A Sustainable Career Pivot

Ashvin Veligandla, a former Graduate Student-at-Large Business (GSALB) student who recently graduated from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, had a firsthand view onto the phenomenon as it slowed the careers of many of his friends and colleagues. “Some people just wait it out,” he notes. “You have to adjust. Maybe it takes four or five years for your next step forward.”

That was not a pace Veligandla was ready to accept.

“I wanted to accelerate my career,” he says. “My ambition was to see how fast I could move up. I stopped seeing myself as just a technology guy even though I knew I needed to develop a more diverse set of people management and strategic business skills.”

While part of his story might fit a recognizable mold—after earning a technology-focused degree in India, he moved to the United States early in his career to work as a programmer—Veligandla’s passion for sustainability sets him apart. In addition to leading sustainability initiatives at work and as a Booth student, he has sat on the board of an environmental non-profit and served as a volunteer with organizations that have made an impact on both the state and local levels.

“I try never to miss an opportunity to talk to others about sustainability and raise awareness,” he says. “Changing a single person’s mind has always been a win for me.

“That’s why I knew I wanted to take my career in a direction that would focus on sustainability,” he adds. “Having watched many people use business school as a way to pivot their careers in a more entrepreneurial direction, that seemed like the right path for me as well.”

While Veligandla knew that business school was his path forward, he was less sure how to make that happen. As an immigrant, he faced challenges studying and working in the United States. But even once he was eligible, he found himself confronting a daunting school application process. It seemed overwhelming to him, like nothing he was familiar with from applying to school in India.

Fortunately, a colleague at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, where Veligandla has worked as a data analyst for the past seven years, presented him with the key insight—the unique GSALB program at the University of Chicago. The GSALB program lets students enroll in for-credit MBA courses at the Chicago Booth School of Business before applying to MBA programs.

For Veligandla, the program seemed like an ideal way to answer four specific questions:

1. What was the best way to create a successful application to business school and Chicago Booth in particular?
2. What was the classroom experience like in the United States—and at Booth—and what was it like to listen to lectures and work alongside other MBA students?
3. Having been out of school for more than two decades, would he have the right mindset and drive to return to school and do the work required to be successful?
4. And, finally, between his fulltime job, a young daughter, and other obligations, would he be able to incorporate such a significant new time commitment into his busy life?

The numerous benefits of the GSALB program showed him that it was all possible.

“GSALB is a wonderful program and a beautiful way to test the waters before making a final decision,” he says. “Having a trial run like that was an enormous win. Not only did I see my academic drive come back right away, through sitting in classes and speaking with Booth students I learned what the rigorous challenge of Booth entailed and that I was up for it.”

Veligandla notes that GSALB program director Esther Pandian-Riske and her team of advisors were pivotal for ensuring everything fell into place for him. Not only was he guided through the process of choosing classes but he also received important advice when putting his application together. “It was through that encouragement that I reached out to my Booth professor and asked for a letter of recommendation,” he says.

Veligandla also points to the program’s weekly coffee chats as a critical venue for refining his vision for what his future might hold. These informal hangouts bring together individuals with a wide variety of backgrounds, academic focuses, and career goals.

“I formed a network there and it was a place I could go to bounce off ideas I was having about work, about my classes, or about whatever else was happening in my life,” he says. “A lot of it focused on how best to present myself in my Booth application. Just listening to the experiences of others who had already graduated and gone through it was incredibly helpful.”

At Booth, Veligandla continued to expand his network as he used his new knowledge to hone his ideas for what he’d do next. In particular, he was impressed by the extraordinary opportunities the experience of Booth grants its students.

“The knowledge we’ve gained and the experiences we’ve had extend well beyond just making money for an organization,” he says. “We’re in a place to consider what kind of world we’re leaving behind, how we’re impacting the community going forward, and how best we can use our skills and knowledge to make the world a better place.”

Veligandla intends to combine what he’s learned at Booth and his data analytics skills with his passion for sustainability to build something that in time will become his full-time career. While the precise shape of this larger venture is something he’s still mapping out, he knows it will be a long-term project and something that will require a significant personal commitment in the upcoming years to build.

“The GSALB program gave me the opportunity to experience Booth and to understand what being a student there is like,” he says, looking back on what’s brought him to the present moment. “And through Booth I’ve made so many friends with similar goals and similar values. I expect to be working and collaborating with them far into the future.”

As a student in the GSALB bridge program you will have intensive academic and professional advising to ensure successful outcomes and exposure to world-class faculty at a top-ranked business school. In addition to receiving formal grades and an official transcript, students are also able to attend events, workshops, and seminars while having access to all the benefits and services UChicago provides. No tests or letters of recommendation are required to apply. Take a closer look at this unique program and discover your bridge to what’s next.