Archana Sohmshetty - She Got Into Stanford GSB Before Her First Real Job
Archana Sohmshetty got into Stanford GSB before she'd worked a single day. She applied as a deferred admit during her senior year at Michigan, took the GMAT twice while finishing an industrial engineering degree, and landed a 750. Then she deferred a third year to join Roblox , worked through both years of her MBA, and is now Head of Finance at Monzo Bank, US.
We get into how she found the threads that became her application, why the "what matters most to you" essay is harder at 21 than at 27, and the mentor argument that got her to trade near-term career momentum for a degree that compounds over decades. She also makes the case that AI raises the value of an MBA rather than lowering it.
00:00 What AI can't replace
00:39 Meet Archana: Michigan, JPMorgan, Roblox, Monzo
02:54 Taking the GMAT senior year, twice
04:30 Stumbling onto deferred admissions
05:22 Finding the threads that became the application
07:33 Splitting the story across essays and recommenders
10:52 Two years in banking before matriculating
13:16 The client meeting that changed everything
14:23 Choosing the degree over career momentum
16:24 Stanford GSB during COVID
18:20 Working at Roblox as a full-time student
20:26 Does AI change the value of an MBA?
21:36 The classes that still pay off
22:41 Inside Touchy Feely
24:01 The biggest takeaway, four years out
25:39 From Roblox to Monzo
27:12 Advice for anyone on the fence
17 Aug 2026
S4 E3 | That Could Be Us: Krupa Adusumilli on How an MBA Rewires Risk Tolerance (Stanford GSB)
In this episode, we sit down with Krupa Adusumilli (GSB '25). Krupa studied business and economics at Berkeley Haas, started her career at Goldman Sachs covering healthcare, consumer, and industrials in San Francisco, and then spent four years at SoFi as it grew from 400 people to 4,000, went public, and picked up a bank charter. She was managing a team by 25, which is a big part of why she applied. She now leads a team as a Director at Incode.
Krupa walks through why she applied to Stanford, Harvard, MIT, and Wharton, the four months of thinking and two weeks of writing behind her essays, and why she deliberately under-prepared for her interviews. She also gets into how different the HBS and GSB interview processes felt, why one day at Admit Weekend made the decision easy, and the two years she spent building a fintech product with a classmate before they decided to stop.
(00:00) Opener
(00:30) Introducing Krupa Adusumilli
(02:09) From Goldman Sachs to SoFi
(03:19) Why an MBA, and Why Then
(06:07) MBA Naysayers in Tech
(07:50) Building the Application Narrative
(13:49) School Selection: Stanford, HBS, MIT, Wharton
(16:13) HBS vs. GSB: How the Interviews Compared
(19:38) How to Prepare for the Interview
(22:07) Admit Weekend and the Final Decision
(24:22) What the GSB Was Actually Like
(27:10) Exploring Entrepreneurship at the GSB
(30:57) Recruiting After Two Years Away
(33:47) Advice for Future Applicants
30 Jul 2026
S4 E2 | Everybody Has an Opinion: Sonal Chopra on Finding an Admissions Consultant (Stanford GSB)
In this episode, we sit down with Sonal Chopra (GSB '26). Sonal studied engineering at Delhi College of Engineering, then joined BCG as one of the first (and youngest) members of its big data engineering team in India. She spent several years at Procter & Gamble, first in a president's office role she worked through COVID and later back in India running analytics and insight alongside the country CEO, before interning at LVMH on the Digital Innovation team in the Fashion Group.Sonal walks through why she held off on an MBA, what changed four to five years into her career, and how she interviewed seven or eight consultants before carefully selecting one on track record and reference checks. She breaks down the GRE attempt that went sideways, the Michigan Ross application she wrote in a single day, and getting waitlisted. Her takeaway is that intentionality is paramount as an MBA applicant, and it starts with writing your own story down.(00:00) Opener(00:09) Introducing Sonal Chopra(01:13) Early Career and Experiences in Big Data(02:36) Working in Singapore during COVID(03:13) Motivation to Pursue an MBA(06:34) Starting the MBA Application Process(09:48) Selecting an MBA Admissions Consultant(10:02) Choosing the Right MBA Consultant and Application Process(10:33) Crafting an MBA Application Narrative(13:50) Life at Stanford GSB(15:05) Reflecting on Post-MBA Goals(18:31) Advice for Future Applicants
Reach and audience
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Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
19 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
38 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 30 / 100
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Quality
39
Social presence
0
YouTube
0
Engagement
51
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