Neeti Kothari was born into a finance-minded family in Chennai, India. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e all tax accountants or CPAs,鈥� she says. 鈥淢y dad is an auditor, so of course, if your dad is an auditor, your son or daughter will be, too.鈥�
After earning a bachelor鈥檚 degree in accounting and finance from her hometown Stella Maris College, Kothari landed an audit assistant job at Big Four accounting firm Deloitte in Hyderabad, India, where she worked for three-plus years.
鈥淚 enjoyed working at Deloitte, but I slowly analyzed myself and realized that finance is not the thing I want to do 100%,鈥� says Kothari, who talked to a mentor about attending graduate school. He suggested studying business analytics 鈥� a fast-growing field with potential career paths in areas such as marketing, health care and logistics 鈥� at one of the many universities in the Boston area.
鈥淎t this age, after three years of work, you don鈥檛 expect to change your entire field and go to an environment where you鈥檙e starting again,鈥� she says. 鈥淢any people told me, 鈥楧on鈥檛 do it,鈥� but I just felt it was right.鈥�
After months of research, 51视频 emerged as her top choice. A big reason was a connection Kothari made on LinkedIn with Caroline Nguma 鈥�19, a Master of Science in Business Analytics alum who 鈥渨rote to me a lot and really helped me,鈥� she says.
Kothari arrived in Lowell in January 2020 for the start of the spring semester. 鈥淭he first two months were beautiful. I experienced college life and got to know my professors,鈥� says Kothari, who became a part-time research and teaching assistant for Asst. Prof. of Management Elana Feldman 鈥� two days before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the campus.
Kothari finished the semester online from Lowell, eventually returning to India while taking courses remotely. She also began applying for more than 200 data analyst internships for the summer of 2021, getting an interview with PTC, a Boston-based software company, at 2 a.m. local time.
鈥淚 was so prepared. I had my coffee all ready,鈥� says Kothari, who returned to Lowell in January and learned she had gotten the internship a month later. She immediately emailed Feldman and Business Dean Sandra Richtermeyer to thank them for their guidance and support.
鈥淭hey have been there since the start of my journey, keeping me motivated,鈥� she says. 鈥淵ou really need that when you are away from your family and doing it on your own.鈥�
聽The PTC internship, which is expected to be a hybrid of remote and in-person work, will give Kothari a chance to explore several fields, including Big Data and marketing analytics. 鈥淚t鈥檚 exactly what I was looking for,鈥� she says. 鈥淚鈥檓 looking forward to learning, growing and developing my skills as an analyst.鈥�
She hopes to land a job in the Boston area after completing her degree in December.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 know what the future holds, but I definitely want to experience life here in normalcy鈥� after the pandemic is over, she says.