When an MBA from IIM is not enough: My second MBA journey from Kerala to Kellogg

Vivek got his undergrad and masters degrees from two premier institutes in Kerala – NIT Calicut and IIM Kozhikode. With those degrees, he had a pretty good run in the corporate world – with 2 Big 4 firms and a startup.

But Vivek longed for more! A one-year MBA from Kellogg seemed enticing. It was an opportunity to get a second MBA from an elite, international b-school in half the time.

But why was an IIM degree not enough? What pushed him to apply to an M7 business school in the United States?

We’ll let Vivek narrate the story.
 

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One-year-MBA from M7 (Kellogg)

Second MBA after IIM

by Vivek Nair

 

Born in Dubai, where my father was working, I moved back to Kerala at the age of four and grew up in a relatively small town in a middle-class background.

I attended a state syllabus school near my house until the 10th grade and was academically proficient, consistently topping my class, and actively participating in quiz competitions. I was also the joint batch topper in the 10th board exams.

Further, I did my BTech in Computer Science and Engineering from NIT Calicut in 2013. I got recruited from campus by Deloitte for their ‘Business Technology Analyst’ role, which had a good mix of technology and project management.

Although this choice was somewhat unplanned and coincidental, it sparked my interest in management and motivated me to pursue an MBA in India.

In 2016, I was fortunate enough to gain admission to the Indian Institute Of Management Kozhikode (IIMK), which brought me back to the same city where I had done my undergrad.

With a consulting mindset, I focused on strategy courses during my time at IIMK and eventually secured a Management Consultant role with KPMG India.

I also got an internship opportunity with Microsoft during my time at IIMK, which introduced me to the field of Product Management, a field I eventually pivoted to.

After IIMK, I joined KPMG as a Management Consultant and worked on projects in the Financial Services and Technology sectors.

While I enjoyed learning new things, I felt that something was missing. I wanted to get into building things, which led me to rediscover my love for tech and pivot to Product Management.

Without prior PM experience, I found a ‘Solutions Consultant’ role at a relatively small B2B startup focusing on the lending space.

My experience in the financial services industry and a firm understanding of gaps that could be filled by tech helped me secure the opportunity.

This experience later helped me transition into a full-fledged Product Manager role at Juspay, a payments startup in India where I worked for the last three years.

In the last 1-2 years, I aspired for a geography change and sought a role with global exposure.

It also felt like the right time to pause my career and return to school to fine-tune my skills for the next phase of my career growth.

I finalized the decision to pursue a second master’s in September 2023. Initially, I was planning for programs in Spring 2025 / Fall 2025.

I started researching about GMAT exam and learned about the GMAT Focus exam and the pattern change.

The syllabus changes in GMAT Focus favored my strengths and required minimal additional effort.

I booked my exam date for December 2nd and began with the free GMAT Focus Official Prep from mba.com, brushing up on fundamentals.

After finishing this in a couple of weeks, I dove into the official mocks, preferring to do tests and analyze them rather than spending too much time on basics.

The QA section, with only Problem Solving, was relatively easier, but achieving a perfect 90 score initially eluded me due to recurring silly mistakes.

I focused on being extra cautious and spent more time on each question in subsequent mocks to improve.

In Verbal, I consistently scored between 81-85, which was acceptable to me since I didn’t consider myself particularly strong in that area.

Regarding DI, although I had high hopes, I struggled to finish it on time in most of my mocks. Lengthy MSR questions were always a challenge, and I often fell into DS traps.

Rushing through the last few questions resulted in visibly lower accuracy in the final five questions in all mocks.

After taking six mocks, I still had a couple of weeks before the test day.

I went through Manhattan material on Verbal, shared by a friend, which helped me understand common trap answers and brought more structure to my approach.

Eventually, I was fortunate to get a good score of 745 in my first attempt (QA: 90, VA: 88, DI: 83).

From a target school perspective, Initially, I was looking at programs with a strong tech/PM focus, such as MS PM at CMU and Tech MBA at Cornell/Stern, along with other one-year programs.

Being a second MBA, I didn’t want to pursue traditional two-year programs, and with my work experience being on the higher side (8.5 years), I focused on one-year programs.

After talking to a few others who followed a similar path, I added the Kellogg 1Y program to my shortlist.

The flexibility to take electives of your choice and tailor the program based on your preference seemed perfect for me.

By the time I had my GMAT Focus score, Round 2 deadlines for the 2024 intake were less than a month away. While I initially planned for 2025, I wanted to try for one college in the given short time.

That’s when I realized I would need the help of an admissions consultant. I spoke to a few consultants and did a profile review.

I reached out to MCB during that time, based on a friend’s referral, and did a profile review with MBA Crystal Ball (MCB).

MCB gave me the confidence to try for R2 for the Kellogg 1Y program, which was my most preferred program.

I took the one-school package with MCB to help with my application to Kellogg.

While I was clueless about where to begin, MCB helped structure the whole application process. They helped in highlighting the experiences that I should emphasize and seamlessly stitched everything together.

MCB worked with me through multiple reviews of my submissions, and I was very happy with the final draft of my essays.

For the 2024 intake, I chose to apply only to the Kellogg 1Y program, as I felt it was my best shot and, given the limited time, I didn’t want to spread my efforts across many half-baked applications to multiple schools.

During the essay drafting phase, I noted down multiple anecdotes from my career that aligned with the values I wanted to highlight and the lessons I had learned.

While not all of them made it into the essays, most were useful during the interview phase.

My Kellogg interview was with an alum who was also working in the tech space.

The interview was structured in a friendly manner, focusing on why I wanted a second MBA, my strengths and weaknesses, and why I was specifically looking for the 1Y program.

A month after my interview, on March 14th, I received the admission decision that I had been accepted into the program.

What I’ve understood during this phase is that the 1Y program at Kellogg works well for people who have a prior business education background and have more clarity on their next steps.

I wanted to continue in product management and accelerate my career in a different geography.

The prior relevant work experience and aligning that with my goals would’ve helped convince the admissions committee to admit me to the shorter one year program.

My advice for Indian MBA aspirants, especially those seeking a second MBA, is to have clarity about your career path and how the program will help you achieve your goals.

This alignment is crucial in convincing the admissions committee of your suitability for the program.

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Reach out to MBA Crystal Ball for admissions consulting or career counselling help: info@mbacrystalball.com

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