Now that you are done with CAT, you are probably preparing for the interviews that await you. One of the questions you must’ve encountered very frequently during your preparation, is “Why MBA?” and to be honest, this is the single, most important question you will ever answer. Know this, there is no ideal answer to this question.
There are two stages of answering this question. The first is actually knowing your reason for pursuing an MBA and the second is framing it in a way that will impress the interviewers. If your purpose is merely a promotion or higher salary, or you are tired of coding then you are most definitely not alone but it is essential that you are convinced that this is the right path for you and not something you are doing only because your parents said so or it is what “logically comes next”.
An MBA will enable you to understand how a business works. Hence, an Entrepreneurial bent of mind is always valued over an aspiration of little promotion. But that doesn’t mean you can fake it. The people interviewing you are highly qualified and have been doing this for years and will punch holes in your story faster than Connor McGregor.
For impressing the interviewers, your answer must showcase how you aim to impact society and how an MBA will help you achieve it. Your reason needs to be genuine too. Keep in mind, an honest answer is always better than a dishonest one no matter how good the evasive answer might sound. That’s something I learned while talking to my HR professor at KJ SIMSR.
The question “Why MBA” can be used to set the parameters for the rest of the interview and guide the flow of the interview when done correctly, so make sure you think about this answer, write it down and practice saying it as many times as possible.
I wish you the best of luck for the path ahead.
By
Aniket Acharya
Member - Admissions Committee, SIMSR