Praneeta Pujari, MBA Class of 2019
Age: 25
Hometown: Hyderabad, India
Undergraduate Institution and Major: Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, bachelor of technology in mechanical engineering
Pre-MBA Work Experience: Owned a design consulting non-profit to help women launch their own e-commerce businesses in India (two years); marketing and product strategy at Flipkart, India’s largest e-commerce company (three years)
Why business school? Why now? I have always been passionate about working on technology products that improve some aspect of human lifestyle. My undergrad helped lay a foundation in engineering technology, and by working at Flipkart, I gained perspective on what goes into managing a big-tech company. Furthermore, to make a career in building niche technology products, I realized that I needed to pick up certain industry nuances in specialized areas such as new product development, technology commercialization, and more. B-school, for me, was also a way to accelerate my personal development and people skills—be it building high-performing teams, mastering negotiations, or making lasting relationships with my classmates.
Why Chicago Booth? What factors figured most prominently into your decision of where to attend? Since I knew what I wanted out of business school, it was important for me that I have the freedom and flexibility to customize the two years of my MBA experience. Booth really encourages students to craft their own unique path at school, not just through its flexible curriculum but also by enabling integration with the rest of the institute and encouraging students to take courses/projects/joint-degrees across UChicago. In my conversations with current students, Booth’s unique approach to teaching entrepreneurship was very evident. Courses like “New Venture Strategy” go beyond typical nuts and bolts lectures or a guest speaker series and focus on the analytic rigor and an organized way of thinking through complicated real-world problems.
There’s a neon sign at Harper Center that asks passersby a simple question: “Why are you here and not somewhere else? My definition of “fit” was not about finding people with similar opinions or career objectives. It was about whether those around me were motivated by the same reasons and asked the same questions as I did. And I found my closest connect with the Booth community—people who know why they are here and what they want to do, people who intensely challenge each other on ideas but collaborate in the spirit of helping each other out.
What do you think is your most valuable or differentiating contribution to the Class of 2019? That’s a tough question given how amazing all my classmates are. Moving from an engineer to social entrepreneur to a tech-product person and having explored a range of interests from painting to dancing to playing piano (keeping the list short), I have been able to tie my disjointed experiences together and adapt myself to be the player that the team needs the most but is missing at that time. For example, when attacking an open-ended problem, the mechanical engineer in me jumps in to help add structure and planning to our work whereas during creative brainstorming discussions, the artist in me enthuses people to collectively spark ideas.
Fun fact that didn’t get included on your application? I love making an adventure out of chaos. We once lost our way on a road trip with my friends, ended up living on a farm for three days, and climbed up an almost-dried-up waterfall because we were “bored and disappointed.” What I didn’t know for all those three days was that there was an email lurking in my inbox from Booth Admissions that said, “Invitation to Interview”—which I realized only after I returned from the trip!
Post-MBA career interests? I want to continue in the technology industry working on products and solutions that are making a meaningful transformation around us.
Advice to current prospective applicants:
–One thing you would absolutely do again as part of your application process? The introspection during the application process—who I am, what I value, and what makes me unique. In our day to day lives, we rarely get the chance to pause, take a step back, and reflect on specific aspects of our personality and our goals. Being honest with myself in the entire process helped me come prepared to business school with clear priorities in mind.
–One thing you would change or do differently? Start early and allocate more time to talk to current students and alumni as a part of school research. Online research and going through blogs/websites helps, but I found the first-hand anecdotes and experiences shared by students/alumni to be the most insightful during the process. So, don’t discount that step.
–Part you would have skipped if you could—and what helped you get through it? Writing structured essays drawing upon my thoughts. After I knew what I want to talk about, the actual challenge was to put it down into words in a coherent way so that the reader got my story. But the key is to just give it time. There’s no shortcut. So, I would put them aside for a few days, also take feedback from friends/colleagues in the meanwhile, and review them again.
Greatest highlight so far at Chicago Booth? There have been so many enriching experiences that it’s hard to pick one, but the most unique of them all has been the Leadership Effectiveness and Development course (LEAD). LEAD is the only mandatory course at Booth, and our class is divided into cohorts and squads with whom we take part in all the LEAD modules. In this entire hustle bustle of entering B-school, classes, and recruitment, LEAD makes us take a moment and spend time every week to understand ourselves better—what motivates us, how we behave in different situations, what roles we dominantly take up in a team, how people perceive us, and so on. Needless to say, my squad mates became my second family here at Booth, and I had very valuable takeaways about myself and personality.
One thing about Chicago Booth that you didn’t expect before arriving? Given how accomplished Booth professors are in their respective fields, I was pleasantly surprised to see how warm and approachable all the professors have been. They put their hearts into the courses they teach and love to mingle with students outside classes as well. Last month, we filmed a student movie, which Dean Madhav Rajan and Professor Richard Thaler were happy to be a part of. As per the storyline, Dean Rajan would sneak us into Harper Center’s rooftop while Professor Thaler would punch one of the students in the face for stealing his Nobel Prize!
Thing you are most anxious about in your first year? The mad pace at which time flies in b-school: so much to do at Booth and so little time! In making difficult trade-offs between academics, recruiting, social life, and personal life, I want to make sure that I always set aside some time to stay connected with my family and friends back in India.
Thing you are most excited about in your first year? It’s hard to pick just one. I am thoroughly enjoying the new place and the people. I already have a long bucket list of things to do in and around the United States and am most excited about traveling and exploring places with my classmates.
