Revant Himatsingka, Wharton MBA Class of 2020
Age: 26
Hometown: Kolkata, India
Undergraduate Institution and Major: Double major in finance and management from New York University, Stern School of Business
Pre-MBA work experience: Total 4 years. I started with 1 year in finance. Post that, I was leading a fast-casual Indian food chain in London called Inito and wrote a book called Selfienomics published by Bloomsbury. I have also been actively involved with public speaking in schools and colleges.
Why business school? Why now? While I was running my startup, I felt that I lacked certain technical and soft skills that I wanted to further improve upon and business school would provide me with an accelerated learning of that. I felt that I was making too many decisions based on intuition, and I wanted to make more data-driven decisions.
Why Wharton? What factors figured most prominently in your decision of where to attend? There were several reasons why I wanted to go to Wharton. The most important decision would be the brilliant business analytics tools at Wharton. Wharton has a business analytics major and also the Wharton Customer Analytics Initiative, which is by far the best in the world.
Moreover, Wharton has one of the best entrepreneurship tools available (especially for food entrepreneurs). Deliveroo and Matt & Marie were literally started in the classrooms at Wharton! NYC and SF can get a bit overwhelming for entrepreneurs. Wharton and Philly have the perfect balance of resources and match the demand for it.
What do you think is your most valuable and differentiating contribution to the Class of 2020? The Wharton class is extremely diverse, and everyone contributes in their own unique ways. My past experience as an author, motivational speaker, and food entrepreneur will probably further add to the classroom discussions and unique perspectives at Wharton.
My experience with speaking at TEDx events had already come in to use when giving the “60-second lecture” at Wharton!
Fun-fact that didn’t get included in your application? I had applied twice to Upenn as an undergrad, but I didn’t get in either time. Also, I was born on February 29th, so I have technically had six birthdays (though I guess we put our birth dates on our applications).
Post-MBA Career Interests? I’m interested in consulting, entrepreneurship, and non-profit/social impact. I believe that we must be flexible with our path, as long as we have a big-picture goal.
Advice to current prospective applicants?
–One thing you would absolutely do again as part of your application process? Introspect, introspect, introspect.
–One thing you would change or do differently? I believe that your application improves with time. I would try to apply with one to two safety schools in the beginning and then rectify those mistakes when applying to your top choice.
I think it’s a big mistake to apply to your top school in the first go itself, because you will usually learn after one or two applications.
–Part you would have skipped if you could- and what helped you get through it? Since I had such an unconventional background (author, entrepreneur, motivational speaker), I was confused about how to fit it all in one essay. Retrospectively, I would make my essay simpler and clearer and be willing to not include every single detail about my life.
What is your initial impression of Wharton’s students/culture/community? So far, people have been extremely friendly and inclusive. Even though the second-years are away from internship, they always take time out to help out.
One thing about Wharton that has surprised you? This is not Wharton-specific, but I’m surprised at how amazing the food in Philly is.
Things that you are most anxious about in first year? A lot of the work, activities, events, recruiting all happens in the first year. So I’m a bit anxious on how to prioritize one activity over the other. From what I’ve heard, the second year is usually much more chilled out.
Things that you are most excited about in your first year? I’m excited to make close friends and genuinely learn from classes (rather than studying just for grades). In just the initial weeks of school, Wharton had already done a great job at making this large class feel smaller. They also have encouraged us to be more vulnerable with each other. Even though we were just strangers till sometime back, most of us talk about deeper level things and are genuinely curious to get to know each other. We prefer this to making superficial small talk.
