The MBA fancy

Has been quite some time since I wrote something. If I try to hide behind the lame excuse that I was busy then that will be a plane lie. I was as much dodging blogging as I was shirking responsibilities at my workplace. However, the days of dereliction is over and I am back in productive mode :)

The MBA Dream
In India 9 out of 10 college graduates "aspire" to do an MBA. I use the word aspire because the bloated and inflated media coverage on B Schools has projected MBA more as the end rather than the mean. However, this (mis)conception hasn't completely been a bane. It has created significant employment and spelled fortune for umpteenth number of coaching institutes, unaccredited B-Schools, CAT "analysts" (Yeah...U heard me right) etc. A majority of students want to do an MBA based on the sole incentive of money. The beleif that MBA degree/diploma is a key to some medieval bounty has become deeply entrenched in our nation's psyche.

But why do I have to rant about all this?well...err...ummm...I was no exception (and I have good reasons to replace "am" with "was").
Thanks to the "lean season" (Thats the expression, folks in my office like to use when they have no work to do) I have been browsing through a lot of B School and B School related web sites. While familiarizing myself with the selection procedure used by US B Schools, I was impressed by their attempt to assess every single applicant objectively. Till then I used to revel in the misconception that a great GMAT score would guarantee an Ivy League admit. How, stupid I was. Interestingly they assess every applicant based on a variety of parameters and GMAT is only one of them. So while a good GMAT is important (extremely important for Indian applicants) it is in no way sufficient. However, for top Indian B Schools acing the CAT almost guarantees an admit (ofcourse interviews ensue but the pool of applicants getting interview calls based on their CAT scores is steadily decreasing proving a firm beleif of IIM chieftans in CAT).

Almost all US B Schools cover the question "Why MBA? Why Now?" either in their essays or in their interviews. A fellow blogger who got an admit for Kellogg recommends that to prepare for this question sit down at a tranquil place and reflect. Ask yourself- Why...why now?
So I religiously did the same but the answers I got were pathetic and even put me to shame.
No prizes for guessing the answers ---- first answer was "Paisa" (Money) and second "Jaldi" (quick). Any adcom person no matter how charitable he is, will not blink before politely showing me the door. This answer would go down in the history books as the second 'most stupidest' answer ever, the first being an answer given by one of my friends in an IIM interview. On being asked to explain his low grades in engineering my friends said that only after taking admission in engineering college he realized that it was not his cup of tea but somehow he knows that management is his "calling". I rank my answer 2nd because it is not suicidal.

So, while brooding over this question in a quite orchard (putting monetary aspirations at bay with great difficulty) a lot of reasons surfaced which I could never have realized without some serious introspection. It was fun getting to know myself after so long. In fact some points were so genuine and worthwhile that I can base my entire essay on them.
Anyways....I have no intention of jotting down my ramblings. If i am feeling very drousy someday I may start a blog titled "Ramblings in the orchard". I only wonder how many readers I will get.