Please email studentorgs@umbc.edu if you have any questions. We hope to see you there! :)

Name: Devarsh Wali

Pronouns: He/Him

Semester of Internship: Fall 2025

Major: Engineering Management

Current Class Level: Master's Student

This semester I completed a(n)...: Internship

Internship, Co-op, or Research Site (Company/Organization Name): Presence

Location of the Organization (City, State): New York City, NY

Title of position: MBA Fellow (Strategy & Operations)

Tell us about your internship, co-op, or research opportunity, including your day-to-day responsibilities:

During my MBA Fellow (Strategy and Operations) internship at Presence, my day-to-day work focused on using raw data to support executive decision-making and improve cross-functional execution. I partnered closely with the Chief Financial Officer, the finance team, and product stakeholders to build automated reporting and dashboards, analyze trends, and surface insights that highlighted the highest-impact areas to prioritize. I also gathered stakeholder pain points through working sessions, translated them into clear problem statements and proposed solutions, and drove alignment by creating a standardized KPI glossary so teams used consistent definitions. Across the 10-week internship, I balanced four projects in parallel, delivered weekly updates to leadership, and kept execution moving by unblocking dependencies and clarifying requirements with each team.

Describe the process of obtaining your position. When did you hear of the position and submit your application?

I found the MBA Fellow (Strategy and Operations) role at Presence through my LinkedIn network while actively tracking high-growth startups. I first heard about the opportunity in early August 2025 and submitted my application shortly after, within the same week. After applying, I received the interview call in mid September and received the offer by late September to start my internship in early October 2025.

What resources did you use to find your current experience?

LinkedIn or other social media

What have you enjoyed the most about your position and organization?

What I enjoyed most was having a great mentor and getting to work directly with executive leadership at a high-growth startup. Being trusted with real problems, moving fast, and collaborating closely across finance and product made the work both challenging and genuinely rewarding.

How do you believe you have made an impact through your work?

I made impact by turning raw data and stakeholder pain points into automation and decision-ready insights for leadership. I partnered closely with the Chief Financial Officer, finance, and product teams to streamline reporting and prioritize the highest-impact areas, delivering four projects in a 10-week internship. My proposed automation solutions were estimated to save about 200 hours per week, and I reduced cross-functional conflicts by establishing a standard KPI glossary that made definitions visible and consistent across teams.

What advice would you give to another student who is seeking an internship or similar experience?

My advice would be to tailor your resume for every role and treat the search like a consistent funnel, not a one-time push. Apply early, keep your applications high-quality, and pair them with daily outreach to alumni or team members using one specific reason you fit. For interviews, use SAR-M for product and analytics questions (Situation, Action, Result, with the Metric you helped improve) to show structured thinking and measurable impact, and use STAR for general behavioral questions to keep stories clear and credible. As a weekly target, aim for 20–25 tailored applications and 10–15 tailored outreach messages per day, with 6–8 reusable stories ready to go.

Please provide a short reflection or quote about what you liked most about your position / earning internship credit / working with the Career Center.

What I liked most about my MBA Fellow role at Presence was working with raw data to automate reporting, surface clear insights, and help executive leadership, especially the Chief Financial Officer, focus on the highest-impact priorities. UMBC's Career Center supported me with practical resume and interview tips, which helped me land the internship and deliver across four projects in 10 weeks.

Graduate Assistants here's a quick update on what your GAAC committee has been doing and where things stand on the issues you raised.

What We Heard From You Through our Fall 2025 Town Hall and the Meet & Confer Input Survey, GAs across COEIT, CNMS, CAHSS, and other programs raised concerns around funding continuity and late contract renewals, health insurance coverage during breaks and contract gaps, rising mandatory fees with flat stipends, payroll delays and pay interruptions, and unclear grievance and retaliation reporting pathways.

What We Did GAAC escalated these concerns directly to campus leadership — including the Provost, Vice Provost Dr. Porter, and VP of Student Affairs Dr. Kersh — at the Fall 2025 Meet & Confer on December 12, 2025. We also joined the GA Lifecycle Working Group to map end-to-end appointment and payroll processes, and engaged Student Affairs and RIH on insurance eligibility guidance.

Where Things Stand Some issues are actively in progress the Working Group is mapping GA contract and payroll workflows, and insurance eligibility discussions are ongoing. Others, including fee relief, stipend review, and standardized grievance procedures, remain open and will be on the agenda for the Spring 2026 Meet & Confer in April.

Want the Full Details? We have attached the Fall 2025 GAAC Report  It includes a detailed breakdown of every topic discussed, actions taken, current status, and next steps for each issue. We encourage you to give it a read — this is your roadmap for what's being worked on on your behalf.

What's Coming Next

• GA Town Hall — March 2026
• Spring Meet & Confer — May 2026

💬 Questions or Concerns? If anything in the report resonates with your experience, or if you have questions about a specific topic, please don't hesitate to reach out. You can contact us through the GAAC contact page on MyUMBC or send us a message at our shared email gsagaac@umbc.edu

Join us for the UMBC Annual Research Symposium 2026, featuring poster presentations showcasing research from all colleges at UMBC. Whether you are presenting or attending, this is a great opportunity to share ideas, engage with research from across campus, and connect with fellow scholars. There will also be a Panel Discussion afterward with the VP for Student Affairs and Vice Provost/Dean of the Graduate School and VP for Institutional Equity/Chief Diversity Officer!

Date: April 7, 2026
Time: 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Location: UC Ballroom

Who You Are:

• A graduate or undergraduate student from any college at UMBC who wants to share their research with the university community.

What to Expect:

• Poster Presentations from students across CAHSS, COEIT, and CNMS. Come and explore groundbreaking work from all corners of UMBC.

• $2,500 Prize Pool across four categories:

• BEST of CAHSS (College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences)

• BEST of COEIT (College of Engineering and Information Technology)

• BEST of CNMS (College of Natural and Mathematical Sciences)

• Provost's Choice Award

• People's Choice Award

• Buffet Lunch for All Attendees – Enjoy a catered lunch featuring a variety of cuisines to accommodate diverse dietary preferences.

• Limited Free Poster Printing is available on a first-come, first-served basis. Participants are encouraged to bring posters they have already prepared for previous conferences or presentations.

Whether you are presenting your research or just want to explore the exciting projects happening across UMBC, we welcome you to participate in this celebration of academic excellence.

Click the link here to register today, or scan the QR code in the flyer! Full URL below:

https://forms.gle/AYC5NiG917QULX8NA

Follow our Instagram @gears_umbc for other updates on events and things!