Vipul Agarwal, a BITSian who graduated in 2015, recently gained admission to the prestigious Harvard Business School for a Master of Business Administration (MBA). When the English Press Club reached out to him, he was happy to share his experience and give out advice for BITSians hoping to get into top Business Schools.

A number of Vipul’s on-campus activities helped him gain acceptance into Harvard Business School. Talking about his CGPA, he said that the fact that he had good grades—he had straight As on all his Economics courses—contributed majorly to his resume. He also cited his internships as a contributing factor, as he gained a lot of experience interning with reputed organizations such as the Tibetan Government in exile (an internship where he shared a personal audience with the Dalai Lama), IIM Ahmedabad, and ITC. In addition, Vipul also said that his fifth year, which he spent working on his thesis at ETH Zurich, also tremendously helped his application. Vipul also credited this experience with helping him explore the world of academic research.

When speaking about his on-campus activities, Vipul spoke fondly about his time as part of the Department of Sponsorship and Marketing. He also talked about how he started the BITS Pilani Consulting Club (BPCC) and the local branch of 180 Degrees Consulting (180DC) on campus, and was the first president of both organizations – something that he feels contributed strongly to his resume.

Vipul wrote the GMAT exam for admissions. On the topic of admission exams, Vipul advised taking exams as early as possible, since after college students tend to lose the studying mindset. Vipul stressed the importance of mock exams, and of analysing one’s answers. ‘People don’t spend enough time on analyzing… especially when you get a question right, people tend to move on, saying I understood this. I think spending equal amounts of time analysing right and wrong answers will help.’ He said that the official guidebook and the free mock online tests are more than adequate for preparation.

Vipul emphasised on how good grades help bolster an application. He said that it’s an important metric for evaluating how comfortable one might be with the rigors of analytical learning. And while he did say that an average CGPA could be offset by a high GMAT score (or a separate spike in one’s application), Vipul also said that it must be valued since a good GPA is always useful. ‘Academics is not the end all, but it is often underrated [at BITS].’

Regarding his work experience, Vipul spent time on-site as a consultant at McKinsey & Company which helped him understand the microcosmic level of business management. He moved on to explaining how his time at WestBridge Capital, a private equity firm, then helped round his understanding of business by making him look at businesses from an industry perspective. Vipul explained that it is generally preferred that an undergraduate work for a few years before trying to get into a US business school (as is the norm), since their industry learning helps them add value to their studies.

Vipul signed off with words of advice for BITSians. He feels that students at BITS should devote time to interests. ‘You just have so much time, and there’s no better time to do that. It could be sports, hobbies, volunteering, whatever interests you. But take out time to invest in this.’ Apart from this, Vipul encouraged students to enjoy the luxury of free time with friends, since this freedom is hard to come by outside college. ‘Stay busy, but spend good time with your friends.’