Silpa Sarma brings the rigor of a Stanford GSB admissions reader and the real-world savvy of a corporate finance professional to her work with Fortuna. While at Stanford, she helped shape a diverse and dynamic class by evaluating thousands of applications spanning industries, geographies, and experience levels. Her admissions insights are grounded in a keen understanding of what differentiates standout candidates – not just on paper, but in the context of competitive applicant pools.

Before transitioning to MBA admissions coaching, Silpa held roles in financial services and tech. She began her career at the Vanguard Group, later moving into quantitative equity research before earning her MBA from Cornell’s Johnson School. Post-MBA, she worked in treasury, internal audit, and strategic finance at firms including Lam Research and Palo Alto Networks.

Today, Silpa leverages that cross-industry experience to help MBA hopefuls elevate their applications. Whether clients are pivoting from finance or coming from more unconventional paths, Silpa is skilled at surfacing the strengths that make a profile shine.

Born and raised in Arizona, Silpa now lives in Austin, TX with her husband (also a business school alum) and two daughters. Outside coaching, she volunteers at her daughters’ school, leads a local Girl Scout troop, and gathers with friends at favorite local haunts. Her downtime also includes strength training, yoga, traveling, and curling up with global literature – often with her two orange tabby cats.