Kamat - Beyond the MBA Hype: A Guide to Understanding and Surviving B-Schools: Indian Edition

As a computer science engineering graduate, I was happily settled in my role as an engagement manager with IBM. The salary and the designation were both good. And working for a strong brand meant that social prestige came automatically. International assignments provided plenty of travel opportunities. But there was still something amiss. Despite the variety I had when it came to clients, industries, locations and teams, the whole project cycle was becoming monotonous and predictable.

Aft er about a decade of experience, I was on the other (non-flattering) side of thirty and I had about three more decades of productive working years to navigate before retirement. To secure my future, straightforward solutions like job-hopping for a higher salary were not the best way forward. For I knew that sooner or later, Id be in the exact same position that I was trying to get away from.

Th ats when I hit the Internet and started researching. An MBA seemed like a good option. But it seemed too good to be true. There were a lot of what-if queries in my mind. What if I dont get into a good programme? What if I dont do well with so many super-intelligent candidates competing against one another? What if I dont get a good internship? What if I dont get a good job? What if Im not able to repay my huge education loan? So I researched more. And the confusion grew.

Also, I was not the typical candidate for an American MBA programme. I was much older, married and had a daughter a family man.

I needed to shortl ist programmes where I would fit in well and not look like a freak. I wanted a small yet diverse programme that placed an emphasis on collaboration as opposed to cutthroat competition. Most importantly, I knew that five, ten or twenty years later, what would stick to me wouldnt be the academic concepts or the MBA frameworks, but the brand. Call me superficial, but I guessed (and I still feel the same way today) that the corporate world places a great deal of importance on brands. You are who you have been associated with. Whether thats good or bad, I dont want to judge. But its worked for me, so far. So Im more than happy with my decision.

I gathered that the quality of education youd get from most good schools would be good. They all use similar textbooks, case studies and projects. The professors are there to facilitate the knowledge transfer and cant magically transform mediocre students into geniuses. The teaching methodology may differ and a lot depends on the students capacity to absorb what is thrown at them. I realized B-schools were more of a filtering ground, so Id be alright if I stuck to schools where the filtering criteria were the most stringent. And I chose the University of Cambridge.

I was taking a big enough risk by leaving my comfort zone. I guess I was just playing safe by sticking to a brand that had been around for ages.

I cant say what I did was right or perfect. I cant say that what worked for me will work for everyone else. All I can say is that I worked out a strategy after a lot of introspection and stuck to the game plan till the very end.

In hindsight, I feel I was lucky and privileged to have been part of an exceptional MBA programme at the University of Cambridge. I got an excellent education, made some fantastic friends from thirty-one countries, took a calculated risk and followed my intuition to take up a job in India immediately after completing my MBA (this was before the recession, so it was more out of choice than necessity). I had the opportunity to work in one of the most coveted post-MBA fields mergers and acquisitions. But I am also aware that the entire story could have ended up in a totally different direction. Im not going to pretend to be a super-confident, all-knowing oracle who knows this topic inside out. If many of the sections in this book sound a little ambiguous and uncertain, I know Im still striking a chord with many readers who are feeling exactly the same right now paranoid and unsure.

Since the time I completed my MBA in 2005, the dynamics have changed in several areas. Theres more competition to get into good schools, there are several new B-schools that have mushroomed across the globe, the course fees have gone through the roof, the economy is more uncertain than ever, the job market is going through turmoil. In short, the stakes are much higher now. Any decision you take can have an amplified impact on your future.