Mariam Umar, director of business operations and strategic planning at Synaptics in San Jose, came to Wharton to reinvent herself. She wanted to bridge the skills gap between her current position and corporate stewardship, and her goal was to develop her own framework for solving strategic problems of leading-edge technology companies facing fierce competition while growing at breakneck speed. As she decided to pursue an MBA, she wanted to go to the best school possible.