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Let's get into today's topic...

Almost every week I speak to at least 1 person who is either an MBA student or an aspiring MBA student. I found a common trend of questions that they ask I figured I would put together a guide based on my own experiences. So here goes:

Highlights of this article:
​🐛 Do you need an MBA?
🧩 What will an MBA teach you?
🤑 What is the Return on Investment?
🚛 Why do most people get an MBA?
❇️ My unfiltered thoughts

🐛 Do you need an MBA?

The annoying but short answer here is - it depends.

It depends on a few things:

1. THE WHY - Why do you want to take up an MBA? In certain industries and roles having an MBA is ESSENTIAL to your career progression. It’s an indicator of various things that companies look for. In many cases it's just a box to tick. Either way, it depends on your industry and the role you seek. For consulting, it seems like something they almost always need for you to become a senior consultant. (More on that later)
2. MONEY - Your financial situation - Can you really afford to spend money that you either have or have to take a loan out for? In Canada an average MBA would cost you between $30k to $90k with the bigger universities and business schools charging you north of $100k. There are pros and cons to this based on your experience, appetite for risk and ability to make this money back. But the question stands, are you in a financial position to invest this money.
3. TIME - Do you have the time? If you are in the work force you have been generating income via a job or business. When you take 2 years from your life to study, you would not be able to work in the same fashion (Part-time MBAs are different for sure but here we are assuming you are considering joining a full-time MBA program). There is the sacrifice of lost opportunity. Let’s say you make $50,000 per year. By taking up an MBA not only do you invest $80,000 as part of the program, you also are investing $100,000 by NOT working for 2 years.
4. EXPERIENCE - Do you have enough experience? Most business schools ask for at least 2 years of experience. The reason they ask this is because what’s taught in class can be best grasped when you have some experience working. You understand what is being taught a lot better. Lastly, a lot of what happens in Busines school (B-school) is peer-to-peer learning. Which means you interact with your peers for almost every project or assignment. These interactions are more fruitful with you being able to contribute adequately to the group. Everyody wins. If you do not have enough experience, you might feel out of place and on the extreme side of things, even feel like you don’t belong here or that you are falling behind when compared to your classmates. So ask yourself, am I at a point in my career where I have experienced enough to be able to do well in such an environment.
5. THE SHIFT - Are you considering changing your field? Many people use the MBA as a restart where they learn something that better equips them to move from one role/industry to another. For example, lets say you’re been in marketing your entire career but you wish to switch to a consulting role working on solving problems from a strategy standpoint for companies and brands. An MBA will give you that opportunity. But I also have seen situations where people make a shift and realize it’s not what they wanted. The point here is that it can give you this opportunity but you have to think about what it is that truly inspires you.

🧩 What will an MBA teach you?

I’ve had multiple intense debates and conversations with my peers about this. Here are the details.

1. Information - Yes. I know it seems obvious that an MBA would have courses that teach you but I have to say that ALL of the information being taught is available online. What courses do however is ORGANIZE the information into a way in which you can learn concepts and grasp things in a step-by-step fashion. Personally, I always felt that the information that you learn in an MBA is available online. Either as books, articles, frameworks by industry leaders and many other formats. So if you’re looking for “information”, that’s not the best motive.
2. Great Professors - One of the things that made the biggest difference for me were SOME of the professors who taught me. I was able to develop good relationships with them and lean on them for whenever I had challenging decisions to make in life. Some of my professors are rockstars and I am honoured to have been in contact with them, learn from them and simply even know them.
3. Not so great Professors - Every institution will have it’s set of bad apples. Professors who might have lost their flame, that passion to teach and ignite curiosity and passion for the subject in their students. At some point in their career this flame died out, and that is evident from the experience that you get from their classes. In my head one professor still owes me $5000 for handing me a terrible learning experience. I’d consider this as a sunk cost (Something another awesome professor taught me in an accounting course).
4. Working with others - I went to an Indian school (CBSE) where everything was based on your ability to memorize and regurgitate what you learnt. That is not how an MBA works. It relies heavily on working with others to produce a collaborative output (As in the real world). An MBA allows you to experience this with a diverse group of people. If you’re like me and you’re considering going to another country, you would have the opportunity to interact with people from different countries and cultures giving you first hand experience on their working styles and how they think about things.

🤑 Is the Return on Investment (ROI) good?

This was a tough question that someone asked me. Tough because the answer here again is - it depends.

1. Who - It depends on who you’re asking this question. some will say the ROI is not worth it because they were unable to land a job that pays them as much as they expected or as much as they deserve based on their past experience as well as their skillset.
2. What - What you take out of your experience is unique to your experience. For some it is the knowledge, for some it is the experience of working in a multi-cultural setting, for some it is the alumni network that they can tap into. For others it is the relationships that they built along the way (thats me). So if you don’t make the most of your experience and you choose to spend most of your time having fun and falling into the trap of “taking it easy and being in the moment to enjoy and have a fun jolly time while you’re a student again”, chances are that you would feel like your experience did not help you.
3. Why - This article starts and ends with the Why. What was your purpose of doing the MBA in the first place. If it was knowledge and you gained that knowledge, then is it fair to judge the effectiveness of the investment based on what job you get or what money you make? That’s why it’s critical to set the objective or goal at the start. That them becomes the yardstick with which you can measure your progress and how far you’ve come.

🚛 Why do most people get an MBA?

1. Immigration - I just had to say it because this is true. Most who look to move to another country take up the MBA as a way to get into the country of their dreams. But $100,000 for an airline ticket feels expensive to me. If this is your objective then maybe considering a lower ticket course would be a better option.
2. Unclear about their job - At some point in your career you might wake up wondering “Damn, what am I doing with my life? Why am I in this job?”. If Inspiration is what you need then this is a fresh experience. I believe putting yourself in uncertain situations or new spaces is a great way to find inspuiration. But just signing up for a program and following the status quo is unlikely to give you what you’re looking for.
3. Knowledge and Levelling up in their career - As mentioned before if you have clarity that this is the missing gap in your career or that you’ve hit a ceiling where you cant grow beyond this point without an MBA, then it might be the fitting choice for you.
4. Building their personal brand - Many believe that the title of having an MBA is prestegious, especially when it is from a renowned university. If building your personal brand is important to you, you can download my FREE Personal Branding Blueprint to be on your way to building a personal brand that is memorable and that stands out.

❇️ My unfiltered thoughts

You don’t (in most cases) NEED an MBA. You might WANT it.

Full disclosure, I took up the MBA for 2 reasons:

1. I wanted to move out of India. Having grown up in the Middle East I admired certain aspects of it. Spending time in India I met some amazing people and gained experiences that no other country could have given me. But I needed a change of pace and a change of scenery. I wanted to explore living in another country and starting fresh in some way.
2. I was lost - Working as a freelancer for over a year after a failed startup experience I was deeply lost. I had no idea what the next phase of my life would be. I had started creating content online and I connected with tons of people in various countries and realized I was missing out on a lot of cultural exposure that the world had to offer.
3. Money - I know it seems counter intuitive to spend money to make money, especially with such a sizeable figure. But I wanted to be able to earn more and I was ready to take a gamble on myself.

I took a gamble on myself knowing that from day 0 I would maximize on my effort to make this work. I started networking the day I knew I was moving to Canada. That’s 6 months before my course was supposed to start.

Let me know if you’re struggling with networking & maybe I can help you out. (Reply to this email/Send me a message)

✌️Conclusion

If you have an appetite for risk, you’re confident in your ability to stand out, you’re willing to put in the work and accept the final outcome whatever it may be… do it. But if you’re just confused about where to invest the $100,000 you have lying around… invest in a mutual fund, you’ll have better returns.

🧞‍♂️Your wish is my command

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Thanks for reading.

Until next time!

​​VJ​​

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