Reflecting on MBA: 10 year review

 After more than 10 years of completing the MBA, taking another shot at the pros and cons with the benefit of hindsight!

Pros (same as before):

• Met some wonderful people and fantastic professors
• Got Oxford and MBA on my CV, and life long access to the Oxford network 
• Learned to have an overall perspective of the business with some in-depth theoretical understanding of business strategy 
• No regrets regarding “only if I had done an MBA”

Cons (same as before!):

• Zero additional career impact so far: what I did after MBA, I could have as easily done after doing any Masters from any reputed UK university. Even for job hunt with experience, my ACA and PwC experience is the focus for potential recruiters with none so far citing MBA as a differentiator 
• Please note that my personal circumstances in terms of not having unrestricted working rights post-MBA, looking for a job post financial crisis, absence of any financial backer/ scholarships to absorb the fees and wanting to pursue a career in London play a part in shaping my opinion. Nevertheless, considering the opportunity costs, benefits and risks, I would strongly discourage foreign students with similar circumstances to pursue an MBA in Europe. 

I don't think I will be taking another stock unless something happens to change my opinion. Unless stated, it is a write-down in my records, a waste of time and resources on balance of things.

Reflecting on MBA: 5 year review

After more than 5 years of completing the MBA, thought should take stock of the pros and cons with the benefit of hindsight!

Pros:

• Met some wonderful people and fantastic professors, making some life long friendships 
• Got Oxford and MBA on my CV, and life long access to the Oxford network 
• Learned to have an overall perspective of the business with some in-depth theoretical understanding of business strategy 
• No regrets regarding “only if I had done an MBA”

Cons:

• Zero additional career impact so far: what I did after MBA, I could have as easily done after doing any Masters from any reputed UK university. Even for job hunt with experience, my ACA and PwC experience is the focus for potential recruiters with none so far citing MBA as a differentiator 

Please note that my personal circumstances in terms of not having unrestricted working rights post-MBA, looking for a job post financial crisis, absence of any financial backer/ scholarships to absorb the fees and wanting to pursue a career in London play a part in shaping my opinion. Nevertheless, considering the opportunity costs and risks, I would still not encourage foreign students with similar circumstances to pursue an MBA in Europe. 

I will take stock in 5 more years and evaluate what I feel then.

A Different View: The Pitfalls of an MBA

Let me say it aloud before I change my mind: be careful before you do an MBA in the post-financial crisis world, especially if you are going to take out a loan to do it.

Don't get me wrong. MBA is valuable and is an enriching experience. You meet a lot of smart people and get a broader perspective about business. The MBA, however, is not a ticket to higher salary or success. You have often been told why MBA is good for you, and the surveys indicating that an MBA can double your salary may seem tempting. Hold your horses. In this post, I shall play the devil's advocate and highlight the pitfalls you should be wary of.

The Europe factor: if you do not speak any European language fluently, don't have working rights for EU, and would like to work in EU post-MBA, avoid doing an MBA from Europe. European colleges, including the LBS, have dismal placement records compared to their US counterparts. Moreover, MBA on its own is not always considered a differentiating factor in Europe. Experience would always be more valuable. The current economic climate does not help either. Almost all English speaking MBA grads will try their luck in London, making the market especially competitive wrt US or India.

Salary surveys are not always accurate: salary surveys do not cover all students. People with lower salary may not always report their salary. It would be good to understand how representative the survey is and what percentage of students it covers. Also, exceptionally high salaries can skew data, so a median figure may be more representative (which is of course not provided). Take the indicative salary figures in that glossy prospectus with a pinch of salt.

Not everybody who does an MBA is looking for a job: students from business families, entrepreneurs, social entrepreneurs, students sponsored by their companies can comprise as much as 50% of an MBA class. This is great for networking. However, it skews salary figures and hides inefficiency of placement cells. Be wary.

Don't expect academic rigour: MBA gives you a taste of everything, broadens your perspective, and is great for networking. Do not expect academic rigour comparable to engineering or any serious degree. I guess charging a fat fee and then withholding the degree is not in the interest of  marketing.

Poor placement cells: we were told point blank on day one- the responsibility to get a job is yours. Funny it doesn't say so in the marketing brochures. The experience has been similar for many friends at other top B schools in Europe, though there are some exceptions. Notably, I heard some positive things about Cranfield.

Be clear what your aim is: MBA can help you to change industry, country, and/or salary. Logically, jumps related to your previous industry will yield maximum jump. Previous consulting or investment banking experience is golden. People who are able to change all 3 to their satisfaction are few and far in between. 

Not getting a job: there will be people who won't find anything even 3 months after MBA and they will not always report it. Eventually everybody will be " placed", but not by MBA college. Quite a few of my friends went back to what they were doing before MBA or accepted roles that they didn't necessarily want. Some like me took a pay and position cut to completely change industry. I'd put this number to at least 10% of the class (considering that a large number are not looking for a job, I think this is huge). And remember all of these are smart, successful people. Economic crisis definitely played its part. Nevertheless, it may be something to think about before doing an MBA.

Overall, MBA is a good experience and you do learn and meet wonderful people. At the same time, it has its pitfalls and you should give it a careful thought, looking beyond the glossy marketing material and promise of success. It is a significant commitment, and the movie is never the same as the trailer :).

After Trinity

Trinity ended, and I have now started my consulting project with Deloitte. The MBA is almost over, and I can confidently say that I had a brilliant year, meeting a lot of smart and successful people, and learning things that changed my perspective about work, business, and life.

I am going to miss my classmates, and I regret that there was not enough time to talk in detail with each one of them. I have got friends and skills for life, and I will miss Oxford when I move out from here.

Race to the End

Trinity is racing to end, with 4 weeks already gone. As the MBA nears the end I find myself reflecting on the super-duper year that has gone go by. It was fun knowing so many different, smart people and learning a lot of useful stuff along the way. I will look back at this year as a time when something very fundamental inside me changed. I can safely say that the sheer impact that the MBA had on my perspective and the kind of people it put me in touch with makes it pretty valuable. I also think that it is fair to say that many people in my batch would share the view. I will miss Oxford...

Reflecting on SVCO

The last week was all about "Silicon Valley Comes to Oxford". The Silicon Czars gracing the occasion included Reid Hoffman (LinkedIn), Biz Stone (Twitter), Meagan Marks (Wonga) et al. Pre-event a select group of students were given the opportunity to network with some of the elite visitors on Sunday morning. The day of the event, Monday, consisted of two Master classes with the VIPs, two plenary sessions and networking events. Student buddies were assigned to some of the guests to help them around the college (though most of the VIPs have been in the school before, it is always helpful to have somebody around). I was “buddying” Reid Hoffman. This meant that I ended up missing some other events, but it was satisfying to be able to contribute to the event and learn some bits from the master.

My observation is that Reid is a genuine and private person (as was commented by one of his critics in the master class). He is smart without a shade of doubt, and has very little tolerance for either nonsense or pretence (I think that is essentially because he is very busy and these things waste time). He says few words packed with lot of meaning, and it is all up to you to understand and learn.

The networking sessions were good as well. Particularly, I enjoyed my short conversation with Meagan Marks. The Harvard-Stanford super-achieving beautiful lady also has a golden heart and spends a lot of time helping budding entrepreneurs. I found her advice about hiring and product development insightful.

The Oxford debate around the death of Silicon Valley was a non-starter: Silicon Valley is still far from Detroit. It was nevertheless interesting to hear the speakers argue it out.

I did not find the plenary panels particularly useful, but they were interesting. Most speakers gave careful or glib answers, which may or may not be particularly useful. It was however interesting to see them manoeuvring about the questions.

Overall, I think the event was fantastic. The event really pushes up the importance of SBS as a centre for technology entrepreneurship. However, as part of the Technology OBN in SBS, I would like to see most of these firms coming to recruit at SBS as well. But for now I will take what we get: the experience of learning a few things from the titans of an industry where I aspire to be in.

Silicon Valley Comes to Oxford

It is that time of the year. Well, it is Silicon Valley Comes to Oxford (SVCO) time and most of us are pretty excited to be part of the event. The list of Silicon Czars gracing Oxford include Reid Hoffman and Biz Stone. The focus will be on inspiring business minds to just do it, to be an entreprenuer in the wild-wild silicon valley. Today the top technology companies are sitting on a combined cash pile of $200 billion dollars. In our Marketing class when we talk about top brands, at least three in any ranking are technology brands. So, I think it is understandable that the event is generating so much excitement.

At the same time, the end of this month is going to a heavy one with umpteen assignments due around the same time. And if you think there is going to be peace after that, the exams are not too far. The good news is that exams end on 16th December, and there shall be ample opportunity to laze and party after that in the cold British winter. But till then we roll!