Akash Yewale Has Come A Long Way.
Growing up, Akash only ever used public transport until college; even an auto-rickshaw ride was a rare luxury for his family. He now has degrees from IIT-Bombay and Patna, works in Hong Kong and is headed to INSEAD with a €20K scholarship.
Born and brought up in Mumbai, Akash’s mother is a home-maker, his father a bus conductor with the city’s public bus service. Akash was a bright student and stood first in his class regularly. He says he didn’t know what IIT was until class ten, when his father heard about an education seminar from a close friend and convinced a reluctant young Akash to attend.
He ended up signing up for a two-month preparatory course that helped him win an admit to IIT-Patna, where he studied Civil Engineering. He confesses that his choice of course wasn’t deliberate as he didn’t know much about engineering; he was just focused on getting into an IIT.
Akash’s says his complete dependence on public transport had a huge impact on his life as well as on the lives of everyone in his community. He saw neighbours with disabilities struggle with access to Mumbai’s public bus service and these experiences stayed with him. Once he got a B.Tech Degree, this influenced Akash’s decision to get a Master’s in Transportation Systems Engineering from IIT-Bombay.
While at IIT-Bombay, Akash worked as a Transportation Researcher cum Planner, assisting an IIT professor on a UN project, advising the municipal authority of Mumbai on how to make public transport more accessible and sustainable.
Upon graduation, he joined Arcadis, a global engineering firm, as a Transportation Engineer, working on improving transportation infrastructure across India. After two years at Arcadis, Akash felt his learning had plateaued, so he gave the CAT and was offered a seat at IIM-Indore but turned down the offer as he wanted to go to IIM-Ahmedabad, Bangalore or Calcutta only.
With a desire for international experience and wanting to see how other countries were solving public transport infrastructure problems, Akash applied to and got hired as a Transport Planner at Systra, a transportation management consultancy in Hong Kong. He says that while his new role was interesting, he wanted to work for a large consulting firm, with a more strategic role in transport consulting projects. With a view to this end, he was soon thinking of an MBA again. First though, he had to convince his parents to overcome their reservations about the cost, the idea of him going back to study after years of working and that he was postponing marriage again.
Akash took the GMAT and spoke with a number of consultants but ended up going with the recommendation of an IIT batch mate at Wharton, who had worked with Admissions Gateway.
Akash reveals that he knew nothing about MBA admissions so the step-by-step guidance he received from his counsellor was invaluable. However, the most important contribution of his counsellor was helping him to think about and clarify his goals.
“When I started applications I wasn’t completely clear about my goals.”
He says this was his biggest learning from the MBA applications.
“This process helped me figure out what really matters to me and how I can translate my goals into actions.”
His advice to applicants is to be authentic and tell their own unique story rather than trying to sound like other applicants’ essays they have read. He also advises that applicants get done with the GMAT before the applications process so that they can focus on it. He took the GMAT three times, eventually scoring 750.
Finally, Akash says that complete clarity in your own head about why you want an MBA, makes everything simpler, whether it’s going back to study after years of working, convincing parents and family and even the MBA application process itself.
“Once you are convinced, everything is easier.”