Finding Home: Helping to Ease the Transition to Graduate School
When he attended Babson College as a graduate student, Adi Pathak MBA’20 could often be found sitting in the same spot: behind a table at the foot of the stairs in Olin Hall.
Sitting at that table, Pathak did a lot of listening, serving as an informal advisor to his classmates passing by. “I would sit consistently at that table,” he says. “I would say, ‘Come speak to me and tell me about your problems.’ ”
That role as an unofficial classmate counselor grew out of two positions he held at the time. Pathak was serving as a graduate assistant with Sadie Burton-Goss, Babson’s chief inclusive excellence officer, and as founding vice president for diversity and inclusion with the Graduate Student Council.
Those chats with classmates led him to advocate for changes on campus, including baby changing stations, a lactation room, and gender-neutral restrooms. “I became deeply invested in helping every member of the graduate community feel seen and considered,” he says.
That personal touch, that empathy and need to connect, have stayed with Pathak. Today, he remains committed to helping graduate students through CASA, a venture he co-founded that launched last year. CASA, which stands for Community as Service for All, aims to help ease the transition to graduate school for students at Babson and other institutions.
The transition isn’t always an easy one, particularly for students moving to new states or countries. Students may be leaving behind jobs, families, and communities. “Graduate students are mature, but they are going through the biggest disruption in their lives,” Pathak says.
Pathak faced that disruption himself when he was a grad student, coming to Babson from India. CASA means “home” in Spanish, and helping students settle into their new homes and lives is what the Boston-based venture hopes to do. It’s a service that’s needed more than ever, given the uncertainty facing international students in the current political climate.
“My whole service is to make students feel welcome and celebrated,” Pathak says. “It’s about finding home and finding community.”
How to Prepare for Grad School
Coming to grad school is a time of great transition, especially for international students. An acceptance letter immediately triggers a whole host of questions and issues to figure out. Those include visas, funding, housing and roommates, transportation to and from campus, and how to form new friendships and community. To prepare, students are going to need trusted, relevant information.
“An acceptance letter tells students where they will study,” Pathak says. “It does not tell them how to build a life there.”
CASA takes a personal, concierge approach to its work, supporting students from admission through their first academic year, an unsettled period when they’re not only going to class but also putting together Ikea furniture and trying to feel rooted in an unfamiliar place. “What are you anxious about?” is the first question a CASA representative asks when working with a student, Pathak says.
From there, CASA turns each student’s concerns into a practical plan. It helps students navigate funding and graduate loan resources, connects them with compatible roommates, and identifies off-campus housing options aligned with their budget, commute, and lifestyle. The venture aims to provide an initial set of housing options within 72 hours (Pathak’s co-founder in CASA, Gillian Dunn, is a licensed real estate agent).
Beyond housing, CASA helps students plan their commutes, navigate insurance and mobile services, set up their homes, and discover trusted local businesses. “Our goal is to help students establish a stable home and support system,” Pathak says, “so they can begin graduate school with greater confidence and focus.”
A Resource for Babson Students
Pathak has had a long connection to Babson. He still remembers his early days at the College. A new exciting chapter was beginning, but he and his international classmates also felt uncertainty as new students in a new country. “We were all trying to answer similar questions,” he says. “Where should I live? Who should I live with? How do I begin building a life and community here?”
After graduation, Pathak worked at Babson for five years, serving as director of corporate and India relations when he left in 2025. When he spoke to students, he was struck by how the challenges they faced hadn’t changed. “Even highly capable students often arrived without a trusted support system to help them turn a new city into a home,” he says.
Pathak may no longer work at Babson, but he’s still connected to the school. CASA is offered as a resource to Babson graduate students, and four members of the venture’s five-person team are Babson alumni. College alumni also serve on CASA’s board.
So far, CASA has assisted more than 500 students hailing from 49 countries. Early next year, it’s planning to double the size of its team. Outside of CASA, Pathak leads KPI Consulting Fund, which advises companies seeking to grow and scale, and he has used resources from that work to help bootstrap CASA.
Like many when they move, Pathak felt homesick when he first came to Babson. To make himself feel better, he tried to provide a little bit of home for his classmates. That’s why he sat at the table in Olin Hall. That’s why he listened to others. “By helping other people feel welcomed, supported, and at home, I began to find that sense of home for myself,” he says.
With CASA, that work continues.
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