This Graduating Senior’s Advice: Try, Try, and Try Again Diya Kulkarni said yes to leadership roles and new challenges at Chapman. Oracle took notice.

Before coming to Chapman University, Diya Kulkarni had a habit of talking herself out of opportunities.

“I would automatically tell myself that I wasn’t good enough,” she said.

So when she arrived at Chapman, the Bay Area native decided to approach college differently. She joined organizations, introduced herself to new people, and ventured outside her comfort zone. That decision reshaped her college experience — and helped launch her career in finance.

Kulkarni is graduating a year early with a business administration degree emphasizing finance and economics, a minor in analytics, a certificate in applied statistical analysis, and a full-time offer from Oracle’s Global Business Finance Accelerator Program in Nashville, Tenn.

“My goal throughout everything was just to try, try, and try,” Kulkarni said. “I didn’t want to leave Chapman thinking, ‘I should have done this,’ or ‘I should have tried this.’”

She immersed herself in campus life. She led organizations like Delta Sigma Pi, Chapman’s professional business fraternity, and the South Asian Student Association. She also helped manage Chapman’s student-run investment fund through the Janes Financial Center Residency Program, mentored students as a tutor, and served in the Chapman Student Government Association.

But for Kulkarni, the biggest change wasn’t what she added to her resume. It was learning to trust herself enough to try.

Kulkarni’s willingness to say yes was shaped, in part, by a childhood spent moving between California and India.

She lived in Bangalore from fourth through ninth grade before returning to the Bay Area for high school. The experience taught her how to build community quickly and adapt to unfamiliar environments — skills that later helped her immerse herself in campus life at Chapman.

“I wanted college to be something where I had someone to look forward to talking to every day,” Kulkarni said. “I think I really made that my experience.”

One of her proudest moments came through her work with Delta Sigma Pi. As vice president of professional activities, Kulkarni organized a large-scale case competition that challenged students to solve real marketing and business problems using data provided by Argyros College of Business and Economics.

“It was one of the moments where I stood there and realized I had helped create something meaningful for other students,” she said.

That same hands-on approach drew Kulkarni to the Janes Financial Center Residency Program, where students actively manage a portion of Chapman’s endowment through a multimillion-dollar investment portfolio. Kulkarni and other student analysts conducted market research, valuation modeling, and investment analysis.

Last summer, she interned with Oracle’s SaaS Finance team in Austin, Texas, an experience that helped confirm her interest in corporate finance and later led to a full-time offer.

This summer, she’ll return to Oracle in Nashville, where she’ll rotate through finance teams as part of the company’s Global Business Finance Accelerator Program.

For Kulkarni, another move across the country feels less intimidating than it once might have.

“This is the time to explore,” she said. “I love California, but I’m excited to try living somewhere new.”