Why MBA? Let us cut to the chase. You google ten reasons for any topic, and you can find dozens of results. There is this irresistible urge to share your opinion once you achieve something. Or maybe not. Take, for example, these gym freaks. One excellent evening this roommate of mine gets up from his couch, rides an uber to Nike showroom, and buys a sleek pair of running shoes. And suddenly he is a fitness expert. For the next two weeks, I can’t hear the end of, ‘You should join me at the gym bro’ or ‘Join me on writing this fitness blog bro.’ First, I am not his 'bro', and second, that shoe went on a permanent sabbatical soon after that. Anyway, the moral of the story is, unlike my friend, I am minimally qualified to write about the reasons to do an MBA.
This article is in two parts. The first five reasons are what happens to a lot of people. The last five points are valid for the ambitious folk who take up MBA.
1. What next in life?
Here is the profile of a majority of MBA grads – born in a middle-class family (or at least they think they did), did engineering because it was cool, ended up in front of a computer with 9 to 5 job and an existential crisis. The big question – what am I doing with my life? Ah, that takes me down memory lane (still in the same lane). There I was sitting, waiting for Morpheus to come and ask me – ‘Do you want the red pill or the blue pill bro?’. That never happened. So, to keep life rolling people do an MBA.
2. Dread it, run from it, destiny still arrives
There is this unique group of people who did engineering with little interest. Now, MBA is an immediate escape from reality. They dream of utopia – B Schools with students from diverse backgrounds and a thirst for knowledge. They crack the exam get into their dream b school. The introduction with classmates goes like this
Our student – Hi, I am an engineer, bro.
Student 2 – Broooooo! I am an engineer too bro!
Déjà vu as the student realizes the class is full of engineers, including the professor.
3. I was a cursed GEM; I will become a GMM
This male student species constantly cries for their fate of being a GEM. This group of students seeks MBA from elite institutes to set right their previous failures. Hence, they become – General, Management, and Male.
4. The family tradition
Dad did an MBA, Mom did MBA, Chacha did MBA, Maama did MBA. Now I will do an MBA, and my kids will also do an MBA.
5. Two roads diverged in a yellow wood
Ah, the poets. There is another name for them – the love failure gang. Here is a short story of how it goes – boy/girl loves boy/girl or girl/boy. Gives it all to the relationship and gets ditched. Fire rises from the bottomless pit of the broken heart. Boy/girl channels this fireball into a Kamehameha on MBA entrance exams and cracks the exam wide open like a guillotine on a watermelon. Period.
Now for some serious folk
6. Growth in career
Undergrad degrees can take a person up the corporate food chain at a snail’s pace. Those who cannot wait take up an MBA to fast track their career growth.
7. Networking/Family business
The family business needs business relationships. These guys take up MBA to develop networks and acquire contacts. The contacts help their businesses in the long run. Fun fact – GEMs who cannot become GMMs curse this category.
8. Entrepreneurial folk
A lot of students take up the entrepreneurship conversation during their interviews.
Student – Sir/Ma’am, When I was a kid, I saw a documentary about Steve Jobs. He is my inspiration. How is it possible to create the worlds best company from a garage (Nervous laugh). That was the moment in my life that I decided I want to be an entrepreneur.
Interviewer – Entrepreneur in what?
Student – Err. Anything
Interviewer – Kuch Bhi
But the real entrepreneurial folk tend to have started a small business of their own while others were binge-watching Friends. They find a need to do an MBA to gain knowledge and to network.
9. Money
An apparent reason to do an MBA. The ROI’s are higher when an MBA is done from a prestigious college. Reasons vary drastically from family situations, personal goals, and comfortable lifestyle ambitions. You can never pinpoint a cause since people have their reasons as to why they want money.
10. The brand name
Finally, here it comes. These students refuse to settle for a lesser b school. They have their eyes set on one or two b schools and toil tirelessly towards their goal.
Honorable Mention – I love the managerial subject, and hence I chose an MBA
Also Check:
- Top MBA Colleges in India 2019 | InsideIIM Recruitment Rankings
- Why MBA? - Explained By Top B-School Students & Alumni
