A few things that i did before joining ISB

Hmm..so you have got the admit and there are just a few mths left for you to step into the 'BSchool !!'. Chances are that you are reeeeallly geared up and want to do a lil bit of this and a lil bit of that and a lil bit of everything before you kind of submit yourself to the roller coaster ride..

Here are a couple of things that I did....

- Bought a book called “MBA in 10 days” (the key word here is ‘bought’ and not ‘read’ :-)). Well I did try to read it though but never completed it But hey guys ..i think for those who r really nervous about all the new stuff that you will get introduced to…buy that book …skim through it once in a while (but frankly once u start ur course you will forget everything else )
- Made my transition out from the current job smooth (remember u never want to burn bridges and u always want to exit on a high note – its always good to keep relationships in the corporate world)
- The blogging phenomena had not caught by that time – so we had no sneak peak into the ISB world which you guys are privy to today …so spoke to a few seniors just to get some ideas on ISB life and prospects of future placement and stuff. But believe me – doing all this helps but only to some extent. Once you are in the grind – you just flow with it and you forget all the gyan you had come with J. Over and above, career decisions post something that you are paying a fortune for has to be made by YOU – so before you start looking for help – introspect. Try and rethink on why are you going to ISB and what do you want to get out of it (get crisp answers) and remember this is not for your essay so be true to yourself and ditch all the jargon and faff ! This will help you immensely in carving out your future path (Ahem…if you think I did all this before joining ISB then please don’t be fooled by yours truly J - but yeah these are things I wish I had done )
- Had loads of fun and slept allllooootttt. PLLLEEASEE do that – cause a 7 hour sleep once u step into ISB is like …well…I cant even say that you can just dream of it cause u wont even get the time to dream of it J
- Did meet up a few ISB admits from the same city. We kind of huddled in a coffee shop, all excited n all and added each other to our IMs etc. Yeah its fun to do all that and it does start the momentum but u know what – again once u get into the school – it’s a different world and you eventually make your own set of friends (who need not be the ones you met early on ). Hey – I do not want to be this party spoiler ..so go on..have fun !!

Is MBA worth it?

The question on most MBA aspirants' mind (also in a Bschool graduate's mind??)
: Is MBA worth spending so much money, time, blood and sweat after all?

Let's be realistic.

The one big mantra you need to remember - "MBA is a long term investment - do not start your ROI calculations the minute you step out of campus. "

MBA adds value to you - so it's a value add and not an end by itself. What you do in life and what you end up being is dependent a lot on you, your priorities in life, ambitions and what not ..you decide how you want an MBA to work for you.

OK - so what exactly do you get out of an MBA
Some obvious things like...
1. Exposure to varied fields like finance/logistics/marketing/etc
2. Frameworks/knowledge/skills to give you a "structured" way to attack varied problems in varied ways
3. A different perspective - again thanks to the exposure to look at a bigger and holistic picture
4. A chance to change your stream if you plan to do so.
5. Possibly, an accelerated career path and of course a chance to get jobs that are open only for MBAs
6. A decent starting pay package (compared to plain vanilla graduation)

... but then there are some not so obvious things..
1. Network (alumni, professors, investors, etc.)
2. Exposure to the intricacies of a business organization
3. Pressure handling ....and the list goes on..

Now, there is this frequent crib about "am I doing an MBA job"?
I am still not sure of what is an 'MBA' job - is it marketing/sales at an FMCG company, is it crunching data sheets in an i-bank, is it consulting, is it doing BD in an IT company ... what "IS" an MBA job? We know of guys doing pure coding, voluntarily, at premium software companies after their MBA from IIM. There are scores of MBAs doing high-end analytics at leading KPOs in Gurgaon and Hyderabad. Then there are ISB grads who spend their days following up with agents of supermodels to get the legal contracts signed before an ad shoot ... does all of this qualify for an 'MBA' job or does only cracking Mckinsey, BCG and GS meet the criteria ??? Remember not everyone lands there and you need to be realistic.

Be practical - you won't start talking 'strategy' as soon as you step out of a bschool. Everyone has to do some ground work - some dirty work before doing that. Yes you might be from IIM or ISB, but remember there are some tricks of the game you learn at a job and you HAVE to learn them before doing high level strategy talk. You are NOT taught everything in school. Yes you might have to learn to sell toothpaste in Munger, you might have to learn to look at spreadsheets, you might have to learn the technology in Microsoft, you might have to do presales before becoming a BDM.

Please be sure of what you want to do, how do you want to measure your success before hand and look for the long term ROI ..lest you fall in the frustration trap after your MBA.

ISB Vs IIM part 2...

Voooww!! I feel like I am ages behind in this discussion. Just yesterday i googled up IIM Vs ISB and I had like hajaar new links thrown up on my face :) ..looks like its not exactly a new topic and has been discussed, rat holed, beaten to death and what not !! But hey isnt this really cool ...ISB is just 5 years old and there are heated discussions comparing it to IIMs ( I dont know when each of them were established but I know for sure they were there even before I was born ) hmmmm... its very very good news for ISB and I am proud of it (ok ok..so what if my other team members from IIM also own this blog but hey I am allowed to get senti about my school once in a while ;))

So here are my view points on this discussion. You can go dig more here, here or here...

Q: How many years of experience do you have ? Are you looking for a mid management career after MBA.
A : If its >3 years, go for ISB, if its <2 is ="2">

Q: Are you looking for a shift in your career line?
A: I am not sure how many will agree but I personally think that if this is true - go for the IIMs. Of course there have been many from my batch who did manage to shift careers but in my mind - a) A 11 mths course is not good enough to equip you enough to join a mid management level in a new career path b) Again you might need to compromise on the level and the salary that you will be offered cause you will be treated almost like a fresh hire c) I dont know - its like going all over it again ....
That said many folks do manage to do this and that too comfortably but they are more of exceptions to the rule and I would definitely hold this point of view of mine

Q: Are you looking for an indepth learning or do you think you are kind of there but want to acquire some special skills and understanding to complement your self
A: If you need to dig deep - go to IIMs. Not to say that ISB doesnt provide good stuff...the profs there absolutely ROCK bigtime and the quality of education is very good but u know what..you have to digest everything just VERY quickly. ok - chew this...when me and my friend started out with the corp fin course together (me @ISB and he@ IIM) and while he had not yet had his med term, I had already finished my end term and moved on to the next term. Get what I mean ?

Q:. How are you placed in your personal life?
A: Hmmm..so this one might not be applicable to everyone but it did to me. I in no way wanted to be away from my married life for more than a year. I wanted to get back ..move on ..plan a family and so on and on...I had my 4 years of work ex when I went to ISB so one year away from home and work was just soo ideal.

So here are my two cents. Feel free to write in your comments and thoughts...

ISB Vs IIM

I am an alum of ISB and I have a huge circle of both ISBians as well as IIM grads so you can safely say that I am going to be fair.

To me ISB Vs IIM is like comparing apples to oranges (hmpphhhh!!! - Yikes dont hit for the cliche) !! No seriously...ISB is geared for a different profile, different requirement and so is IIM (obviously I am talking about the two year courses and NOT the one year ones).

Here is a simple checklist that you can run through to find out which is best for you. But DISCLAIMER, DISCLAIMER - you yourself know the best whats good for you..so just take this as a piece of advice..

1. How many years of experience do you have ? Are you looking for a mid management career after MBA.
2. Are you looking for a shift in your career line?
3. Are you looking for an indepth learning or do you think you are kind of there but want to aquire some special skills and understanding to complement your self.
4. How are you placed in your personal life?

I am sure there are some other items in the checklist that I may be missing (feel free to add them) - but at least this is what I considered while taking my decision.

Stay tuned on for on how I think ISB and IIMs rate over each other in all of the questions above depending on your answers.

Oh BTW - did I mention that we have started this blog (and by we I mean that we are a group of ISb and IIM alums) to discuss our journey/thoughts/ideas as well as your queries/concerns as far as getting into one of these schools is considered and well..also life beyond that.

We also provide professional services in helping you "get that admit!" - visit us at www.bschool-admit.com for more details

ciao