which career path we want to pursue. After that,\nanother month or so, they prepare for recruitment, and in January, the formal\nrecruiting process starts, when we start applying to companies that had already\nvisited the campus <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Poonam:<\/strong>\nOK. Do you have any advice for the incoming students about recruitment?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Mansi:<\/strong>\nYes. I think my advice would be just to be open to your options. I know\neverybody wants xyz in the short term and abc in the long term but having an\nopen mind and exploring all options is helpful. HBS is a great place to learn\nfrom everyone around you, be it your peers, your career coaches, or professors.\nThe professors come from a professional background, and they have contacts that\nyou cannot even imagine about. So just have an open mind about what you want to\ndo. Summer is the time when you can experiment something with your life, which\nyou otherwise cannot. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Poonam:&nbsp; <\/strong>Can you share some advice to incoming students, to help make their adjustment to B-school easier?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Mansi<\/strong>:\nI\nthink you have covered most part of it. A lot of people have reached out to me\nwith questions about of how to apply to business schools, which school to apply\nto, and how to prepare for GMAT. I will just say that before jumping into the\nprocess, just try to know yourself and try to figure out what you want from\nlife at least life in the next few years. And even while pursuing an MBA, it is\nvery easy to get dragged along into everything that is happening around. I\nstill try to find it difficult sometimes to prioritize because it is easy to be\ncarried away with everyday things. Just takes a step back again and think about\nwhat your priorities are. You need to know that these are the things you need\nto do, and probably these are the things you can say no to. My advice is to\nlearn to say \u2018no\u2019 to things that are not on your priority list. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Poonam:<\/strong>\nSure. Setting your priorities is very good advice to the incoming students.\nMansi, a is there anything that you wish you\nhad known earlier before you started your journey at Harvard?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Mansi:<\/strong>\nI wish I had known that these schools, HBS in particular, has an immense amount\nof resources- academic support, career support, alumni support- to provide\nsupport to students. HBS has more resources than you can make use of. Even after\none year, I am sure that I have not tapped into even 20% of those resources. I\njust wished that I knew that earlier so that I would have been more prepared\nand more aware of these resources. So just be aware of the resources that are\navailable to you, so you can use them if need be. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Poonam:<\/strong> Wonderful. That is very useful advice. Thank you for sharing your application experience and your first-year experiences at Harvard. I am sure that your  <g class=\"gr_ gr_24 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Style multiReplace\" id=\"24\" data-gr-id=\"24\">valuable  insights<\/g>  will be a helpful resource for the HBS applicants as well as incoming students. I wish you good luck with your second year at HBS and continued success in your future career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>,Mansi:<\/strong> Thank you. I hope so too. I hope that the students make use of it. It has been wonderful talking to you. I think we talked after a long time after my first interview. So it is really good catching up with you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Poonam:\n<\/strong>Yes, we are talking after one year.\nIt was wonderful chatting with you. I wish you good luck with your second year\nat the HBS and continued success in your career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>For more video interviews of successful MER <g class=\"gr_ gr_3 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Style multiReplace\" id=\"3\" data-gr-id=\"3\">students ,<\/g> click <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/myessayreview.com\/category\/student-interviews\/\"><strong>here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a>Since 2011, Poonam, founder and president of <\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/myessayreview.com\/\">myEssayReview<\/a> (MER) has helped applicants get accepted into top 20 MBA,\nprograms. (Poonam is&nbsp; one of the <a href=\"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/reviews\/myessayreview-345345505?fl=menu\">top 5 most reviewed consultants on the GMAT\nClub<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Want to discuss? E-mail Poonam at:\n&nbsp;<a href=\"mailto:poonam@myessayreview.com\">poonam@myessayreview.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This <a href=\"https:\/\/myessayreview.com\/student-interviews\/harvard-mba-experience-first-year-student-shares-story-part-2-final\/\">interview<\/a> was first published in <a href=\"https:\/\/myessayreview.com\/\">myEssayReview<\/a> blog.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/myessayreview\/\">\n \n \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n \n \n \n\n \n \n<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/poonam-tandon-43221547\/\">\n \n \n<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mansi, a Delhi IIT civil engineer and an oil and gas professional, had worked with MER on her application for 5 top programs and was accepted by all of them&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":141,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[49,1896,1180,1249,2186],"class_list":["post-47029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-harvard-hbs","tag-mba","tag-recruitment","tag-student-clubs","tag-success","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/141"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47029"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47029\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47038,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47029\/revisions\/47038"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}