Why MBA?? Why not Something else?

Written by Ansh Gyaan 3,387 views Nov 21, 2010

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Why MBA?? Yes the most cliched question of our generation, but the MOST apt also. You must be thinking why am I asking this question, of course…. most of the people landing on this page have figured out this for themselves. Wait!!! It is not that easy. Lets dig a bit deeper into this question.

This question is the most scared question across all MBA interview panels. In 1908, the Graduate School of Business Administration (GSBA) at Harvard University was established; it offered the world’s first MBA program, with a faculty of 15 plus 33 regular students and 47 special students. The mission of the program was to produce leaders and ideas that will shape the practice of management in vital organizations of every kind around the globe. What makes an idea or a leader successful is the clarity. That is why each applicant was asked to write in their SOP [statement of purpose] the answer to the question “Why you want to do MBA?”. Since many B-schools do not have the concept of SOP, they ask this during the interview.

But as smart we think we are, the people in the interview room sitting across the table are Smarter. Don’t forget these are the people [the Profs] who are taking interviews over the years. Some of them have career span more than the age of the certain candidates. So no prize for guessing that how easy it is for interviewer to catch fake or made up [as spoon fed by the coaching institutes] answers. And if you are successful in doing that [first of all give yourself a pat], the story does not end there. Read ahead.

90% of the students who join MBA have no clear idea why they joined this program

The point I am trying to highlight here is that it is really important for any B-school aspirant [for his future career] to figure out the answer to the Holy question “Why MBA??” I have been interacting with students here at IIM L for two years now and it is purely from personal interaction with students here [now across 3 batches my senior, my batch and my junior] I conclude that 90% of the students who join MBA have no clear idea why they joined this program. Many of them realize that they could have been better somewhere else [in my job or may be pursuing my core field]. Many of them feel two years are wasted here, and they spend 2 yrs [the most crucial phase of their life] just cribbing about system and about their decision [which they realize was due to herd mentality]. Many of them flunk, not being able to cope up with the system, they don’t relate with the studies here [what the hell is Debit and Credit, why i have to read all the maths again ]. This is what my experience at IIM L and I am sure [talking to my friends in other IIMs] the scene is pretty much same everywhere. Believe my words “Its harder to Pass out from an IIM than getting in“. The student is not he only one who is at loss here, it is the whole system. The institute does not get good bunch of students, the companies come for placement complain about quality of talent, the performance of the batch across various competitions through out the year goes down. And it is all because we [the aspirants] do not get TRUE answer to the question WHY MBA?? What is my take away from MBA program?

I hope I have been able to draw your attention towards the issue in the right way. I am sure most of you still have not got YOUR answer to THE question. This is fairly okay… it is good if you are searching for your own rather waiting for someone to spoon feed you.The answer has to come from within and believe me it is going to come some day.

To help the readers about being clear about their thoughts and organize them, here are few books I would suggest that will give you fair idea how can live your dream and please appreciate that its not going to be MBA for all of you.

Virgin King -Richard Branson
Business at Speed of ligth- Bill Gates
Snap shots from Hell The making of an MBA- Peter Robinson
Alchemist- Paulo Cohelo
Jonathan Livingstone Seagull- Richard Bach
Rules of revolutionaries – Guy Kawasaki
Odyssey – Pepsi to Apple – John Sculley

Some of these books will give you good idea to introspect and how managers handle things at work place. In the next article I am going to suggest some more books, which will help you figure out YOUR own answer to WHY MBA??

P.S — Please share your thoughts, doubts and questions. I will try to answer each of them.

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11 Responses for “Why MBA?? Why not Something else?”

vaidehi says:

November 21, 2010 at 5:19 pm

a startling question raised by you sir…..but would need some more insights from your experience as how to know what exactly we want?

vikas says:

November 22, 2010 at 1:52 am

Great article sir..thank you so much …I really wanna get into IIM ..plz tell how
?

vivek says:

November 22, 2010 at 12:54 pm

Nice and informative article.. I just want to introduce you a new site that we have designed mainly for the MBA aspirants…. In this era though the demand for MBA is high it will be helpful for all the MBA aspirants .. It contain all the necessary information a student need…

senna says:

November 22, 2010 at 8:36 pm

A nice article…i’m having a disturbed ambivalent mind . I still don’t know what is my exact field. But still looking forward to do a MBA program from a top institute. I’m not a person with high level knowledge in maths and grammar. Am i a right person to pursue MBA.

Ansh says:

November 23, 2010 at 2:15 am

@Vaidehi and Vikas > I must say spend some time with these books… do some good amount of introspection you will find the answer… just figure out where you want to see your self 5-7 yrs from now and if MBA fits into your scheme of things… and what are the other alternative…make a comparison
@ XYZ >> please maintain decorum and respect the sanctity of this site
@ Senna>> I would suggest same thing to you as i suggested to vaidehi above ….in addition to that ..i must clarify that good english and maths are prerequisite to survive at any top MBA institute and also further in industry ….which is your current area of specialization ??? ..if you can share that I can probably guide to better ..

Reekhia says:

July 31, 2011 at 4:50 pm

Nice one ! Since its an MBA forum, good that you have brought up the Why MBA ? question… I feel the biggest challenge for anybody t know at any point of time, Why me ? Why this ? Why here ? And I totally appreciate the term “herd mentality” , I generally use the term “course of trend” / “student democracy ” . I am myself a victim of the same. An engineer who could never respect her decision of joining engineering. Ha ha.mostly people don’t even realise the mistake as there is no interview procedure to ask ” Why engineering?”
But what if it was there……tons of students would have made up stories like “Why MBA ?” Would have got a degree , rather a lifelong insurance for being “just another MBA”

noori says:

December 11, 2011 at 8:08 pm

Sir..this is a very thought provoking article,especially for people like me or Senna(ABOVE MENTIONED).My problem is same Senna’s.Being from arts background i have a good command over eng.,but i am really poor in maths as i have done graduation in psychology..but still want to get into one of the top b-schools.i’m least sure of why i want to get into it and where would it lead me to…can u plz give me little guidance??

noori says:

December 11, 2011 at 8:11 pm

sry for the mistake..”plz give a little guidance”