Studying at a Business School Without an Economics Background: My Journey from Engineering to HHL

Can you really study at a business school without an economics background? It’s one of the most common questions students with a technical or engineering background ask themselves before applying to HHL’s  Master in Entrepreneurship program. Our Master in Entrepreneurship student Shivangi asked herself the same question before coming to HHL. With a background in computer science and engineering, she was more familiar with coding, systems and product logic than finance terms or strategy frameworks.

In this blog post, she shares how she found her place at HHL, what helped her bridge the gap between technology and business and why coming from a different background can become a real strength. Read more about Shivangi’s journey below.

From Engineering to Business School

When I was younger, business school felt like a world built for someone else. Not for a girl studying engineering at an all-women university in India. Not for someone whose comfort zone was coding, systems, workflows, and product logic. And definitely not for someone who spent more time thinking about how to build things than how to pitch them.

I completed my Bachelor of Technology in Computer Science & Engineering from Banasthali Vidyapith, one of the world’s largest residential universities for women. It’s a background that, on paper, looks far removed from a typical business school application. And honestly, that environment shaped me deeply. It was full of ambitious women with huge dreams, constantly trying to prove to themselves, and sometimes to society, that they deserved to dream bigger. You could feel that energy everywhere: in classrooms, hostel discussions at 2 a.m., project submissions, career conversations, and all those moments where people quietly wondered how far they could really go.

Because for many girls growing up in traditional environments, ambition is rarely simple. You are told to study well. Build a stable career. Make your family proud. But there are also invisible boundaries around what success is supposed to look like.

Somewhere during those years, I became deeply attached to technology and product thinking. I loved understanding systems: how things work, how processes break, how they can be improved, and how technology can simplify chaos.

I naturally developed a technical mindset. At that point, I never imagined myself studying business. In my head, business schools were for people who already knew finance terms, strategy frameworks, consulting language, and corporate concepts fluently. I assumed those spaces belonged to people with “proper” business backgrounds.

Meanwhile, I was the person more excited about product architecture, workflows, automation, and execution.

Why Business Suddenly Became Relevant

But things slowly started changing when I began working on startup ideas and building products. For the first time, I realized something that completely shifted my perspective:

A great product alone is not enough. You can build something technically brilliant, but if you do not understand users, positioning, communication, operations, scaling, or decision-making, growth becomes difficult. And suddenly, I became curious about the side of building I had ignored for years.

Not just: “How do you build a product?” But: “How do you build a company around it?” That curiosity eventually led me to HHL.

But honestly, I almost did not apply. I remember spending hours researching business schools and feeling like I would never fit into those environments. Everything looked too polished, too corporate, too far from the world I came from. Then came my interview with Stephan Stubner. And surprisingly, that conversation changed everything for me.

I expected a formal interview. Something intimidating. Something where I would need to “prove” I belonged there. But instead, it felt like talking to someone genuinely interested in ideas, ambition, and potential beyond just academic background. That was probably the first moment I realized HHL was different. The people here are not just professors teaching theories from slides. They are mentors, founders, operators, investors, and people who genuinely understand what building something in the real world looks like.

That mattered to me a lot. Coming from a technical and startup-oriented mindset, I did not want education that only stayed inside textbooks. I wanted conversations, practical thinking, challenging perspectives, and an environment where people push you to think bigger. And that is exactly what I found at HHL.

Finding My Place at HHL Without a Business Background

Still, after joining, the transition was not easy. Finance discussions moved fast. Accounting concepts felt completely unfamiliar. People casually used business terminology I had never encountered before. There were moments where I genuinely felt behind. But at the same time, something else surprised me.

Nobody actually had everything figured out. Some students came from consulting backgrounds but were exploring entrepreneurship for the first time. Some understood finance deeply but were unfamiliar with product-building. Others had startup experience but were learning strategy in a structured way for the first time. Everyone was strong in different areas. Everyone was learning something unfamiliar. And that realization changed how I saw myself there.

I stopped looking at my technical background as something that made me “less suitable” for business school or entrepreneurship studies. Instead, I started realizing it gave me a different lens. Because technical education teaches you to think structurally. You learn how to break down complexity. You become comfortable solving unclear problems. You learn iteration, logic, systems thinking, and execution under pressure. And surprisingly, those skills translate into business and entrepreneurship much more than I expected.

Even during classroom discussions, I noticed I approached problems differently. While others focused first on market positioning, I naturally thought about workflows and scalability. While discussing business strategy, my mind often connected things back to product systems and operational execution.

At first, I thought this difference meant I was behind. Later, I realized it was simply perspective. And honestly, I think that was the moment I finally felt: “I actually belong here.”

Not because I suddenly became a “business person.” But because I understood that innovation needs people who think differently.

Turning a Different Background into a Strength

Looking back now, one of the biggest misconceptions about business schools is the idea that you need to arrive already prepared for everything. You don’t.

You are there to learn. And sometimes, students from non-traditional backgrounds contribute the most interesting perspectives precisely because they think differently from the standard path. For me personally, HHL became much more than a place to study management concepts. It became the bridge between two worlds: the technical mindset I had developed for years, and the business understanding needed to turn ideas into scalable realities.

And maybe that is why, after experiencing my own journey, struggles, doubts, and transition into studying abroad, I later started Jagrati Abroad. Because I realized there are so many students, especially from non-traditional backgrounds, who have big dreams but do not always know where to start. Sometimes they lack guidance. Sometimes confidence. Sometimes simply someone telling them: “You actually can do this.” I know that feeling very well.

And if there is one thing my journey has taught me, it is this: You do not need to come from the “perfect” background to belong in ambitious spaces. Sometimes the people who feel the most out of place in the beginning are the ones who end up building bridges between completely different worlds.

And honestly, that is where the most interesting ideas are born.