After advising companies on their digital transformation efforts while at Deloitte Consulting, Karan Gupta (Kenan-Flagler, ’20) moved from Hyderabad, India to Chapel Hill to attend UNC Kenan-Flagler. Throughout his decision process, Gupta focused on ensuring that his school of choice would enable him to achieve the career outcomes he was looking for. In this interview, Gupta shared his advice for how he ended up at UNC Kenan-Flagler, the key characteristics of the UNC Kenan-Flagler culture that brought him to Chapel Hill, and his advice for admitted MBA students looking to choose a MBA program
MBASchooled: What were the big questions you considered in making your decision about which school to attend?
I considered three things:
- What scholarship options do I have?
- What career opportunities will I have access to?
- What is the long-term value of the brand?
I used these questions to filter which schools I would apply for during the application process.
MBASchooled: As an International Student, what characteristics were important to you in selecting the right MBA school?
Ultimately, my decision was largely driven by career outcomes. I got offers from UNC and one other school. I researched the on-campus internship stats for both of them and spoke to several current students about the job scenario for the industries I was interested in.
MBASchooled: Why did you choose UNC Kenan-Flagler?
UNC had (and still has) a strong pipeline into Consulting, which was my preference at the time. I’d spoken to a couple of alumni who had been recruited into consulting from campus, and it made the most sense for me career-wise.
MBASchooled: What did you like/appreciate about the academic experience at UNC Kenan-Flagler?
The rigor and the experiential learning opportunities. Coming in, I decided to concentrate in Finance, an area which I had never studied before. I appreciate the care that faculty take for their courses at Kenan-Flagler. The courses are well designed, challenging, and interesting, and I’ve had a great experience with them over the last couple of years.
I’ve also taken advantage of experiential learning. I was a Project Leader in STAR and I am part of the Applied Investment Management (AIM) class where we manage an equity portfolio for the school. Both of these are unique opportunities that offer real-world experience and exposure to practitioners in the industry. I’m very grateful to have had the opportunity to take these courses.
MBASchooled: What were some of the best aspects of Kenan-Flagler, outside of the classroom?
Chapel Hill is a great place to spend two years! It’s a small, university town. And make no mistake, it doesn’t offer the kind of options that a large city would. But, it is beautiful, charming, and the people here are really nice. It was exactly what I was hoping for when I was applying for schools from a thousand miles away. It did not disappoint in any way. I will sorely miss the time I’ve spent here.
MBASchooled: What about the culture and classmates stood out to you about Kenan-Flagler?
Kenan-Flagler students love teamwork. It’s been my experience going through any MBA event with my classmates. For instance, we always help each other in recruiting because we don’t look at it as a zero sum game. We always try to expand the pie. You’ll always get help if you ask for it – if you’re struggling with academics, or anything else. The community is very strong and supportive and I love that about the school.
MBASchooled: What advice do you have for other international MBA admits, who are evaluating business schools?
Try to gauge the depth and engagement of the school’s alumni network. Ultimately, it’s the alumni who push their companies to come to campus and hire UNC graduates. The deeper the alumni network and the greater their engagement with the school, the stronger the pull. This is what drives a lot of soft recruiting and this is what you should focus on when looking into career outcomes. Going a step further, find out what the alumni network is like at different employers that recruit on campus – how engaged are they?
For international students, be cognizant of the sponsorship hurdles you will face. Speak to current students and alumni to understand which industries are open to recruiting internationals and what their stats have been in the past couple of years.
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