Niyathi Chakrapani

C'18

Niyathi studied neuroscience and philosophy in the College of Arts and Sciences, graduating in December 2018. While at Penn she worked in biotechnology and interned in banking at Goldman Sachs, and enjoyed her time at Penn RA-ing, singing opera and drinking coffee. After graduation she solo traveled around Asia, and will begin a software Product Management position at Microsoft in summer 2019.

Feel free to connect & ask any questions on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/niyathichakrapani


L's Taken

13

"Thank you for applying but..." Jobs

  • GlaxoSmithKline
  • Pfizer
  • Sony
  • Microsoft
  • Bayer
  • Bank of America
  • Lyft
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • J.P. Morgan
  • Uber
  • Disney
  • Morgan Stanley

6

Clubs that "weren't a good fit"

  • Counterparts
  • Off the Beat
  • Oracle Senior Society
  • Onda Latina
  • Muse
  • 180 Degrees Consulting

4

Things I Swore I'd Finish But Never Did

  • Building a mobile marketplace app
  • Integrating into the Kelly Writers House community which was the reason I came to Penn in the first place
  • A CIS minor
  • Building an industry-standard biotechnology product

7

Everyday L's of Life

  • Constantly tripping
  • Going a full semester without falling ill
  • Never feeling like I actually knew what "career" path I wanted
  • Feeling like I cared more about other people than they did about me
  • Snoozing my alarm for a cumulative hour before getting out of bed
  • Eating three square meals a day
  • More constant tripping

4

Failures That Seemed Like the End of the World Back Then But Don't Matter in Hindsight

  • The failure of my startup!
  • The moment I realized I hated and sucked at econ, and should probably not do the LSM dual degree that I came to Penn to do
  • The moment I realized that I hated working in finance
  • My first failed CIS 110 assignment that convinced me I couldn't ever be in software
On the Bright Side

5

Memories I Made When I Wasn't Studying/Working

  • Throwing people surprise birthday parties and seeing the joy light up their faces
  • Reading beautiful works of fiction that would later influence my writing style
  • Coffee events where people just sat around and chatted
  • Staying up until 4 am talking with people who would become my best friends
  • Helping residents talk through their issues

4

Things I've Learned That Will Still Matter in 10 Years

  • How to learn
  • That people come at things from widely different perspectives
  • That people show they care in different ways
  • How to balance living in the future and in the present

10

Books I've Read For Fun

  • The Witch of Portobello by Paulo Cuelho
  • The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
  • All Steel by Lori Anderson Moseman
  • The Bear Who Ate the Stars by Julia Kolchinsky Dasbach
  • Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett
  • The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
  • Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
  • 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
  • Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
  • Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie

7

Things I'm Proud of That You Won't See on a Resume

  • My fierce loyalty to my friends
  • My ability to learn quickly and adapt to new situations
  • My vulnerability
  • My sense of humor
  • My fashion sense, which I think is super cool and unconventional, and makes me confident to start each day
  • My ability to do 25+ foreign accents
  • My funky music taste