Second Time’s The Charm For Vasu Tekriwal

Vasu says he didn’t have too much to do with this decision and confesses he didn’t even know what IIT was.

“I was not super into it at that time and initially I struggled a bit.”  

Vasu soon found his feet though and began to enjoy the rigorous process. He says the two years of intense preparation in Kota gave him a larger IQ boost than what he got attending IIT itself.

“I’ve been reaping those benefits and I’ve seen people reap those benefits until now.”

Vasu opted for chemical engineering at IIT-Delhi because he was interested in physical engineering but once in college he soon realised that the course wasn’t as mentally challenging as he had hoped and that computer science actually required the sort of creativity he found interesting.

In retrospect, Vasu says he would advise that people learn computer science as a skill rather than physical engineering as there is more demand for it in the industry. Of his chemical engineering batch at IIT, he says 90% of students wound up in finance or consulting and less than a tenth built careers as chemical engineers.

Feeling unfulfilled and looking for a creative outlet, as a sophomore, Vasu found a group of like-minded IIT batch mates and started building up the IIT-Delhi chapter of Enactus, a student body aiming to help communities through innovation and entrepreneurship. Spinning off an Enactus project, Vasu created his first startup. Unfortunately, it was unable to scale up and Vasu had to shut it down after a year, when he spent a semester at the University of Notre Dame in the US, as part of an exchange programme.

At IIT’s campus recruitments Vasu got hired as a Business Analyst by Toppr, an ed-tech startup. He says this was perfect for him as he was really interested in ed-tech and found himself in the right place at the right time as Toppr was doubling in size every two months. After two years though, Vasu grew restless and realised he didn’t want to stay at Toppr for life. Looking for a change, longing for the campus experience again and remembering the vibe and culture at Notre Dame, he decided to apply for a US MBA.

Vasu says he never considered an Indian MBA because “Going to an IIM is exactly the same thing as going to an IIT. Why would I do that again?”

Vasu spoke with Admissions Gateway but they recommended he get more work experience. He ended up applying to Wharton, Kellogg and Booth anyway, with another consultant but was not offered any admits.

A year later Vasu applied to Wharton, Kellogg and Booth again in addition to Ross and MIT, working with Admissions Gateway. He says he clearly saw the difference in quality of applications he was able to put together, due to his consultant’s depth of understanding of the process and the high expectations & rigour; pushing him to improve his GMAT scores from 740 to 770.

While building his application he says his consultant helped him introspect on his own story, was always open and did not pressure him towards a set direction. Once he received interview calls, Admissions Gateway helped him practice interview skills for every school as many times he needed and scheduled mock team-based discussions that helped him ace the Wharton interview.

Vasu’s first piece of advice for applicants is that it’s extremely important to show college-specificity and to ensure your networking with students and alumni is highlighted in your essays.  

He also says that making sure every part of your application is as good as it can possibly be, takes time and effort; relating how he reworked his resume twice during his first application and over fifteen times for his second attempt.

Finally, Vasu says the most important part of the application is choosing the right consultant, specially for an Indian engineering male, where the pool is incredibly competitive.

Even with the stiff competition and despite an initial misstep, Vasu persevered and his efforts have paid off with an admit and even a scholarship, from his dream school.