Why did I decide to do my MBA
There is no one reason that anyone decides to do an MBA. No decision ever is straightforward, as there are always several variables and situational complexities that come into play. Doing an MBA was a big step for me, driven by a myriad of factors.
I always knew that I wanted to study again. After pursuing engineering and not continuing that path, I wanted to study something which I am committed to and want to turn into my profession. I did not know what I should be studying and whether I am willing to spend a lot of money into something that I am not fully sure of. So doing a masters in Economics or Finance was always an option, but an MBA remains much more mainstream and far less “risky”. An MBA also fulfils the criteria of being sufficiently vague, as it teaches no “particular” subjects while at the same time being an in-demand degree, making me fairly employable by virtue of having completed an MBA.
While I was in my 3rd year of my engineering, I got into the Indian School of Business through their Young Leaders Program. The program would give me a seat in their MBA class, after I complete 20 odd months of work-experience after graduating.
Getting into ISB was not a thought-out decision. I applied because everyone around me was applying. I did not even know of ISB at that time. But after having got through the admission process and visiting the campuses (Hyderabad and Mohali) several times, I had a feeling that this place is not for me. I did not have any particular reason, it just did not feel right. I felt that people were very similar in terms of their backgrounds (engineers working in non-engineering roles) and even the aspirations beyond the MBA (consulting, IB etc) were not particularly thought through. But that could have been the factor of the age we were in: I was just a 22 year old, interacting with other 22 year olds who just happen to decide that they would be doing an MBA. This whole thing seemed very superficial to me, and the “vibe” that I got made me realise that ISB was not the place for me.
Note: ISB is a great school, and I have a lot of friends who have studied there. I have heard really good things about the school. I just think it was not the place for me at the time.
After dropping the idea of doing an MBA from ISB, I continued to work in investment banking at J.P Morgan.
Having spent about 3 years in IB, and realising that was not the life I want to lead in the future, I began preparing to think about doing an MBA.
The “why” was a combination of the following factors, some of which I am able to articulate only with the benefit of hindsight:
- I knew I had to pursue higher education at some point. MBA being a mainstream / low risk higher education degree made sense.
- I was feeling stuck in my job. Did not particularly enjoy what I was doing, and did not think that I could do that for a long time. So a career change was something I wanted to do.
- Did not want spend time doing / looking for another new job, without actually knowing what I want to do. Job switches are hard to make, and I did not want to spend time and energy only to find out I am in a job / industry I don’t like
- Did not have any particular skills, apart from “banking skills” - Excel, some finance knowledge and basic info about some of the industries I was working with.
- An MBA would give me some time and guidance (hopefully) to help me understand what I can do. Also give bandwidth to do some experimentation.
- I wanted to live in a different country. Being a student allows you to do that in a very different way than living as a professional or visiting as a tourist.
At this point I was also certain about studying outside of India. I considered the obvious choice of US B-Schools, but after speaking to a few friends and people I also put European B-schools in my list of options.
How I chose where I want to study
Naturally, the list of schools spanning across two continents is a long one. So to narrow it down, I used the following criteria:
- Where I want to be in the near future
- After graduating, I want to live abroad (not India) for sometime
- I want to be “close” to India. There should be a direct flight to Delhi, India.
- I value “work-life balance”. I am not a work hard party hard kind of a person. I like to work, but I also value the time I have to pursue my hobbies and interests
- Employment opportunities
- The job market in the neighbouring geography should have plenty of opportunities for the kind of roles I want to do
- Visa should be fairly easy to get
- Cost of education
- I do not want to spend rest of my life paying back the student loan. I should be able to a get a “decent” paying job (not investment banking or consulting etc) which would help me payback the loan in 3-5 years.
Upon considering each of the above criteria, I was able to come to the decision that I want to be in Europe. The reasons are as follows:
- All major European cities are an 8-hour flight to India
- Major European cities: London, Amsterdam, Berlin are all hubs for businesses with a large job market and predominantly English speaking. Other European cities like Luxembourg, Munich are also great job markets. Cities like Paris, Barcelona, Madrid are business centres but require local language expertise.
- Visa sponsorship in each of these countries is a straightforward process. Unlike the US.
- Have a good work-life balance, while paying a decent salary
- Cost of B-School is less than US. At the time of my research, tuition fee would range from from 70k- 120K Euros. The length of the programs also vary from 1-2 years.
How I chose my priority schools
Then I made the list of the Top European B schools:
- HEC Paris
- Insead
- LBS
- Oxford
- Cambridge
- IE
- IESE
I am an easy-going person, who likes collaborative environments and does not like unnecessary stress. My undergrad experience was a very pleasant one: where everyone would help each other out, people and the institution encourage pursuing interests and atmosphere is not excessively competitive. I wanted such an environment. I also wanted a small class size, so that I can interact with most of my class and make close connections and friends. I wanted a general management school (Insead, for example, is highly focussed on consulting) which allows me explore different opportunities. And one of the most important things: I wanted a school with on-campus housing. This was important to me because being around your classmates outside of class is a great way to foster interactions and make friends. There are countless things to do outside of the classroom and a school with on-campus housing will facilitate those interactions to a huge extent. Another factor was that I did not want a very short course length. A year is just too short in my opinion, and this time just whizzes past. So anything between 5- 22 months was ideal.
Based on the above, HEC Paris was my dream school. It checked all the boxes for me:
- Small class size
- On-campus housing
- Collaborative and helpful culture
- General Management school
- Lot of on-campus activities. HEC also conducts the biggest MBA event in Europe: MBAT
- 16 month program
How I wrote my essays
All B-school applications have an essay component. The exact number and topic for the essays vary by the school, but the overarching concept remains the same. They want to know more about you, apart from the resume, why you want to do an MBA and why that particular school. Essays for the HEC application were slightly different (that’s why I loved the application process too) as they had topics like: write about your favourite book etc.
I think about essays like a TV show, a novel or a movie. There is a person who will eventually read the essays, and unless the essays are interesting or have something intriguing to say, the person probably will get bored. So all the essays, while addressing the key concept of talking about yourself and why you want to do an MBA, need to be personal filled with anecdotes, examples and stories. In my opinion, it provides depth to the essays, makes them interesting to read and obviously increases the chances to get a call for an interview.
In all my essays, I covered two main aspects about my life: professional and personal.
- I covered my professional story, connecting the dots backwards, talked about where I am, where I want to go and how studying MBA from HEC Paris will help me get there.
- My personal story covered aspects of my life which had not been covered in the application. Experiences that shaped me, my interests and the reasons why I like what I like. I gave examples, stories and anecdotes to substantiate this aspect.
Once I had a blue print of the things I wanted to write, putting them together under the various essay topics becomes easy. Then it is just a matter of putting the information together under the various sub-headings. And the nice thing about this exercise, that this information is fungible for other applications.
This is the template I made to create repository of all the information that I could possible use in my essays. Having everything in one place made it easier to storyboard and create my essays.
How did I finance my MBA
I eventually got an admit from HEC Paris. Financing options differ depending on which country you reside in and / or are a national of. I wanted collateral free loan, as I do not own any property or asset valuable enough to cover the amount. I also did not want my parents’ assets to be stuck in any long-term loan that I would take. These are the following sources that I ended up using:
- Prodigy Finance for the tuition fee. They covered all of the tuition fee with no collateral. The interest rate they gave me was also lower than what some other banks offered me.
- Education loan from SBI, an Indian Bank: I used this to cover my personal expense of rent. This was available with low / no collateral
- Savings: I had some savings which I used for personal expenses like travelling, eating, daily expenses etc.
- Borrowed from family / friends: Took some small amounts from family and friends.
Obviously this is not a template or a benchmark. It varies for everyone and as it depends on the individual situation.
