Why an MBA

The most fundamental of questions. Without having a clear answer for which you cant expect to get an admission. When I apped to ISB, I should honestly say I was bit confused , wasnt really clear on what I wanted to do or where MBA fits into my plans. May be that was the problem with my app and led to a rejection. Last week I had a chance to speak to adcom from Rotterdam and it was my first chance since ISB to explain to anyone where I come from , where I see my career going and where I want it to go , what is the gap and where an MBA fits in. I felt pretty good after that conversation and even the adcom lady agreed that I require an MBA to diversify my skills to attain my goals.

So here is how the conversation went:

Rotterdam adcom (Maryke): " So Prasad, why an mba and why now?"

me : let me explain why I made a few career choices that I made and use it to answer your question.

Maryke : OK

me : "Computers have interested me since my high school. So it was natural for me to choose information systems at BITS-Pilani. However, after getting into college I realized that there is much more to computers that just programming. For ex : During a course called MIS, I was exposed to the concept of decision systems , supply chains and how both are inter related. Learning about how companies like Walmart made good use of these systems to make profits created a huge interest in me to learn about the field of supply chain. Thus I chose i2 Tech, a leader in the supply chain management domain. Over the last 4 years that I have been with them , I have had a chance to learn not only the software part of the job , but also the business side of the problem. For ex : I implemented and maintained software to help a client reduce it's in-transit inventory and improve customer satisfaction. However , the way I see my career going I shall be a solution developer than a consultant who would understand the client's problem and suggest process improvements to solve it. That is where an MBA comes into picture. I want to make that career transition from being a IT Product consultant to the real world of consulting. However to do so I see that I require a lot of analytical skills , a perspective of various business problems and the possible solutions. Additionally , I need a chance to interact with the people in this business and learn from them. Lastly, making such a career change is not possible without an MBA. I wouldnt even get an opportunity to interview with the top consulting firms. An MBA would solve all these problems , provide me with the skills I need and also a network that I can leverage."

Maryke: Agreed , I see that you want to diversify your skill set and you need an MBA. But my suggestion is when you write your resume , be a bit more elaborate and tell us what you did in each of the roles. I see that you have been in Finland and South Africa, that is a good point , but we need to know what you did there.

me : Sure , I will keep that in mind.

After some additional discussion about the school , opps in Europe and across the world we ended our conversation with a small informal talk about Capetown ,SA. Maryke grew up in the cape and I have fond memories of the place. It was a good conversation overall. I discovered a bit about myself and hopefully made a good impression on Maryke.