Boilermaker Business: Realizing I Have Something To Offer At Purdue Daniels

August 7, 2026 - 19:05

Anisha Nanda, a senior at Purdue University's Mitch Daniels School of Business, remembers the moment she stopped feeling like an imposter. Majoring in Marketing and Business Analytics and Information Management, or BAIM, she spent her first two years convinced that everyone around her was more prepared, more polished, and more certain of their path. The turning point came during a group project in a data-heavy marketing class. While her teammates struggled to make sense of the numbers, Nanda found herself naturally bridging the gap between the raw data and the story it told. That was when she realized she had something real to offer.

The realization didn't come from a single lecture or a perfect grade. It came from a series of small wins, late nights in the library, and honest conversations with professors who pushed her to see her own strengths. Nanda says the BAIM program forced her to think in two languages at once, the creative side of marketing and the rigid logic of analytics. At first, that felt like a disadvantage. Now she sees it as her biggest asset. She learned that being a business student isn't about knowing everything. It's about knowing how to ask the right questions and being willing to learn in public.

Looking back, Nanda wishes she had trusted herself sooner. She spent too much time comparing her progress to others, not realizing that everyone is just figuring it out as they go. Her advice to underclassmen is simple, but it took her three years to understand it. Walk into every room with the assumption that you belong there. Because once you start acting like you have something to offer, you will find that you actually do.