<aside> <img src="https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/secure.notion-static.com/53e85f37-1fd4-4dea-8193-52a50f1c90b0/1200px-Penn_Quakers_logo.svg.png" alt="https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/secure.notion-static.com/53e85f37-1fd4-4dea-8193-52a50f1c90b0/1200px-Penn_Quakers_logo.svg.png" width="40px" /> 5 years ago I was a junior in undergrad at the University of Pennsylvania. I start here because it's important to recognize the very early exposure I had to career paths in business and technology and how this gave me a headstart in my eventual business school journey.
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I attended the University of Pennsylvania for undergrad, where I studied Health and Societies in the College of Arts and Sciences. I was always passionate about health; I was particularly interested in learning about how to improve health outcomes for underrepresented communities.
Penn's business school, Wharton, has an incredibly permeable pre-professional culture. Despite being in the College and studying liberal arts, I was still exposed to the world of business very early on. Like many of my peers, I began to gravitate towards careers in consulting and technology. I was drawn to the halls of the career services basement and to the grandeur of the business school buildings. I participated in on-campus recruiting events, competing with the creme de la creme of my class for a handful of spots in the top consulting firms and tech companies.
This early exposure to the world of consulting, technology, banking— to the world of “business” — gave me a headstart. It gave me an understanding of what was out there, of what was possible. As a junior at Penn, I had already begun researching MBA/MPH dual degree programs. I was already mapping out my future with full confidence that an MBA was a potential route I could take.
<aside> <img src="https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/secure.notion-static.com/2520508c-319d-403d-96ab-c158aa318084/1200px-Penn_Quakers_logo.svg.png" alt="https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/secure.notion-static.com/2520508c-319d-403d-96ab-c158aa318084/1200px-Penn_Quakers_logo.svg.png" width="40px" /> This is important. I begin my story here, at Penn, because I want to recognize the advantage that I had because of this early exposure and access. I learned very early on how to "walk the walk" and how to navigate a corporate recruiting process. I also knew early on that an MBA was even a possibility at all. This was a privilege.
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While I'm here, I think it’s also important to acknowledge at this point in my journey that I did not have a super successful college career. I was deffff not top of my class by any means. I was quite unhappy at Penn and my failing mental health impacted my academic experience. In fact, my senior year I failed a class and my GPA plummeted. I ended up graduating with a cumulative GPA of 2.95. 😬 I wasn't in any fancy senior societies. I wasn't in student government or whatever. Though I had high hopes of going to a top business school program, I thought my GPA would forever haunt me — forever hold me back. I want you to know that it is possible to turn things around.
