A million dollar question, when it comes to MBA preparation. There has been two schools of thought, when it comes to this decision, some say it will result in a more focussed preparation, better chances of getting a good percentile, and ending up in top b-schools, on the other hand, some are extremely critical on this side, as they talk about “no back-up”, “high opportunity cost”… and hundred other reasons for this …
I wanted to write on this sensitive issue, as I had this decision many times on my mind, when I was preparing for MBA in 2009-2010. I was a typical IT software engineer in one of the top IT companies in India. And to say the least, job was stressful; the question of quitting came to my mind many a times. But I decided not to leave my job and to continue handling both, not because of monetary reasons but rather thinking that leaving a well settled career in IT, for MBA was too much to give up … It paid off and I finally ended up with IMI Delhi… I used to get free around 9-10pm everyday from the office , didn’t have internet at home , nor a laptop , so used to study then and there in the office till 2am everyday and also in the weekends along with my work. Initially it was tough mentally and physically both but when you condition your mind and are determined to achieve something , everything else becomes secondary …Was it the best decision , may be or maybe not , as best decisions are very personal to one’s life , people react differently to different situations … When one leaves a job , one is not only leaving a company or a salary but one is deserting a career to achieve something bigger , we also halting our career, and there is a high chance that it may not work.
The Down Side
As soon as one leaves one’s job, one comes under obligation to perform well as one is without a backup , that itself creates a lot of stress , one has social or even parental pressure as most of the times they don’t support such decisions . And most importantly, what I have observed is that, if the results don’t come according to expectations, one is pressurized to take admission into a college which may not be the best choice under the circumstances, or one may start looking for jobs which is difficult to achieve after an year drop, even in b-school interviews one has to justify an year drop. Then one starts looking back, what if I had not left my job, I had a career backup, and could have tried one time for CAT and achieved a better score….
The Up Side
Leaving a job or dropping a year instead of doing something which one doesn’t like or see a future in it, may not be a bad decision, but given people know why they are doing an MBA, or they know a career in management is what they want. One can look for alternative arrangements for employment such as Teaching in Coaching Institutes or, working for NGOs, even doing Certifications such as CFA/FRM/AIPCS CIPM etc , so that one has a career back up or atleast something to fall back on … . If one does end up with a decent convert, then it would be a start of new journey into the field of management..
By this article I wanted to point out certain things
· MBA provides a career enhancement opportunity , or a door to switch to a new domain let’s say IT to finance , but one’s current career path is also important, so decisions should be taken wisely after weighing , monetary , social and career issues
· Even in B-school interviews it sometimes is difficult to justify a drop in a year , even the companies coming for placements don’t take dropping in a positive note
There is a very famous principle in field of finance that the value of things in present is always higher than what may come in future, as the things in future come at a cost, now it’s on a person to decide how much he/she is willing to pay …….
No comments:
Post a Comment