Where did time go?
1,460 days at a place you knew you would like but never knew you’d love. My experience at Babson has been nothing short of absolutely amazing and nowhere near what I expected. I came in as a freshman excited to start the 4 year journey that would be college career. My dad and I landed at Boston’s Logan airport, loaded the car with all of my suitcases and made our way to Babson. I remember being amazed at the amount of untouched forest and general greenery that there was as we reached Babson. Coming from a place like Los Angeles with skyscrapers and endless freeways, the amount of greenery both shocked me and amazed me. When we pulled into Babson and parked the car in Forest Lot, as I looked at the balloons, welcome signs, and groups of students eager to help me move in I knew I was going to have a great experience. Four years after the fact, great is a mere understatement. There have been so many experiences and memories I know I would not have had it not been for Babson.
Greek Life: Coming in as a freshman, if there was one thing I would never see myself doing, it’d be joining a fraternity. However, rush week came along and a friend of both my roommate and I had an older brother in Sigma Phi Epsilon. He asked us to join him and meet the brothers. We decided to go along with him and that night is one I will never forget. I walked into the SigEp tower and received the warmest welcome from all of the brothers. I ended up spending the entire night hanging out with them and getting to know them. From that day onwards I knew I wanted to be a SigEp. I rushed the fraternity and was invited to join. In the four years that I have been a brother, I have made lifelong friendships, given back to the community through working with Cradles for Crayons and various other charities, and have been able to serve as a mentor to younger brothers. Greek life was a huge part of my campus experience and significantly contributed to it being as good as it was.
Extra-Curricular: Being of Indian heritage, I had wanted to join an Indian/Southeast Asian club at Babson and was thrilled when I came across AMAN. I joined and upon hearing that the club had a dance show every semester, knew I had found exactly what I was looking for. I choreographed a dance my first and second semester at Babson and have continued to do so throughout my four years here. From the stressful practices the week before, to the few seconds of exciting darkness before my dancers and went on stage it has been incredible. I enjoyed dancing in high school and coming to a diverse school like Babson definitely allowed me to continue to do so.
Entrepreneurship: In the summer between my sophomore and junior year, I started a marketing firm. The company is called “Ucre8” (You Create), and focuses on increasing the brand awareness and market presence of middle-market companies through meticulously specific promotional campaigns. One of the most valuable lessons I learned at Babson was: If you want to have a successful business you must either, introduce a new product to the market or take something that is being done and do it better. I chose the latter, and using everything I have learned at Babson, set the company up and got ready to start another Babson inspired journey. Within a week of existence I had my first sale and within five months, my first major international sale. Today the company is running successfully and is doing so because I have been able to use everything I learned at Babson to make it as efficient as possible.
Study Abroad: During the first semester of my junior year I studied International Business in Singapore and had the time of my life. Everything from the food I ate to the people I met was a cultural experience that positively affected me. I not only learned a lot about international business, but about business in Asia as well. Babson was extremely well known in Singapore and many of my professors kept me after class to ask me questions. One of the highlights of my trip was being able to attend the Formula 1 races in Singapore. I hope to one day work in Singapore or at the very least, go back to visit at least once a year.
After college: After college, I will be working as a consultant for Sun Life Financial in Wellesley. I interned with them during the summer in between my junior and senior year as a strategic investments consultant and will be returning to the company as a consultant. The one thing I realized while interning at Sun Life was that Babson had prepared me to handle the demands of the real world extremely well. I was able to complete my projects with a level of efficiency and accuracy that I feel only a school like Babson could give me.
Overall, the past 1,460 days have been difficult at times but extremely rewarding. Every day is a new experience and looking back as a senior on his last day of classes, the only thing I am unhappy about is that I do not have more time here.