Is an MBA worth it? My Harvard HBS story

“Why do you want to do an MBA?” — The answer shouldn’t start with the MBA. My previous post on “Why ISB MBA?” received far more traction than I expected. It also made me think about my own ISB PGP PRO journey and how differently I now look at this question. For working professionals, the MBA isn’t just about adding another degree to your CV. It should be about creating a deliberate transition from where you are to where you want to be. Here’s a simple 5-point framework I would use in an interview: 1. Start with Point A. Where are you today? Your education, experience, responsibilities and, most importantly, what have you learned from them? 2. Clearly define Point B. Where do you want to go? A career transition? Leadership role? Entrepreneurship? A new industry? Greater responsibility in your existing business? 3. Identify the gap between A and B. This is the most important part. What are you missing today? Maybe it’s strategy, finance, leadership, structured problem-solving, understanding different functions or exposure to businesses and people outside your existing ecosystem. 4. Now bring in the MBA. The MBA should be the bridge — not the destination. Your thought process should be: “I am at Point A. I want to reach Point B. I have identified these gaps. An MBA, and specifically the learning environment and peer exposure it provides, can help me bridge those gaps.” This is something I particularly appreciated through ISB PGP PRO — the value isn’t restricted to classroom learning. Learning from experienced professionals with completely different industries, perspectives and experiences can fundamentally change how you look at a business problem. 5. Finally, explain the transformation. Don’t stop at “the MBA will help my career.” Ask yourself: What will I actually be able to do differently afterwards? Lead better? Build a business? Move into a new function? Understand finance better? Think strategically? Make better decisions? Take on a larger leadership role? And this applies beyond an MBA too. An MBA is not automatically the answer. The better question is: “What transformation am I trying to create in my career or my life — and why is an MBA the right tool to create it?” Your answer should have a clear journey: Point A → The Gap → Why MBA → Point B → What changes That is far more compelling than: “I want to do an MBA for better opportunities and career growth.” #ISB #PGPPRO #MBA #MBAAdmissions #InterviewTips #Leadership #CareerGrowth #ExecutiveEducation #ISBPGPPRO

Why should you appear for CAT? And why pursue an MBA? For many aspirants, CAT is simply an exam. But for me, it represents something bigger — an opportunity to change the trajectory of your career. An MBA can offer: Career acceleration — move beyond execution into strategy, leadership and decision-making roles. Career transformation — explore opportunities in consulting, finance, marketing, product, operations and general management. A powerful network — learn from peers with diverse experiences, industries and perspectives. Structured learning — understand how businesses actually work across functions, rather than looking at a problem from just one perspective. Access to opportunities — top B-schools create opportunities to interact with leading companies and industry professionals. Personal growth — case discussions, presentations, competitions and teamwork challenge you to think differently. But an MBA isn't a shortcut to success. The real question isn't “Should I do an MBA?” It is: “What do I want my career to look like, and will an MBA help me get there?” CAT can be the gateway. An MBA can be the platform. But the direction is ultimately yours. #CAT #MBA #IIM #Management #CareerGrowth #Bschool #CareerDevelopment

Again, writing this LinkedIn post at 3.30 in the morning because assignments. But here we go with the remaining 3 challenges that I figured out during my course of MBA. Part 2 ➡️ 5. Lust ❤️🔥 MBA life can make you chase validation from professors, peers, recruiters, LinkedIn, or even your own expectations. You want to be noticed. You want people to recognise your achievements . You want the “right” internship, role, title or recognition. There’s nothing wrong with wanting success. But *when validation becomes the reason behind your choices, you can end up pursuing things that look impressive rather than things that are actually meaningful to you.* 6. Wrath 😡 Deadlines. Group projects. Grades. Competition. Rejections. Placements. MBA can be frustrating, and sometimes the easiest response is to blame someone else. “My team didn’t contribute.” “The professor didn’t explain it properly.” “Why did they shortlist him and not me?” But constantly reacting emotionally doesn’t solve the problem. One of the biggest professional skills you can develop is learning to handle frustration without letting it control your decisions. *Not every setback deserves a reaction.* 7. Sloth 🦥 This isn’t necessarily about being lazy. Sometimes it’s knowing what you should be doing and still choosing not to do it. You know you should prepare for tomorrow’s class. You know that assignment is due. You know you should network. You know you should work on your skills. But there’s always a “I’ll do it later.” And MBA life has enough deadlines to make “later” arrive very quickly. The real challenge isn’t finding motivation every day. *It’s building enough discipline to do the important things even when you don’t feel like doing them.* . . . . . #MBAJourney #MDIGurgaon #PersonalGrowth #LearningAndGrowth #MBA #Leadership

If you're starting an MBA, nobody tells you about this. MBA life looks great on LinkedIn and Instagrams of the world but feels very different at 2:47AM. PART 1 - Things MBA didn't prepare me for. 1. Pride 😏 Getting into a good B-school, winning a competition, getting into a prestigious committee or landing a great job is definitely worth celebrating. But MBA life can sometimes make you start measuring your worth by your achievements. The danger is when “I achieved something” slowly becomes “I am better than others.” Stay proud of your progress but stay open to learning from people around you. 2. Greed 💰 It starts innocently. “I just want to get shortlisted.” Then it’s: “I want the PPO.” Then: “I want the best role.” Then: “I want the highest package.” Ambition is important. In fact, it can push you to perform better but MBA life can also turn into a never-ending chase for the next achievement. Sometimes, the question isn’t “What more can I get?” It’s “What actually matters to me?” 3. Envy 👀 MBA classrooms bring together people with very different backgrounds. Someone has more work experience. Someone has a better academic record. Someone gets shortlisted for a role you wanted. Someone gets a package you were hoping for. And suddenly, you start questioning your own journey. The problem with comparison is that you usually compare your behind-the-scenes with someone else’s highlight reel. Learn from people. Get inspired by them. But don’t let someone else’s success make you underestimate your own. 4. Gluttony 🍽️ This one is probably the easiest to fall into during an MBA. One competition → another competition. One certificate → another certificate. One club → another club. One position → another position. You keep adding things to your profile because you don’t want to miss an opportunity. But eventually, you need to ask: Am I actually building meaningful experiences, or am I just collecting achievements? More isn’t always better. Sometimes, depth matters more than the number of things on your CV. And that's just Part 1. And honestly, I have fallen into one of these myself. Part 2 coming soon... → . . . . . #MBAjourney #BSchoolLife #MDIGurgaon #PersonalGrowth #LearningAndGrowth #MBA #Leadership

5 Best Ways to Get Your MBA (And Actually Get Something Out of It) Thinking about going back for your MBA? Here's what actually made the difference for me — not just getting the degree, but getting one that changed my trajectory. 1. Go In Person, Not Online I know online is convenient. But the in-person business school environment is a creature of its own. The energy in the room, the competitiveness, the sheer concentration of intelligence sitting next to you — you cannot replicate that on a screen. Some of my best thinking happened in casual conversations before class started or during a group project that ran long. That's not something a discussion board recreates. 2. Pick a Program With Career Diversity in the Room My cohort wasn't full of people who looked like me or did what I did. I sat next to NASA engineers, mathematicians, HR professionals, even astronauts. Most of them were there because they'd hit a wall — junior management roles that required a graduate degree to move up. Sitting across from people solving completely different problems taught me more than any textbook could. Look for a program that pulls from different industries, not just your own. 3. Find Your Core Group Early You need people who match your energy and dedication — not necessarily your schedule. My classmates ranged from full-time students, to people working full-time while in school, to part-timers, to married parents, to single people building a career from scratch. Different lifestyles, same drive. Find the people who show up with that same intensity, and let them become your people. 4. Let Your Job Pay for It If It Can If your employer offers tuition reimbursement or a partnership with a program, take it seriously. It's one of the most underused benefits out there, and it removes a huge barrier to even starting. 5. Remember: It's Not Hard. It's Just Unfamiliar. This might be the most important mindset shift. An MBA program isn't secretly a genius-only club. It's new material, a new pace, a new way of thinking about problems — but new isn't the same as hard. Give yourself permission to be a beginner again. That discomfort is temporary. What it opens up isn't.

THE MBA TREND – AFTER GRADUATION, DOES THE DEGREE JUST SIT ON A SHELF? I have quite a few friends who have pursued an MBA. Unfortunately, many of them completed the program, received the degree, and then… left it sitting on a shelf for years. Their jobs barely changed. The knowledge they gained was rarely applied, and their income or career opportunities did not improve significantly. Some pursued an MBA simply because their friends were doing it. Others wanted an impressive qualification on their résumé. And some believed that having an MBA would automatically lead to a higher salary, a promotion, or better career prospects. But reality is not that simple. Companies do not pay you more simply because you have another degree. What matters is the additional value you can create for the organization after earning it. If your capabilities, performance, management skills, and results remain unchanged, an MBA degree alone is unlikely to translate automatically into a higher salary. Completing an MBA requires a significant investment of money, time, and effort. If, after years of study, the main thing you have left is a certificate sitting in a drawer, that investment has not been fully utilized. In my view, there is nothing wrong with an MBA. The real question is why you choose to pursue one. If your goal is to strengthen your management capabilities, prepare for leadership roles, develop a business, start your own venture, or expand your career opportunities, then an MBA can be extremely valuable. The true value of an MBA is not in the three letters you put after your name, but in the value you create after earning those three letters. So before enrolling in an MBA program, don’t just ask: “Which university should I choose?” “Will I get a salary increase after graduation?” Ask yourself a more important question: “After earning my MBA, what will I be able to do that I cannot do today?” If you don’t have a clear answer yet, perhaps there is no need to rush into it.

Great to see LinkedIn continuing to grow and expand its global MBA rankings, with three Australian business schools now making the global top 100. The methodology looks sound, and the results feel broadly representative of where Australia’s leading MBA programs sit domestically and internationally. Rankings aren’t everything when choosing an MBA, but they’re certainly worth considering, particularly if your career goals are more corporate than entrepreneurial. If you’re considering an MBA, see which Australian programs made the cut, how they ranked globally and what LinkedIn’s data says about the career value of an MBA. Read the full story on MBA News Australia. Melbourne Business School | AGSM @ UNSW Business School | The University of Sydney Business School https://lnkd.in/gJRFZcRB

25 years after starting my MBA at Kellogg, I now understand what the MBA was really for. It wasn't primarily the degree. And it wasn't the theories. Here are five things I understand very differently today: 1. The MBA isn't primarily about learning business I already had a business degree and four years of consulting experience when I started at Northwestern University - Kellogg School of Management. The real value for me was understanding how other smart people think. Different backgrounds. Different industries. Different nationalities. That diversity became a huge part of my education. 2. The grades weren't that important Some classmates optimized their course selection around getting an A. I often did the opposite: Which classes would I have to worry about failing because I know so little about the topic? Of course, I also took classes I really enjoyed (and even made the Dean's List when I did ;-). But 25 years later, nobody has ever asked me about my grades. So I would stress less about the grades and optimize more for the learning experience. 3. Your classmates may be more important than your professors 25 years later, the network is not simply a list of contacts. It is full of people who became CXOs, entrepreneurs, investors, consultants and government leaders. Everyone now has a story about a Kellogg classmate who helped them find a job, raise funding, win a client or navigate a difficult situation. 4. Culture beats everything else And this is the link with the previous point: successful classmates are not worth much if they won't answer your call when you need help. The real value is having people who genuinely want to see each other succeed ... and who will go out of their way to help, just as you would for them. I was reminded of this very recently. After my 9/11 post (see link below in the comments), literally hundreds of Kellogg students and alumni from around the world reached out. People I hadn't spoken to in years. People I didn't know. That was a powerful reminder of what this community means to me. 5. The MBA doesn't prepare you for your next job. It prepares you for your career. My career after Kellogg took me through consulting, P&L leadership, entrepreneurship, advisory work and eventually technology and strategy across multiple countries and continents. I certainly could not have mapped that career out on my first day of business school. And that is precisely the point. 25 years later, I think the best MBA is not simply the one that gives you a great first job. It's the one that gives you a platform with the people, perspectives and confidence to build a great career. Northwestern University Northwestern University - Kellogg School of Management

What could change in your career over the next year? A promotion. A new industry. A bigger leadership role. A business you finally decide to build. If an MBA has been somewhere in the back of your mind, now might be the time to start the conversation. Applications are opening for the next class of UofL MBA students. Our In-Person MBA programs begin next fall, while our Online MBA programs offer the opportunity to start as early as this spring. And there’s an advantage to applying early. You don’t pay for the program until you start, but you can potentially be accepted and begin planning your future within a month of applying. Getting connected early also means hearing about opportunities to meet faculty, program directors, current students, alumni, and business leaders before your first class begins. There is a lot happening at the UofL College of Business right now. Our students learn from outstanding faculty who bring world-class research, significant industry experience, or both into the classroom. But we also believe an MBA has to prepare people for a business world being reshaped by AI. As technology becomes increasingly capable of generating, analyzing, and automating, the ability to lead people becomes even more valuable. Our MBA programs intentionally develop those human capabilities: communicating with influence, navigating ambiguity, building trust, exercising judgment, working through conflict, solving complex problems, and mobilizing people around a shared mission. And we want students developing those capabilities while building a meaningful professional network. That means connecting our students in our In-Person programs with Louisville business leaders through applied projects, classroom experiences, speakers, alumni events, and opportunities to solve real organizational challenges. That relationship works both ways. When our alumni and community partners hire our students, mentor them, speak in our classrooms, bring us problems to solve, or simply get to know the next generation of UofL MBA graduates, they strengthen our students, our program, and the value of the UofL MBA network. So consider this an open invitation. If you’re wondering whether an MBA could help you earn that next promotion, change careers, become a stronger leader, or launch your next entrepreneurial adventure, reach out. And if you’re a UofL alum or Louisville business leader who wants to meet our students, build your talent pipeline, reconnect with the MBA community, speak in a classroom, or bring us an organizational challenge to tackle, reach out too. We’re building something exciting at the UofL College of Business, and I’d love for you to be part of it. #UofL #UofLMBA #MBA #Louisville #Leadership #UniversityofLouisvilleCollegeofBusiness #UniversityofLouisvilleCollegeofBusinessGraduatePrograms

Your career goals don’t need to be unique. They need to be believable. Many candidates keep pressing me to make their goals “different” or “memorable”, and I never do unless they are real.  “A global leader creating impact at the intersection of technology and sustainability.” It sounds ambitious. It still doesn’t tell the reader what job you actually want. I see this often in MBA applications. Candidates worry that consulting, product management, investment banking or entrepreneurship sound too common, so they try to make the goal more unusual, more dramatic or more specific. But originality is rarely the real problem. Credibility is. A strong career goal should have a logic you can follow. PAST → GAP → MBA → SHORT-TERM ROLE → LONG-TERM DIRECTION Every link needs to carry weight. What have you done so far that points toward this direction? What capability, exposure or network are you missing? Why is an MBA the right bridge now? What is the realistic role immediately after the MBA? How does that role move you toward the longer-term ambition? A pivot is completely possible. But the application still has to explain the bridge. The same is true for specificity. “I want to create impact as a global business leader” is too vague to test. But “I will join Company X as Senior Product Manager, spend exactly three years there and then build a $100M company” can sound manufactured. You want enough specificity to show that you understand the career you are pursuing, without pretending you can predict every turn it will take. And credibility is not only about your story. The role also needs to be a realistic post-MBA outcome from the schools you are targeting. Before you finalize your goals, ask yourself four questions. Could I explain this naturally in an interview without memorized language? Can I point to experiences that made me want this? Can I explain why I need the MBA before the next step? Does my short-term role realistically lead toward my long-term direction? If the logic breaks anywhere, the goal needs work, not better adjectives. Keep the core direction consistent across schools. What changes is how each school helps you build the pathway, not who you suddenly become for each application. Believable beats original. #MBAAdmissions #MBAApplications #BusinessSchool #CareerGoals #MBAEssays Mentor Mpact | Rashi Thakur