This post is formally an entry for the InsideIIM B-school debate
Institute- VGSoM , IIT-KGP
Team name- The Astutes
Teammate- Jha Yash Sharad
Article I am refuting-
http://insideiim.com/having-prior-work-experience-adds-value-to-your-mba/
Disclaimer: No offence to people having work experience prior to their MBA.
What is MBA all About ?
MBA is all about how dynamic and flexible you can be and that is where Fresher’s get an extra edge compare to those with work experience.
The word Fresher’s. Can you tell me what is the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of fresher’s ? YOU BET, Fresh mind it is. Fresh mind , the minds which are not bogged down by the pressure of the outside corporate world, the minds which have the capability to think beyond imagination, the minds which really aspire to do something big, the minds which are flexible enough to work on different things and the minds which are the factory to produce future Entrepreneurs.
It is very obvious and there is no need to prove that fresher’s are more energetic and dynamic compare to people with work experience. MBA , a programme which teaches us how to command the business, how to think with a different perspective compare to others and how to adapt to the changes happening outside and be the leader, when it comes to all this , Fresher’s always are better compare to those with work experience.
If you compare you will see that fresher’s are more focused than work experienced people, they will be able to learn quickly and to ace better compare to others when it comes to exams, but that doesn't only reflect how focused the fresher’s are but also shows the ability to persevere more compare to the students having work experience. Fresher’s are always more zealous, focused and hardworking compare to students with work experience.
Those who have work experience prior to do an MBA are having a very specific and pre decided notion about what they are going to do in their MBA. They are more focused to do an MBA , which would pave the way for a good paying job for them in the future after they finish the MBA programme. They are very less inclined towards starting their own venture , or in other word ENTREPRENEURSHIP, Which stands out to be the opposite case for Fresher’s. Fresher’s on the other hand are more inclined towards ENTREPRENEURSHIP in comparison to work experienced people.
Imagine a class where we have a case study discussion is going on , and there are only students with work experienced are participating in that case, then they would be discussing the case study on the knowledge they have gained during their previous corporate stint. They wouldn't be able to add more innovative solution to the case study because the way they look at the problem is short-sighted in some way , so in that case A fresher’s would definitely be able to add an extra value to the ongoing discussion, because the way they look at the problem will be more realistic and they would be able to use their so called fresh mind to get some good inputs to the solution. So you see that a synergy takes place between the fresher’s and work experienced students. This synergy: the combined solution of both fresher’s and work experienced persons is going to have a solution with extra flavor, like “cherry on top of Ice cream”.
Going through all this we can see that the fresher’s always have an extra brownie points compare to work experienced people, having fresher’s in a b-school with work experienced students is like a add on feature to the batch , its always like ‘OASIS IN THE DESERT’.