Written by Sameer Kamat

The dual MBA is being offered with increasingly diverse options to choose from so as to cater to the interests of students from varied educational and professional background. For those interested, MBA Crystal Ball presents a few facts in order to decide if the dual MBA suits your career goal or not.

Written by Sameer Kamat

In India, the majority of the institutions use either percentage or grade as a method of assessment. A few premier institutions like IITs, NITs have their own grading system. Students applying to universities outside India would be familiar with the GPA scale. In this post, MBA Crystal Ball provides some perspectives on the GPA scale and its implications for an Indian student planning to study abroad.

Written by Sameer Kamat

In the book ‘Beyond The MBA Hype’ I talk about alternative options to explore to reach some popular post-MBA goals. Launching an entrepreneurial venture is one of them. Probably that’s what prompted an MBA aspirant on one of the MBA discussion forums where MBA Crystal Ball has a presence, to wonder whether he should re-direct his tuition fees (roughly 60 lakh rupees) to being a franchise owner for a popular fast-food chain.

His situation was unique as he had already applied to several business schools and had got an offer from

Written by Sameer Kamat

For many, their MBA pursuit is usually a hush-hush affair: on the personal front, also on the professional front. You would not want inquisitive friends, relatives or neighbours spreading the word around before you have a confirmed place in the MBA college of your choice. Again you don’t want your competing office colleagues to gain an edge over you when it comes to opportunities and promotions. But now you’re in a situation where you need an outsider to write recommendations for you to complete your application. Interesting fix!

Written by Sameer Kamat

The best things in life are free (if not freely downloadable)! Air, happiness, peace of mind. Even before Beyond The MBA Hype got released, guys have been searching on Google for a free pdf download of the book. Maybe a primary indication of the level of interest in the book. Or maybe an evolving world order where everything will be free and the only currency that’ll work is goodwill. If it’s the latter, I’m feeling rich already.

For the honest ones who’ve got the book through traditional, non-adventurous means, please skip this post. For the others, here are a few perspectives.

Written by Sameer Kamat

Should you choose an Indian MBA program over a top international MBA college or Ivy League university? What does a foreign MBA mean from an RoI and post MBA career perspective?
Last unrelated question: What do you see in the photo on the left?
Option 1: An anaconda slowly tighting its grip around an unsuspecting victim’s neck
Option 2: A happy Indian dude who has managed to address the best Indian MBA vs top International MBA dilemma.
If you chose Option 1, your visualisation potential makes you fit to be in creative role and you might be wasting your time aiming for an MBA program. If you chose option 2, accept our sympathies and read on.

Written by Sameer Kamat

Low GMAT scores for Indian male (or female) applicants usually mean a big red flag. So you muster up the courage to go through the GMAT preparation ordeal again. And the result…another low GMAT score to give the earlier one some company. Most candidates in Manju’s situation would’ve lowered their expectation and settled for a not-so-high-ranked school. But what if the lower-ranked universities also dinged you. Give up on your higher study plans and go back to the job that you were trying to get away from? ‘No way,’ said teacher-turned-IT-consultant Manju Suresh who’s X-Ray vision glasses (proudly on display in the pic) showed her a different option – MS programs.

Written by Sameer Kamat

Why MBA indeed? When the question pops up during MBA essays, we blindly assume the only valid response is a passionately launched spiel on how an MBA degree will ‘widen your horizons’, ‘open up new doors’ and execute a whole lot of clichéd and hackneyed phrases.

Written by Sameer Kamat

Each of these options fall in the ‘tremendously important’ category for us. And unfortunately for a whole lot of Indian candidates, all 3 seem to collide at the most inappropriate time. The average age for the top MBA programs is around 26-27. And that’s when most Indians start thinking about marriage and (ahem) settling down. But there’s also that keeda gnawing in the background about getting a massst international degree before (sorry again) settling down. And to add to the confusion, this is also the time when their careers are just on the verge of taking off. Management roles start beckoning after having put in several years of grunge work. So what do you do? 

Written by Sameer Kamat

We are a special breed. We think differently, act differently than the rest of the world. That’s what makes us special. It also gives rise to situations and conflicts which our international brethren might find difficult to comprehend.

One such area is the role that parents play in an Indian MBA applicant’s decision making process (read financing). Here’s a post that many readers of this blog might be able to identify with. The original dilemma was posted by some who called himself ‘confused fellow’. Read up and decide for yourself if the pseudonym was justified.