Better late than never

I was all set to write my next blog on Fedex with a title "Is he the greatest player ever?".But then I got a chance to visit the IIM, Kozhikode campus. Thanks to Jean, my friend who is studying there. That was not just a mere campus tour. It put a lot of questions into my mind.Being anMBA aspirant, I took CAt thrice and ended up in 89.4, 93.6 and 97.3 %les. So the first question that came to my mind was "Shall i wait for one more year to get into any of the IIMs?Or be satisfied with any other top non IIM institutes?

Now lemme explain why I chose this title.Some sort of ambition syndrome has gripped our youth and everyone wanna do an MBA.(I am also a victim of this).Some people may say "Don't hurry,Be happy". Just get into the right B school and you need not worry about your future.I dont wanna get into the philosophical aspect saying that there is no "Amrit" (elixir of life) invented so far and everyone is gonna end up in the same place.1.91 lakh aspirants took CAT this year and the number is exponentially increasing. Why there is so much moolah about "To B-school or not to be"?Why recruiters are paying such a high packages to MBA-grads from elite institutes?The reason is simple.Imagine you are a recruiter.You can either spend a lot of money and energy in searching from a wide lot of people or take the easy way out.The easy way is to pick it up from filtered pool of MBA grads from the elite institutions.Its all about filtration.There is no reason why hirers on zero slot at IIMs pick mechanical engineers with IT backgroundfor financial functions in international banks.Nowadays trend is that, if you want a high paying job,no need to bother about your specialisation in graduation.Just get into a high ranked B-school.

I have come across many people who wanna do MBA to run a business of their own.Even i belong to that category.So does MBA teaches you how to run a profitable business?Or are there any Waltons,Ambanis or Buffet out there to reach you the basics?the answer is no.But the positions of relative power everyone 10 years or so after passing out will be advantageous to each other. The one who sat next to you will be CEO or VP of some big firm.Or he might have ventured of his own.Each and everyone in that network is going to gain that way.

Many people have asked me you can get into B+ grade institutes and do your MBA.What i feel is that these institutes are not in the frequency range of good companies and they are not gonna make a difference to your career.I will say,save that money and invest in stocks or mutual funds...you ll get good returns.

Disclosures: I am still awaiting some calls. Lets see how its gonna turn out...