When you are pursuing an MBA, you can’t help but wonder whom you can befriend and whom you can count on – because let’s face it, everyone pursuing an MBA will obviously be focusing on their own success strategies. Be it academics, or competitions or even club selections – there is going to be a cutthroat competition for grades as well as PORs.
So, let’s address the elephant in the room: Can we make good friends during our MBA program?
Most people are of the opinion that there is no point in making friends during a phase which is competitive enough to thwart any possibilities of making friends, for this is a phase where 24 hours a day would seem insufficient, competitions would require you teaming up with people who are not free-riders, you and your friends’ electives might just not match and you might just meet each other once a week while you are hurriedly grabbing lunch for yourself. You do not really have the luxury of time. And then there is the question of divulging the strengths that you have mentioned in your resume – after all, how much shared information is too much?
Despite all these constraints, a friendship that stays throughout these difficult 2 years of your life is something that you can count on for the rest of your life. MBA is about networking and yes, these networks are formed by your friendships. There is this peace in having a cup of tea together between assignments that stretch on till midnight. There is joy in winning a competition together – be it a national level competition or even a small one in your campus. And let’s face it, group studies are way better than studying alone.
But then, why are people sceptical about the fact of whether making friends during MBA is a ‘good investment’ or not?
In the very beginning, everyone wants to be the best at everything – a typical Jack of all trades. This brings in the perpetual competitive nature among all the students and this isn’t something to really be feeling about, too. But along with directing your competitive nature, an MBA course fosters your collaborative nature too. Of course, in some people, one nature might just be dominant over the other and you can never be too sure if the friendships you are making are what you would call your wise decisions or not – but trust me, it is worth taking the risk, if you want to.
During your MBA, you would be in an environment which would have the confluence of cultures from all over India and it doesn’t hurt to know people, understand them and their cultures and build connections, probably for life. At the end, when you get one day free from your over-hectic office schedule and you decide to look back on those two years of MBA, some faces would just pop up in your mind and they would blur out the rest and you would realize that those faces made the two years go by in a blink and you might just pull out your phone and drop them a ping to know what they are up to.
*****
You may also be interested in reading: