Is MBA Worth The Perceived Value?

“After passing MBBS or B.Tech, students get the tag of a Doctor or an Engineer but you get none. You won’t be called a manager just after passing out of a B-School. MBA is a gas and it solely depends on how much space you wish to occupy into”. I still remember these words said by Prof. T.K Chatterjee during the induction days. After successfully completing the Vth term and on verge of being convocated, I have got a fair idea now what all those words meant.

To be frank, I joined a B-School because I had no other alternative after completing my graduation. B.Com Honours from the University of Calcutta could have only got me a desk job with pay even less than what Peon in a Government office earns (due respect to them). It may sound like a rant but if there’s one thing which needs utmost cleansing, it’s the higher educations in India. With boards like ICSE, CBSE, and NCERT in tidiness, primary and secondary education in India is moreover considerable but the graveness of higher education is often averted. There are hardly 10% colleges in India which impart quality educations. Figures like 5-10% of Engineers or MBA graduates being employable depicts the sorrow figure of the mushrooming colleges.

I feel fortunate enough to be part of one of those 10% colleges. The faculties and infrastructure of IMT Nagpur are one among the best not only in India but across the globe with certain limitations in the form of location, streams, and perceptions. But is it worth the time and money spent (considering the opportunity costs as well as miscellaneous expenses, the total cost may range around 12-15 Lakhs for freshers and even higher for people with prior work experience.) One may also ask what are the future prospects of an MBA graduate?

5 years back who would have thought ATMs would be out of business soon! When most of the banks were focusing on the number of branches opened and Credit cards sold, a historical event (demonetization) changed the course of all the players. Within next 10 years, banking branches will cease to exist but with no people to manage. Everything will be automated and with no need of managing cash (deposits and withdrawals), banks would become only a channel to safeguard the transactions. Looking into the jobs opportunities created and lost, 10 years down the line the demand of an MBA graduates would be on the lower side but better off than most of the technical courses which will get automatized sooner than the expected.

Coming to the curriculum, one of the biggest pillar of any studies. When you have 46 subjects (29 being compulsory for all the streams), lectures ranging from 75 minutes and 20 sessions each (10 sessions for half credit course). i.e. 1075 hours (45 days) of classroom teachings including presentations and excluding assignments, quizzes, mid-term, end term exams, works of committees and forums which keep you busy round the clock, the value of enrolled course can’t be challenged upon. However, the courses and electives in most of the B-Schools have become homogenous these days and what separate a mediocre B-School from the serious ones are the faculties. I have seen even the sleeping beauty of my section paying utmost attention in all the lectures delivered by faculties who hold the aura to withhold student’s consciousness. And I feel blessed to be taught by some of the best Professors (Sayan Banerjee, Anant Ram, Smita Dabholkar, Rajiv Kamble, Jagannath Mohanty, Narendra Phadnis, Rajiv Joshi) to name a few.

Today as I look back and remember the major group presentation I gave (in Organisational Behaviour class) to the most recent one being addressing the group of MBA aspirants who visited the campus for a college event, I see a tremendous change in the sheer confidence I have brought in. I was never a bad speaker but public speaking was something which dreaded me (75% of the world’s population suffer from speech anxiety), but today without any intimidation and with unmitigated confidence, I can say that no public worry me (larger the crowd, more comfortable I feel.) The change also came in the form of successes and failures which not only built my personality but also helped me in getting the internship (HDFC Bank) and placement of my choice (Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting) in the very first attempt.

2 years in IMT Nagpur also changed the way I look at certain things. I gained my reading habits and also a few kgs during the stay (who say Mess foods make you sick!). I also earned few bucks while working as a freelancer for two websites and invested my savings into a student-run venture (Campus Oxygen) which not only gave me profit but also ample opportunities to implement all the classroom learnings into practice. So, when we discussed upon price war, new venture or the most recent one to set up the laundry facility outside the campus owing to certain restrictions, the mere joy of seeing it materialise was beyond the words. There were many hurdles and I feel extremely proud to say that we crossed or swam across major of them.

For me, the time spent on campus has been fulfilling which couldn’t be merely decided upon the monetary values and I would leave upon the cognizance of the reader to decide the financial returns which I am anyway not good at.