After completing her degree at the College of Engineering, Pune, and taking up a role as a Senior Engineer, Kathaakoli Saha realised her interests leaned towards the more business aspects of a company. Specifically, she was curious about the marketing aspects of understanding a customer’s needs and how a product is positioned to fulfill this purpose. So after careful consideration, she decided to leave her two-year job in Pune, India and pursue an MBA at Whitman School.

Saha chose to focus her studies around the Marketing and Business Analytics track. Her motivation? Being able to better support local communities by lifting up smaller businesses. “During the pandemic, we saw how vulnerable small businesses can get,” she says. “They need more support to lift them up during tough times.”

From there, she immersed herself in all the programme had to offer. She particularly enjoyed her course in Brand Management, which centred around “unique case studies and discussions” that “always had such great anecdotal real-world examples of brand management.” This culminated in a capstone project, where she and her classmates utilised their theoretical knowledge gained from the programme to pitch a fictional simulated company to potential investors. The beautiful campus environment was an added bonus. “It really reminded me of Hogwarts,” she gushes.

Her key takeaway from business school, however, isn’t just the knowledge she’s gained -- it’s the connections she’s managed to form. “The alumni network and networking opportunities provided by Whitman contributed a lot towards my career progression,” she shares. “In addition to academic knowledge, there are many opportunities to hone your soft skills, like by meeting alumni and learning about various job roles and opportunities. It helped me find my post-graduation job.

Kathaakoli Saha