Confused!!!
Posted by missionmba on July 22, 2007
And I thought that life after GMAT would be easy.
It’s more than a month now that I’m into B-school research and the present status is that the more I’m researching into this, the more confused I am getting. I believe I share this confusion with any middle class MBA aspirant, with a profile similar to mine. ( Low work-ex, IT , decent GMAT) My prime confusion can be divided under the following heads:
When MBA?
Some time back I was very sure that this year, I’ll be putting up all my energy for the 2 big ones: GMAT and CAT and this will be my first and last try at the Indian B-schools and some of the international ones. But now that I’m done with the GMAT, dropped the idea of CAT and am about to start the process for my b-school journey, I’m getting a bit confused.. More than a bit actually.. If I decide to wait for a year, it can mean a lot of things to me.. First, on the financial front, savings of one extra year can be a big boost for the 2 years of my MBA. Also, I’ll have one full year to work on my profile part: Can even learn a new language then. Above all, I’ll be closer to the 5-year average experience figure that most of the top B-schools have. Even IIM-A PGPX will be open to me: I’ll be past the 27-year age cut-off..
Considering the above aspects, it appears that deferring my apping by a year makes sense. But then, there are some aspects to life as well. Just today I discussed with my parents my intentions of considering postponing my apps. And their response was not very encouraging. They feel that deferring it by a year will be a bit too late. For other things in life you know :-). Even I tend to agree with them somehow on this. So 80% chances are that I’ll be apping this year. Rest 20% will depend on how the financial calculations turn out.. (So foolish of me, not to have done this part till now 
)
Which MBA?
This confusion concerns the specialization that I intend to have for my MBA. The reason I need to bother about it right now is that the choice of my targets will depend on this decision. I’ve heard that if you make a big jump like IT to finance or IB, then chances are that you’ll start as a fresher after your MBA. Am I prepared for that? Perhaps not, I’ll rather pick a specialization that make the three years of pre-MBA experience and four years of tech-education count. As of now, technology tops the list, closely followed by consulting, which can keep both tech and non-tech options open for me. But I’m still fine-tuning my options: interacting with current students as well as current aspirants, spending time wading through various schools’ websites and most importantly reading various blogs and success stories. Hope to figure this out in next 2-3 weeks
Where MBA??
When I started the process, ISB was the only school in my list. Financial limitations and unwillingness to settle abroad were the main reasons restricting my choice. Very soon NUS too joined the list. As I researched further, I found that if one can get a decent schol, then a middle tier schools can be comparable in costs to ISB. I looked at European B-schools too: INSEAD, Said, Cranfield and LBS among others. But the problem with these schools is not only are they costly, they offer schols after you get in, unlike their US counterparts that offer scholarship at the time of admission. So anybody like me, who can’t afford to without a schol, is not in a position to take the risk. Still INSEAD is too good to be dropped even on this account, particularly because its cost factor can be compensated with its shorter length. So at one stage, I was very much inclined towards the schol-generous schools like Emory or Purdue .But now a deeper search and research has created a craving for a top MBA B-school.. They say that a B-school is a brand that stays with you for your life.. A line at one of the blogs was particularly influential:: “I’ve seen people in their eighties still bragging about their Harvard days!!!”
But just when I had decided to give the big ones (Excluding the biggest ones, my big ones mean b-schools ranked 6-15) a try, the visa issue has started turning scary. True, as of now I’m least interested in settling abroad, but thinking of repaying the enormous loan in Indian salary is suicidal. Have to work for about two years to make sure that the rest the loan is payable in INR salary. So I’d like to keep the loan light and go for a mid-tier school that can provide me a nice schol. But then precisely because of the visa-factor, it makes sense to do an MBA which has a global recognition. This pushes me back to the top ones, where it may not be easy to get a scholarship. Do I sound confused?? I actually am.
They say that you must divide your targets in three groups of Dream, Reach and Safe.
As of now, Haas (Berkeley) is the one that I have put on my dream list;INSEAD is another. I dare to put ISB on the safe list. Still, exploring the other colleges like Tepper, McCombs, Tuck and Duke.
Planning to app to ISB in R2 and most others in Early Bird entry or R1.
Why MBA?
The most difficult of all Qs:: I guess I’d leave that for the essay questions. 
Posted in The Hunt | 5 Comments »
