Story of an MBA dropout – An IITian goes Beyond The MBA Hype
Written by Sameer Kamat
This wasn’t meant to be a promotional post for the MBA book. In fact, many of the events in this story happened many years back, before the book was published. I had almost forgotten about the interactions with our friend, Amit (name changed).
But he got in touch again after reading the book and mentioned that the content and advice in the book resonated with the discussions we had many moons back. I asked if he’d be willing to share his story with others who might be thinking a lot of what’s mentioned in the book is pure fiction.
Several names (including the narrator, bschools and his employers) have not been revealed, for reasons that will become apparent once you read his story. And trust us, this post isn’t made up.
Story of an MBA dropout
Introduction
After graduating from college, we usually follow in the footsteps of those that have “done well” in life. Here in India, most of those that have “done well” would have gotten their MBAs right out of college, while some would have gained a couple of years’ work experience and then taken the plunge. An MBA being a professional degree, sometimes we fail to analyze whether it would really add value to our careers.
Some of it by accident and most of it by design, I have, over time, continually analyzed the value that an MBA would add to my professional life, and have consciously taken the decision to not pursue it. Through all this time, I have come across people in a similar situation (as mine) falling to peer, parental, or other pressures, and succumbing to the lure of a glittering and shining pot of gold at the end of the MBA road. I hope my story drives prospective MBAs towards analyzing their situations better, and coming to a decision that is right for their professional lives.
The IIT days
A couple of years before graduating from IIT, in 2002, I started thinking about what I would like to do with my life after the IIT honeymoon was over. Most of my seniors were preparing for GRE, looking forward to heading to the US for their MS+PhDs.
Some of them were preparing for CAT and dreamt of getting into one of the IIMs and finally ending up with the Rs.1 crore+ (INR 10 million) job offers that newspapers and websites were periodically flashing on their front pages. The others opted for campus placements. I knew that I wanted to do something different with my life, but did not know exactly what. One day I somehow strayed on to the “B-Schools” section of Businessweek.com.
Quite a few clicks later, it slowly dawned on me that doing an MBA at one of the top US B-Schools might also be a viable option. With no seniors to guide me, I got in touch with current students at various schools, and with their help, prepared a list of schools that I would apply to. I then took the GMAT and TOEFL, and sent in my application packets.
By early 2004, I had admits from two top-30 full-time MBA programs. I chose the better ranked one, and after completing VISA formalities, reached the US in Fall 2004.
MBA – the first attempt
Naïve as I was, I had never given much thought to how I would finance my MBA. My seniors (of the MS + PhD variety) assured me that graduate assistantships were very easy to come by. After reaching the US, I realized that there was virtually no financial aid for MBA students (I did not qualify for their fellowships, and they offered only a handful of assistantships for the entire class). Just as my personal funds were about to get over, I was lucky to find myself a graduate assistantship at one of the engineering departments.
Everything went fine till the sixth quarter. Then all of a sudden, my assistantship was cancelled. No amount of running around and begging and pleading helped, and I had to discontinue my MBA. I took up a few part-time jobs to somehow support myself, at the same time hoping against hope that I would be awarded a new assistantship.
One day I received a letter from the office for international students, which stated that I was “out of status” and therefore would need to leave the country immediately. I packed up my bags and came back to India in May 2006. So here I was, 2 years after graduating from IIT, not having gained any work experience, and having dropped out of business school.
Entrepreneurship
By sheer chance I happened to meet with the heir to a well-known business group in my city. He was planning to set up a manufacturing unit for flyash bricks and tiles. After speaking with me for a while, he asked if I would be interested in working with him, and I immediately accepted his offer. This was my first real job – and I was going to help him establish a new company.
I worked for him for a year. Through this short period of time, I gained a lot of knowledge and experience in a wide range of domains. I learnt accounting from the chief accountant of the group, and ended up building a spreadsheet-based financial analysis model with what-if scenario building capability. I liaised with German heavy equipment manufacturers, and was actively involved in negotiating price and other terms of sale of equipment for the factory.
I got to know more about how to secure debt funding. I worked with many civil, mechanical and instrumentation engineers, and oversaw the installation of various types of machinery. In short, this was the most intellectually and professionally stimulating environment that I had ever been exposed to, and I relished every moment of it.
Six months into my new job, one fine day, my parents told me that since everyone they knew had an MBA, I too should write the CAT and get my MBA from one of the IIMs. I explained to them that I was going through one of the best phases of my life, and it would be best not to interrupt it. However, they seemed to have tens of MBA examples to go by. Finally we agreed that I would take a go/no-go decision within a year or two.
Working in analytics and then in consulting
In May 2007, I received a call from a recruiter for an opening in a consulting and analytics division of a big name multinational firm. At the time, I thought that though I had learnt a lot in my job at the manufacturing firm, the learning curve was now straightening out, and if I were to do an MBA in a year or two, it would be better to be associated with a well-known brand.
Also, in the long term, I visualized myself as being in the service industry and not manufacturing. I accepted their offer and joined the MNC in June 2007.
I worked for the MNC for 3 years – June ’07 – May ’10. I joined as a senior analyst, and at the time of leaving, I was a manager leading the forecasting and modeling teams. I had learned the fundamentals of analytics, modeling, data mining, etc., and provided consulting services to quite a few big name clients. Once again, the learning curve was very steep, and I gained hugely from the experience.
From early 2010, I began to realize a things that had changed from the time I had joined the MNC till then – my learning curve was starting to level, my projects were not very different from one another, and I wanted a changed in location. I also wanted to work for a pure-play consulting firm. With no specific outcome in mind, I floated my resume once again, and received a call from a boutique consulting firm. This was for a managerial role, and it sounded very interesting. A few interviews later, I had an offer letter in my hand, which I then accepted. Within a month, I had moved to a new city, and joined the consulting firm.
MBA – A second attempt?
Through my 3 years at the MNC, I gave deep thought to doing an MBA quite a few times. Many of my friends and well-wishers advised me to go back to the US and complete the 2 remaining quarters. My parents advised me to not take any more chances in an unknown and foreign land (USA), write CAT and pursue my MBA at one of the IIMs. In the midst of all this cacophony, I started thinking about what would really make sense for me.
At the MNC all my peers already had MBAs. Not having it did not impede my professional growth or learning in any way. At the consulting firm virtually everyone – peers and subordinates – had an MBA. Most had opted for the CAT / IIM route right after their engineering, some for PGPX and ISB, while the rest had done their MBAs from US B-Schools. And here I was, at the same level and with similar responsibilities as them, but without the coveted degree.
I thought that if I were to write CAT then (I was 29!), assuming that I would get through, I would end up in the company of students with very little or no real world work experience. I would need to look out for lateral placements since usual placements would be for entry-level positions. In any case, it did not sound like a good idea to try and get into a B-School that I was already visiting as an interview panel member during placement seasons.
The next option was PGPX. A few other managers at my level had done their PGPXs not too long ago. I could see no reason why I should do one, and then get hired at the position that I already was at (or maybe at a level higher), not to mention the investment and lost time in the entire exercise. A similar argument was true for ISB as well.
The last option was US and European B-Schools. For US schools, I was a little too old for their regular full-time MBA programs, and not quite of age for their executive MBA programs. Also, taking on an extra $150k in debt did not seem to be the right thing to do.
For European B-Schools though, since the average age was higher, I was at the sweet spot. Also, there were a few good yearlong full-time programs (for example, INSEAD) that would work really well for me. Both of these options, especially the European one, sounded like viable ones.
The “middleman” argument
When you work in consulting, where virtually everyone has an MBA from a top school, you can’t help but feel that you have a gap that you need to fill. This is when I felt the need to talk to someone who would be able to understand my situation and offer unbiased practical advice.
I got in touch with Sameer Kamat, who helped me see things from a totally different angle. He said that a B-School acts as a “middleman” – an agent that either preps you for a managerial role, or helps you switch between domains (IT to banking, etc.). In my case, I was already in a managerial role, and wasn’t looking to switch domains either. Therefore, bringing a “middleman” into the picture and in the process spending $150k and 2 prime years of life (not to mention the time it would take for me to repay the hefty debt) wasn’t a good idea.
He also told me that if I were to graduate from a top B-School, I would probably get hired at the same or next higher level, which I would anyway reach in a couple of years time – why spend those two years in a B-School and in the process fork out $150k?
It could not have hit me any harder – I realized what a grave mistake I was about to make. I shelved my MBA plans, and haven’t looked back since.
Where I am today
Today, I offer MBA and B-School related advice to quite a few of my colleagues. I try my best to be unbiased – in addition to giving them my own example, I also talk about those in the company that have done really well after doing an MBAs. I encourage them to think hard, come up with the right argument(s) for and/or against, and only then take a decision.
Just as the “middleman” argument worked for me, anyone wanting to do an MBA needs to find the argument that works for him, which would help him decide whether it makes sense to take the plunge, or wait for some more time, or to not do an MBA at all. I warn them against jumping into the MBA muddle because of peer, parental or other pressures.
Knowing the importance of framing the right argument (such as the “middleman” argument) for important career decisions, I have found Sameer’s book – Beyond the MBA Hype – helpful in assisting me in framing similar arguments for those that I advise, for or against an MBA, as the case may be. My advisees and I have found the book offering very practical perspectives on the various facets of an MBA that everyone should consider when taking the plunge.
Conclusion
It has been more than 18 months since I had the “middleman” discussion. During this time, I have grown my team at the consulting firm acquired a large and diverse portfolio of clients, traveled to the US for business development activities, visited top business and technical schools across India for recruitment drives through 2 placement seasons, and recently been promoted.
As of now, and for the foreseeable future, I have shelved my MBA plans. I am greatly enjoying what I am doing, and will continue to do so for some time to come. Looking back, sometimes I feel that maybe I have been very lucky; things have worked out really well for me – an MBA-dropout.
This post is longer than usual. But it comes from Amit’s heart, so we were reluctant to edit anything from it (except the names). Also, if it sounds as if this is a sales pitch for our services, it’s not. Though I had many interactions with Amit (over email and phone), he was not a client.
He is a very intelligent and hardworking guy who just got some bad cards dealt out to him by destiny. But he’s used his determination to get his career and life back on track and achieve more than what regular MBA grads are able to accomplish.
If you have queries for Amit, he’d be happy to address them below.
Cambridge University's MBA Director, Dr Jochen Runde, recommends the bestselling book Beyond The MBA Hype as 'required reading for anyone contemplating an MBA at an international business school.'
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Hi Amit,
A very heart felt and thought provoking story. Congratulations on making peace with your career decision and good luck in your future endeavours!
However, to play devil’s advocate on behalf of many readers, I have a few questions/ observations -
1) If you graduated in 2002, and pursued your MBA in 2004 – It would mean that you technically had 2 years of work experience somewhere in between as. It would be great to know the nature of this work experience and how that played out in the long run.
2) Why would someone with an amazing opportunity to be part of a start up ( Your Manufacturing stint) leave the entrepreneurship path and go back to the corporate rat race – aka consulting firm? What challenges did you face that compelled you to go corporate? Peer pressure of being associated with a “Brand”?, Compensation? This would be very helpful for readers who would like to assess both sides of the coin before – Quitting their jobs and going the entrepreneurship way
3) Throughout the article, it seems like the decision to not do an MBA was more forced due to circumstances and less by choice – For example dropping out of the first 2 years in the US due to lack of financial aid. Not doing an MBA in the US / Europe was an economic decision considering the prohibitive US$ 150K price tag, Not going to IIM for the difference in Work Experience in the peer group which reflects in on campus placements
- Does that mean that if you were 5 years younger – and an opportunity to do a MBA was given you would look at this with a different lens?
4) Credibility to an experienced professional comes from her work experience, credibility of a serial entrepreneur comes from his past ventures so what gives credibility to a young professional – Its the education stamp. With this context, may I ask if your way of looking at this would be any different if you were not from IIT (aka already has one stamp of recognition?).
Would the route be the same who has no stamp of recognition and will have to fight his/ her way harder to establish this credibility?
Just to give heads up – I do not have a MBA and nor do I plan to get one in the future. I have worked for a management consulting firm and now work in Private Equity – both places where MBAs are highly regarded and some may argue lack of which may become a glass ceiling for me. Therefore, I have no ulterior motive to encourage or discourage an MBA and these questions purely to help our readers get a better perspective of this rather interesting subject from someone who has been down this path
Jaineel, thanks for your questions. Below I have attempted to answer them in the same order:
1) As stated in my post, I started researching business schools in 2002, and after graduating from IIT in 2004, joined the MBA program.
2) “Brand” was a factor, but a minor one, the major ones being: (a) Debt – The company was primarily debt-funded. We were sort of cash-strapped, and disbursement of every progressive tranche required substantially more effort. (b) Equipment – Unexpectedly, customs levied a sizable duty on clay extruders that we imported from Germany. With banks giving us a tough time, things were not looking that great.
(c) People – The company had only 6 employees, which meant that everyone had to wear multiple hats. 18-hour workdays were quite common, with no weekends or holidays – it had started taking a toll on all of us.
(d) Competition – Our competition was catching up fast. Soon after our company was established, 2 other groups also got into the fray. Deals that we took for granted were now proving to be difficult to crack.
Compensation was not much of a factor – if you are one of the first 6 employees of a startup, it never is.
3) My US bschool experience was an accident – I did not have a choice. However, subsequently, every time I decided not to pursue my MBA, the reasoning was based on factors such ROI (would it be worthwhile to spend $150k?), fit (average age and years of work experience at IIMs), etc. Each time I considered these factors, the arguments that I came up with were strong enough to convince me to not do an MBA. Therefore, these were conscious decisions based on logical arguments and careful thought.
If I would have been 5 years younger, I would have followed a similar process – after considering relevant factors that would have prevailed at the time, I would have framed arguments, and then taken a decision based on the strength (and direction) of those arguments. Unfortunately I will never know if my final decision would have been any different.
4) I don’t think I am qualified or experienced enough to make a generalized statement on whether “education stamp” gives credibility to a young professional. Taking my own example, I think the IIT stamp surely helped – entry into my earlier as well as current company would have been difficult without it.
If you have worked for a consulting firm in the past and are now employed at a private equity firm, all without an MBA, you obviously have done really well in life. In my experience, while I have seen that without an MBA one might reach a glass ceiling, there are quite a few exceptions.
I fully understand your intent, and appreciate these questions. I do hope that my answers help readers get a better perspective of my story.
Thanks Amit,
Very interesting stuff indeed. Hope to stay connected on the forum.
Hi Amit,
I am also facing the same kind of pressure. I completed by B.com as at a very young age. My interest in commerce arose at a very young age when I got involved in my father’s business. I had people interactions, accounting, inventory management, cash handling and lot of other stuffs which I enjoyed it. I also got interested in Computers. After completing graduation, I got a job in a IT company in my hometown as a Business Analyst. This post has been good and I am enjoying what I do as my past experience has helped me a lot.
From my parents perspective, seeing everyone having a professional degree..wants me to also go get one. I have been trying for MBA preparing for CAT, XAT but results have not been as expected. I am planning to do from a top bschool itself. As I have been told that chances of growth in a organization are low, if MBA is done from a low ranked bschool. Is this true?
My friends have become CA, CS, CFA and MBAs. And seeing their degrees, my parents want me to pursue one master degree. Seeing my continuous failures in CAT, they are asking me for next alternative. I dont know what to do. But I want to study further and do my masters, gain knowledge & build skills. But I am a total confused geek who does not know which path to take.
Adding to the pressure here has been one more factor, my brother, being an Engineer from a top university, got into IIM. The burden for me to do MBA from a top bschool has come onto my shoulders now, if I am going for an MBA. I am totally confused as to what to do. Could you guide me?
Hello Ayush,
Right after you graduate with an MBA from a big-name school, it would have a lot of value – recruiters would likely give it a lot of weightage when evaluating you. However, every piece of paper warps and loses color with time, and an MBA (or for that matter any degree) is no different. The point that I am trying to make is that while an MBA from a ‘good’ school might open doors, once you are in an organization, your growth is dependent on your performance relative to others at your level. If that had not been the case, using an extreme example, MBA dropouts like me would have been unemployable, and had zero growth. Like all rules, there is an exception though – some opt to do part-time/executive MBAs while holding regular jobs, which gets them a few brownie points that might help them get a little ahead in the race. For this discussion, let us keep things simple and discount this exception.
Coming to your specific situation, assuming that you probably have around a couple of years of work experience, you have the unique advantage of having time/age on your side. Working off the information you have provided in your post, you have the luxury of giving yourself a couple more years at your current firm, graduate to the level of a senior business analyst, and then opt for an MBA with a specialization in technology/IT (assuming that you would want to continue to work in IT). As a recruiter for my company, I have come across MBAs (with backgrounds similar to yours) from both VGSOM (IIT Kharagpur) and IIT Delhi that had a strong focus on IT/technology. I am sure other IITs, as well as various other bschools offer similar specializations. Alternatively, you can shoot a little higher and look at a few international schools as well. In my experience, Cornell and Purdue fit the above specifications (they have great engineering schools that you can take electives from).
I can almost ‘feel’ the pressures you are facing – peer, parental, sibling, and other pressures make things very tough. They way I used to deal with them was by concentrating only on the next steps in my professional life and shutting out everything else. Let me explain this in a little more detail. If I were a business analyst, I would look at what a ‘model’ senior business analyst in my company is currently doing. If he is responsible for 5 different workflows, and I am just working on 1, I would set a strict timeline by which I would drive myself to gain a level of expertise that would enable me to take up maybe 3, or 4, or even 5 workflows. If he were mentoring 2 junior analysts, given the knowledge that I would have gained by then, I would ask my manager to ‘buddy’ me up with a new joinee that I can then mentor. In short, I would do all that I possibly could to prove that I am ready for the next level. My manager and the company have a vested interest in promoting/growing those that are doing better than others at the same level. That, in my opinion, is a much better way to look at growth than counting the number of warped pieces of discolored paper that my superiors in the company have.
In summary, if I were you, I would:
1. Keep doing what I am doing, and give myself another couple of years,
2. Keep evaluating various MBA programs (with focus on tech/IT) till it is time, and
3. Be proactive at my workplace in all possible ways.
Best of luck!
Hello,
I have been fighting with myself if I should go for MBA or NOT from quite a few months. I work with a product based company as a firmware design lead. I have about 6 years of experience in Embeded systems. I have been looking for an MBA course in a field that would help be leverage the experience that I have and move ahead. I am not able to link the Objective of MBA courses that exist with what I do or that can accentuate my domain experience. Any advice?
Hello Deepthi,
First off, let me begin by saying that I am not the best person to offer such advice – Sameer, the moderator of this blog – is the authoritative encyclopedia on this subject. Having said that let me tell you what I know.
Looks like you are trying to find answers to 2 questions:
1. Should I do an MBA?
2. Are there any MBA programs that cater specifically to my experience and area of specialization?
It also looks like the answer to the second question would lead to the first. Let’s tackle these one by one.
To put it simply, if you are looking to change your industry/domain/role, or want to gain management skills/knowledge in an experiential/classroom setting, an MBA might be the right option for you. From what you have written, it sounds like you don’t want to change your domain/industry – you are contemplating doing an MBA because you want to gain knowledge and hone your skills that would help you build on the domain experience you have acquired so far.
Most MBA programs would offer a smattering of subjects such as finance, strategy, accounts, economics, organizational behavior, business statistics, etc., with the option of taking electives from various schools/departments on campus. If the business school also happens to have a good engineering school on campus, then they are usually flexible enough to give you the option of taking a handful of electives (both pure technical, or those with some ‘softer elements’ blended in) from them. If this is what you are looking for, all you need to do is look up top engineering schools and consider the business schools on campus (IITs in India; MIT, Cornell, Michigan, Purdue, etc. in USA). However, I am assuming that that is not what you are after – you seem to be looking for more specialized programs that have more of a technical/engineering bent, with the right amount of ‘softer elements’ baked in. If this is the case, you might want to look at Master of Engineering Management programs. In these programs, candidates have the option to tailor them to their specific needs.
If you have any further questions on which programs to look at specifically in your line of work (“embedded systems”), Sameer might be able to give you more advice. Sameer, please add/comment.
Amit,
This is your story, your page and you are doing a good job answering the queries.
Too many cooks can spoil the broth. So with your permission, I’ll stay out and let you continue the good work.
Hi,
With all due respect to Sameer, this story is either coocked up or the character in this story is the biggest fool i have heard of. reasons:
1. If you did not have any idea abt how u will fund ur mba , why the hell u went there in US?!!! I have admit from top 20 college with non cos-igner loan for tuition still i am treading cautiouly and am going to lower ranked college bcoz theere i am 200% surecome what may I will have funds (full tuiion plus living stipend they gave me). I also have all plans chaled up , and evryone does. how can an IITan (unless he is from reserved catagory, again no insult intended,I myself could not clear IIT from general quota) act so so stupid!!
2. U finished 6 querters , and had te option of finish remaiing 2, that hardly would cost you any money , hy mention $150K again and again !!!??/
Prakash,
Thanks for sharing your views. I’ll just address the first part (as it’s directed at me) and leave the rest to Amit (if he chooses to answer them).
If this had been a marketing gimmick or about revenue, then what we make from our admission consulting services far exceeds the royalty that selling a few copies of the book might bring in. So, from a ‘business’ perspective, ideally we should have done what the rest of the MBA industry does – promote the benefits of an MBA over-enthusiastically and attract more clients. In contrast, this article might end up driving away our potential clients.
If you’ve been following us for a while (on this blog and the rest of the forums), do you think we’d take the risk of cooking up stories and spoiling all the goodwill we’ve built up over the years?
Of course, you reserve the right to judge the article and the intentions of the guest writer. But I hope you decide to hang around and keep the faith.
Btw, congrats on getting a full tuition waiver plus stipend. Wondering if you’d like to share your application story in a guest post for us?
I never said the story is surely cooked up one , but my point was if it is a cooked up one, it shold not have loopholes so as to make it exactly like a true one. I believe even cooked up stories can help people especially in some cases where you wnt to get ur point across (like in this case), there is no harm in that. But if the story is real , i feel its a stupid act by he character. And if it is cooked no harm in that bcoz it is trying to put forward a important message and help others, but in that case the nitty gritties are to be taken care of because it is supposed to be atrue story and should sound true.
Thanks Sameer for offering me the privilage of sharing my story , it would be an honour. I will get in touch.
Prakash,
It is easy to see mistakes in hindsight, but in general we tend to be optimistic in foresight. Such irrational optimism exists more so in the mind of a freshly-minted 22 year old who is about to graduate.
I feel what is more important is whether we (1) have learned from our past mistakes, and (2) are making an effort to prevent others from committing them. To the first point, to some extent I think I have – a couple of years ago I stopped myself from making what I believe would have been yet another mistake. On the second point, I hope my story on this page urges people to work out a strong logical personalized argument for/against an MBA before taking the plunge.
Congrats on your admit.