Raised in Kolkata, Ankit was granted a full tuition scholarship at Ashoka.

Realising he made a bad engineer and a good public policy student, Ankit applied to the Young India Fellowship (YIF) to pursue Liberal Arts with the aim to move into consulting. At YIF, he was mentored by Sanjay Kukreja, Managing Director of ChrysCapital. Ankit first met Sanjay at Founder’s Day in 2016, and they would subsequently meet every few months in Delhi.

Sanjay spent a lot of time understanding Ankit and his goals. He advised Ankit to always invest. Whether people or equity, managing one’s investments requires balance and a good understanding.

Though they are no longer in touch, Ankit values the time spent with his mentor. He was amongst the top 5 students in his batch at YIF and won an award for the best ELM (internship project). Ankit is working with Schlumberger as a Business Analyst in their Dubai office.

Aqsa’s father passed away when she was young. It left her mother, a primary school teacher, to fend for the family.

Raised in Gorakhpur, UP, Aqsa wanted to make a career for herself in finance. Even with 94% marks in her boards, her chances of getting into a good college were abysmal, and foreign universities were unaffordable. Ashoka not only offered her full financial aid, but its interdisciplinary approach meant that she could study multiple subjects.

Aqsa has opted for economics and finance as her majors. She recently had the opportunity to travel abroad, her first time ever, to Wellesley College in the US. She was part of the Contemporary Women’s Leadership Programme, studying issues facing women in the workplace. The trip exposed her to a larger canvas and got her interested in behavioral economics.

Breaking away from her professionally oriented family background, Aqsa hopes to pursue a career in academia. She has been on the Dean’s list in all her semesters at Ashoka.