How Kavish Satija Blended Global Learning with a Vision for Real Estate To Take His Family Legacy Forward
Growing up in Gurgaon in a business family, Kavish Satija always knew what he wanted to do—join and grow his family’s real estate enterprise. “It was all around me,” he recalls. “The conversations at home, my own curiosity, and watching my father build something from the ground up—it gave me clarity early on.” But what sets Kavish apart isn’t just the clarity—it’s the intentionality with which he sought out diverse experiences, global exposure, and professional skills before returning to build on that legacy.
Kavish chose to pursue civil engineering in Dubai, a city where real estate is both iconic and instructive. “If you want to learn construction and hospitality, Dubai is the place to be,” he says. The multiculturalism and global pace of the city left a lasting impression. After graduating, he worked at Grant Thornton in Delhi in the strategy team, where he advised multiple companies across industries on market entry and growth plans. “Every other week was a new industry, a new challenge—it gave me a crash course in business strategy,” he says.
But real estate remained his north star. Before applying for his MBA, he worked in his family business, taking on responsibilities across marketing and hospitality. He helped set up one of the first Asia properties of a global hotel brand and led marketing for key real estate projects. “Even when I was doing strategy or marketing, it was always real estate at the core,” he reflects.
Kavish had always known he would pursue an MBA. Inspired by his older brother’s experience, he saw it as a critical step in bringing global structure to a homegrown vision. He began his application journey with support from Admissions Gateway. “What stood out to me immediately was that it wasn’t transactional—my consultant genuinely cared,” Kavish shares. “She brought energy when I was low, pushed me when I was distracted, and helped me see value in parts of my story I hadn’t thought twice about.”
Crafting essays and the resume, which were once overwhelming, became collaborative and clarifying. “She really got to know me,” he says. “It’s hard to translate personality onto paper, but she helped me do exactly that.” AG also guided him on school selection and tailored his narrative for each application, while maintaining authenticity across them. “With essays and interviews both, she just made it easier.”
Kavish ultimately secured admission to the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, where he immersed himself in everything the experience had to offer. Moving from Dubai and Delhi to the small Midwestern college town of Ann Arbor was a culture shock—“minus 20 degrees and 50,000 people”—but also a life-changing transition. “Ross gave me exposure to new ways of thinking, different types of people, and a different pace,” he says. “You’re pushed to network, to explore interests, to expand your mindset. I walked out a very different person.”
After graduating, Kavish returned to India, right back to where he always intended to be—but now with a wider lens. Today, he leads residential, commercial, and hospitality projects for his family’s firm, including a 500-unit apartment complex and new hotel developments. “The path was always real estate,” he says. “But now I bring something new to the table—global thinking, structured execution, and an appreciation for diverse perspectives.”
Kavish’s journey is a testament to the clarity of purpose and the value of stretching beyond one’s comfort zone to return with more to offer. From the skyscrapers of Dubai to the snow-laden sidewalks of Ann Arbor, he has followed a path of deliberate learning, and it’s only just begun.
To read more such stories of folks who got into their dream business schools to pursue their lifelong passion, check out our success stories.
