Interview with Dale Jarosz & Dhruv Dhawan, MBA Students and Founders of Bschool Travel [Show Summary]

Two Michigan Ross MBA students launched their brand new business, Bschool Travel while attending the Michigan Ross School of Business. Let’s learn how these two very busy MBA’s managed to start and run a business while attending a demanding MBA program. Actually we’ll also discover how the Michigan Ross MBA program and Zell Lurie Institute helped our guests get Bschool Travel off the ground. Listen in for their fascinating story!

Michigan Ross MBA Students Talk About Admissions, Business School Life, and Founding a Company [Show Notes]

Both our guests today are members of the Michigan Ross class of 2019 and the co-founders of Bschool Travel, which we’ll learn about in a few minutes. Dale earned his bachelors in mechanical engineering from Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2012 and then worked for Caterpillar for five years before coming to Ann Arbor. Dhruv Dhawan graduated from UC Irvine with a BBA and then headed into public accounting for a couple of years followed by a three-year stint as Director of Marketing and Operations for a health supplements company. With that as background, let’s hear about their MBA experience at Ross and the founding of Bschool Travel.

Can you tell us a little about your background? Where you grew up? What you like to do for fun? [2:16]

Dhruv: I’m originally from Los Angeles, but went to international high school in India before returning to go to UCI. I worked in public accounting for a few years, but decided I wanted some more operational experience so I transitioned to my family business, Health Plus Inc., where I learned a lot. My true passion is travel, and I like to get on a plane whenever I can. Basketball is also a big part of my life. I’m a huge Lakers fan.

Dale: I grew up outside of Chicago, I was really involved in sports growing up and engineering-related fields. My dad is an engineer and I followed in his footsteps. I went to Caterpillar to work in product development and innovation which got me interested in being an entrepreneur. My family also has a business so I came to Ross really focused on entrepreneurship. Dhruv and I met during the interview process and said we should start a company, and now we’ve actually done it!

What was hardest part for you in the MBA application process? How did you handle that element? [4:46]

Dale: I think the hardest part is honing in on your story in the essays, connecting the dots and having the vision for where you want to be afterwards. As an entrepreneur I didn’t know what company I wanted to start and in what industry, but that doesn’t cut it for a story, so I really sat down to think about what industry I would fit and overall what mattered most. Once I did the reflection it was very informative.

Dhruv: My answer is similar but different. I had worked in my family business, so had non-traditional experience, and I made it more of a challenge than it needed to be. Since I had already experienced entrepreneurship I really needed to know if it made sense that I want to be an entrepreneur. I had to sit down and reflect, figure out why I wanted an MBA,