my view on MBA?

We learn in B-school that social capital is scarce, and no one wants to be associated with the person who doesn’t have it all together. But maybe if more folks knew it isn’t all rosy after you graduate, and that many people are struggling with the same questions, insecurities, frustrations, and life decisions, we could learn from each other’s experiences and create more realistic expectations for the droves of people turning to B-school as the next step in life.

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what I wish someone would have told me, BEFORE getting into a B-school, and definitely while I was going through my job search. So here are my points….

Objectivity:

They were right – at least half of the classmates I know (if not more), are at a different job 18 months out, than they had when they left school. Which makes me really question what the career services team gets graded on, in terms of performance…It’s scary and frustrating as a career switcher to feel like I’m starting from scratch again, while I watch my non-MBA friends who now have 7 years of experience kick ass at their jobs. But if you are in the field of finance or Investment Banking, things are very different. MBA grads make more money in Goldman Sachs or Morgan Stanley etc. as compared to anyone. But getting into any financial institution isn’t easy, and even if you get in, the chances to survive is less  So one has to realise, quickly, the objective of doing MBA so one can walk on the right path to excel in the field.

Expectation handing:

It’s going to take more time than I thought to do really BIG things (you know the stuff they allude to on your first day about how you’re going to change the world while forgetting to mention that it

won’t happen quickly because you’ll likely be funnelled back into an industry/job role that thrives on the status quo). The expectations are SO much higher – at work, from friends, from me, my family, would-be employers. Everyone expects you to be able to just DO amazing things, and KNOW things simply because you went to B-school. But not necessarily you can deliver, yes, going to B school is simply amazing but all everybody care about is the starting salary and compare with the stats with different B schools. One thing is important to keep in mind that we go to Schools to build careers not to focus on starting salary (and if you are doing MBA, mostly, you needn’t care).   So, going back to my first point, being clear about objectives gives you ability to handle expectations.

Realistic view:

I tell a lot of MBA hopefuls that your time at school opens a thousand doors and exposes you to things you’ve never heard of before, but that can be paralyzing because what they DON’T do is help you figure out which one to go through. So you end up rationalizing why you followed the crowd (transferable skills, paying off loans faster and THEN you’ll figure out what you want to do, need another brand name on the resume to prove myself, etc.) So now we can see how things are interconnected. If your objective is clear you can handle expectations and you can only do it if you have rational and realistic view about the outcome of you School degree.

So, please don’t do MBA because you want to make more money or you are obsessed with city life style, want to play golf and have a smashing girlfriend.  Do it only if you want to gain Leadership skills, career advancement, grow your network and change the world with your business ideas and vision.