Aditya Vaze is a successful professional with over a decade of work experience who worked with MBA Crystal Ball to define his career path and made it happen with an admit to ISB PGPMAX – the executive MBA from ISB for senior professionals.
This is the transcript of our our video Q&A with Aditya. Watch the original video here: ISB Executive MBA vs IIM Full-time MBA
Why I chose ISB Executive MBA over full-time MBA
How I got into ISB PGPMAX EMBA
by Aditya Vaze
MG: Welcome Aditya! So to begin with, can you share an overview about yourself and your qualifications?
Aditya: Sure. So I’ve done my engineering from Mumbai itself – from Mumbai University. I graduated in mechanical engineering and then I went on to pursue my MS from Clemson University in the USA. I’ve worked in the US ever since that.
I’ve been working for Wilson Composits which is my ninth year working for them now and it was a pretty interesting opportunity that I had. It entailed me setting up a base for their company in India.
So it was like setting up a startup in India – in Mumbai.
In the last 5-6 years, especially after we set up an office for design engineers and estimators in Mumbai, we’ve expanded to have our own factory. So the company’s grown quite a lot in terms of numbers.
There was just me at the start about 8-9 years ago, but now it’s grown to about 130 employees across Mumbai and Pune. Pune is where our factories are. So, it’s been great to have seen this growth and that’s largely what I do currently.
Regarding my personal life, I stay with my wife, daughter and my parents and I have a brother who stays in Boston, USA.
MG: When you mentioned about Masters, that’s a very common thing that a lot of Indian grads think about and decide. So tell us how your decision-making process was and any insights, tips or learning that you had from your experience during the application?
Aditya: So this Masters will technically end up being my second Master’s program after my MS. I always kind of contemplated doing an MBA about 10 years ago when I was about 28 before I applied for my MS.
I used to work in Mahindra before that as an executive assistant to the managing director. That got me exposure to a lot of people who were MBAs and board members in Mahindra and that definitely got my interest up in management quite a bit.
I was leaning towards doing an MBA at that point of time. But since I wanted to get international exposure and learn more about operations and supply chain, I decided to go down that path. Obviously, I was pretty clear that I wanted to do an MBA at some point of time in the future. So that was my general thought-process for the last 10 years or so.
In June 2023, I gave the GRE. I can’t say I did phenomenally well, but I did pretty well. I got 320 at that point of time which was a higher score than what I got when I applied for my MS about 10 years ago. I had a 314 at that point of time.
This time I applied to a few full-time programs at business schools in India and abroad.
I got into IIM Lucknow’s full-time MBA program for executives and also Manchester Business School which is a good school – among the top 50 in the world.
So I was pretty happy about that.
But then after speaking to certain individuals, even you for that matter, I decided to go down the path of going for the PGP MAX program because a lot of people told me that at this stage in my career, I should pursue this program.
Although it’s part-time, this program has a lot of value in India and even outside. So that’s how I decided to go the PGP MAX route and decide not to opt for those full-time programs and here I am.
I think I pretty much made the right decision because the more I’ve read about this course, I realise it definitely has a good reputation.
MG: Absolutely! So walk us through your thought process when you were exploring the admits that you had. You had two admits – as you mentioned. So why were you in a dilemma? Also, you took up our career counseling service. Help us understand how that contributed to your decision-making process? What was useful about that discussion?
Aditya: Right, so what happened after I got admission was I had the mindset – and from what I’ve heard from my friends and other people – that a part-time MBA doesn’t really have that much value in India compared to certain part-time MBAs in schools abroad.
Since I already had a Masters in place in the form of an MS, I definitely wanted to pursue one more full-time Masters ideally because I thought that would bring more value.
But both the MBA programs that I got into were aligned more towards people who are in their early 30s. The people who interviewed me made that pretty clear.
So I was already going to be one of the older persons in the class and the job opportunities after taking time off work basically wouldn’t probably have been commensurate to what I was already getting paid at this current company.
I began to honestly realize after I applied – it was a bit of an afterthought – that I had always felt if I could do it part-time, having done a full-time Masters in the form of an MS.
It takes quite a lot out of you – going to the campus, studying there and leaving work. So when I got to know about this course, especially when I took your career counseling services, I decided to go down that path.
The reason I took your career counseling services in the first place was because I started getting a lot of mixed opinions from friends and family, after I got into the IIM Lucknow’s course.
Some of them were in favour of me joining this course.
I spoke to a family friend who is a senior person from IIT Bombay. He has a recruitment firm of his own. He told me not to do the course right now. He said it’s a great course if you’re in your early 30s but not a great course – if you’re in your late 30s – for me right now.
So I start thinking around a different path and since there was a bit of a clash, I decided to contact MBA Crystal Ball. I reached out to you only to ask some basic questions but it led to a full-blown career counseling session and I’m glad I actually did it because it gave me a lot more clarity.
My different career options were very well charted out, what I would get from each of the schools that I had already gotten into was mapped out for me and then upon your suggestion, I decided to apply.
I wasn’t sure I’d get in because this was already the third round of PGP MAX and I was fairly late. That’s where I felt that if I’m going to take a chance in the 3rd round, I’d like to go ahead with taking your services because I was already in touch with you and whatever your process I had seen was very thorough.
Since I thought that the chances of me getting in the 3rd round would be limited, I decided to give it my best shot and go with your services and it was the best choice I made.
So no regrets there at all. It was fantastic and that’s pretty much my entire thought process behind what happened in the last 3-4 months while working with MBA Crystal Ball.
MG: Great! Just to paraphrase, I think you said 3 things which contributed to your decision to let go of the full-time programs. One was your fit. The 2nd was about the career boost that you were not sure whether you will get any.
And the 3rd one was essentially about the effort it would take for a full-time program at this stage of your life and career. I think those are pretty good relevant points that a lot of people at this stage would benefit from. Thanks so much for sharing that.
Tell us how the interview was conducted. What was the experience like when you interviewed for your application?
Aditya: So after the application – which was a pretty thorough process, after many iterations of working on recommendations and even my essays, we went on to the interview stage.
I had about 5 days to prepare from the time I got an interview call from the PGPMAX program and I took up your interview services for that. There were 2 interviews conducted which was just perfect for those 5 days.
The questions asked in the mock interviews were very relevant, they were to the point. I felt when I eventually got to the interview, I was confident because I knew what all could be thrown at me.
Eventually the final interview was not as complex as some of the questions that we discussed during the mock interviews but the interview didn’t really go completely to plan. I was pretty nervous at the start.
But as time went on in the interview, I got past that nervousness and things got smoother. I ended fairly strongly and I think that was one of the reasons why I got through.
Apart from that, I did speak about my aspirations and what I wanted to do which are fairly regular questions I believe for people of this course. I think all the people who interviewed me were alumni of this course.
So they definitely understood what it takes to do this course and get in. I’m glad I finally got in although I was a bit nervous for the last two weeks before the results came, but it all ended up well.
MG: This is again a very important thing because you told me you had a shaky start to the interview but you kept at it. I think a lot of people feel that if you have a bad start, it’s just gone. But you’ve essentially proved that that’s not the case.
Aditya: I can speak not only for this interview but even interviews like – say IIM Lucknow interview. I didn’t start shakily out there but it was more like the interviewers purposely rattle you a bit by trying to intimidate you in a certain way.
The point is that both of these situations – whether it’s self-inflicted or whether it’s done by somebody else, can shake your confidence and make you nervous.
But I think without being too hard on yourself at that point of time, if you just relax and keep going with the flow, things definitely get better – is what I experienced in these interviews. And that’s what I would recommend to most people who give interviews.
MG: As an ending note, how do you see this program benefiting your career going forward?
Aditya: When I talk about this particular company that I’m working at currently, I’d definitely like to work here for a few more years because I’ve been associated with them for a while.
Although I work in a sort-of-CEO position not formally, but in an informal way, I would like to get the formal title of CEO which is one of the reasons I’ve decided to do this MBA.
So that is basically my goal in the next few years after completing the course – to get that CEO experience and grow further from there. Then we’ll see how and where the future takes me, maybe I’d like to move on to probably bigger companies, bigger multinationals and work in senior positions out there.
Eventually in the next say 5-10 years, using the qualifications of my masters which is my MS and this MBA and all my work experience, I’d probably aim to be the CEO of a bigger company than this.
So, that’s generally what my goal would be in the next 5-10 years and short-term goal would be right here in this company.
MG: Absolutely excellent! And I’m sure you’ll make it happen. Thanks so much for sharing these experiences with us, Aditya and all the best for your MBA!
At MBA Crystal Ball, we’ve helped many applicants get into the elite business schools often with scholarships for Full-time and Executive MBA. Reach out to us at info@mbacrystalball.com if you’re looking for professional help with your applications. Good luck!
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