Welcome to today's episode of the ‘Crack The MBA Show’ with Gourav Soni, who graduated from the full-time MBA program at Columbia Business School (CBS) in 2016. Gourav holds a Bachelor of Business Studies from the College of Business Studies, Delhi University and a certification from the Gemological Institute of America or GIA. Prior to pursuing the MBA, Gourav was a founder in the credit card loyalty and rewards space. Thereafter, he worked in his family’s jewelry business – 64Facets, taking it online. At CBS, Gourav was involved in the leadership teams of the luxury marketing group LEF, family business group and entrepreneurship group. Through his MBA and since graduating, Gourav has expanded the firm’s operations to eighteen US locations, including many Neiman Marcus stores. Through our conversation, we discussed Gourav's Pre-MBA experiences, MBA admissions journey, re-application strategy, MBA experience at Columbia, academic experience, involvement in activities, and more: 00:00:00 Introduction 00:01:28 Why MBA 00:02:57 Application Process 00:04:05 GMAT Strategy 00:05:42 School Selection 00:07:32 Why Columbia Business School? 00:10:18 Re-application Strategy 00:13:16 Introspection Process 00:14:30 Gourav’s Essay Anecdotes 00:19:35 Demonstrating Leadership in Essays 00:21:13 Identifying Post-MBA Goals 00:26:40 Advice for Student Outreach 00:31:52 Acing Your Interview 00:36:38 CBS’s Evaluation Criteria 00:41:42 CBS's Unique Identity 00:47:59 Masterclass: Luxury Strategy 00:51:07 J-term & Career Switch 00:54:44 Early Decision: When To Apply? 00:55:55 Academic Highlights at CBS 01:02:30 Club Activities 01:04:37 What Would You Do Differently? 01:06:19 Biggest Challenge Faced at CBS 01:07:23 Deriving Value as an Alum 01:09:16 Advice for Incoming MBA Students Thank you for watching! — Nupur Gupta is the founder of Crack The MBA (https://crackthemba.com), India's leading MBA admissions consulting firm. Every year, Crack The MBA's clients attend ivy league, M7 and other top MBA programs globally. Nupur is a graduate of the full-time MBA program at The Wharton School. She has been recognized by Economic Times among the 'Most Promising Women Leaders', by Business Insider among the 'World's Leading Admissions Consultants', along with other honors. Nupur serves on the board of the Association of International Graduate Admissions Consultants (AIGAC) - the primary industry association in MBA admissions. Nupur has also served as two-term president of AIGAC. Follow Nupur and ‘Crack The MBA’ on our social media platforms for more updates: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nupurgupt/ https://www.facebook.com/CrackTheMBA/ https://www.instagram.com/crackthemba/ Disclaimer: The opinions shared by guests in this video in no way, shape or form represent advisory provided by Crack The MBA. Each candidate’s circumstances may vary and our advisory is always provided specifically based on an applicant’s specific profile.