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Myth busting the Indian MBA roulette
By Kaushik Mukherjee ('00 EEE)
The Indian MBA graduate has never had it this good. However, today, with over a thousand b-schools in the
 country, we run the risk of selling the Indian MBA dream with the promise of money.
This is exactly where we need to separate the wheat from the chaff.
There are amongst the hundreds, a precious few institutes that have
carved a niche for themselves in the world’s management
fraternity. Here, we take a look at 12 such misconceptions, any
aspirants should steer clear of. After all, in a game of roulette
– you ought to do better than trust someone else’s hunch.
01. The brain reigns supreme
In the months that lead up to the aptitude tests, we come across a
motley crew of aspiring candidates. From the lazy to the struggler to
the gifted few who seem unnaturally brilliant at making a mockery of
the different sections of the test, they are all a part of the same
race. Over the years of schooling and graduation, it has been embossed
in our minds that some students are more intelligent than the others
and more often than not, it is the same select few who walk away with
the cake. Indeed, we hear cases of candidates managing sky-high scores
with only a month’s effort, if not lesser. The mistake we make is
that we view such people as perhaps the only ones who are assured of a
safe berth in the second round of selections. It is then, the time to
flip the coin. These tests are great levelers. Where some might possess
superior intelligence, it is our duty to fish out the best in us and
pit them against another’s. What is it? Superior determination?
Perseverance? Dedication? Finding one’s strengths and drawing up
a plan based on it explodes myths like these. For all we know, our
intelligent competitor might not have the endurance to last more than a
month.
02. 1:100 is too high an odd
With numbers, the bigger they get, the more they allure us. When we
read about a 153000 candidates appearing for an entrance test, we
struggle with the odds. A simple division would scale down the ratio to
1:100. And this is exactly when panic begins to set in. Now,
let’s look at this figure a little closely. Firstly, out of the
entire lot, at least 30% of the applicants take the test to apply for
Tier-II and Tier-III b-schools. Another 20% take the test without any
serious effort put into it whatsoever. This is when the figures start
favouring us. How passionately do we really want this to work out? If
we want it bad enough, we will not have to bother about finding 99
others who might not be as motivated as us, to secure our seat. All we
need to do is keep our end of the bargain – believe in our
capabilities, without getting intimidated by daunting ratios. Think
about it – the minute we count ourselves out, the person next to
us has one less – 98 others to surpass.
03. There’s never enough time
The other day I heard of a second-year student who had started on his
preparation for these entrance tests. Now, here’s an interesting
thought. A student is willing to sacrifice over two of the best years
of his life – his college days, to study for a test he plans to
take after two-and-half years. This – is exactly what fear of
failure does to aspirants. In fact, he is not the only one –
quite a few ‘coaching institutes’ start their batches for a
particular year even before the tests for the same year gets over. The
solution then, is unique to the individual. We have to plan our
preparatory schedule according to our profile. It would depend on the
number of hours we might be able to put in everyday, our commitments
and our work/study schedule. This is when we understanding the benefits
of ‘back-planning’. From the date of the test, we move back
in time – all the while accounting for the practice tests, the
analyses, the classes, the time spent in self-study. We have enough
time. Once we accommodate our preparations in scheme of things,
we come up with a time span. We arrive at a date. That is the date when
we start running – and we don’t stop till we’ve
crossed the finishing line.
04. Classroom coaching is mandatory
Let’s face it, coaching institutes don’t work magic. They
facilitate miracles, but it is us who have to be prepared to perform
them when it matters most. It does depend on the individual and his
ability to assess his need for a mentor. For some spirited individuals,
correspondence material and practice home-tests prove to do the trick.
But if we realize that we perform best when there is someone to put us
through the grind, then classes like these might just help in bringing
out the best in you. This is when we bring up the topic of
‘active learning’. Most of us are used to the damaging
process of being spoon-fed each and every detail of a course. Well,
that might have worked in school and in college, as well. In this case,
it is up to us to take the initiative and engage the faculty in
gleaning the most out of the curriculum. Class participation,
discussions, doubt-clearing sessions – there will come a time
when we will get more than every penny’s worth and best of all,
that will be the last of our concerns. Know yourself, and if you invest
in this – for the sake of time, effort, dreams and money –
go the whole hog.
05. Oh, for a 99
One very elusive figure for every aspirant is 99 – ninety nine
percentile. To put it in layman’s terms, this is when you break
into the top 1% of all the students who appear for the test. For most
candidates, this would translate to a confirmed seat in the second
round of selections. Often, the mistake we make is that we benchmark
ourselves on standards set by others. In spite of knowing that a
perfect score is quite possible, we strive hard to achieve the average
score at which a candidate secured an interview call. This is dangerous
as it might end up shortchanging us of our potential. We perform, when
the need of the hour is to outperform. A safer option would be to
benchmark ourselves against deserving others till the time we break the
barrier. Once that is done, we strive to surpass ourselves with each
effort. This way, we give complacency the boot and at the same time
gain some semblance of consistency.
06. A simulation test is after all a mock-test
Amongst the many pit-falls of the commercialization of the coaching
process, none could be possible more hazardous than the
“simulation tests-wars”. In their bid to attract maximum
number of students by delivering more value for money, some institutes
go to the lengths of conducting back-to-back tests for every week of
the three months that lead up to the test. Although at first glance,
the return-of-investment seems lucrative, there’s more to what
meets the eye. An average test is attempted for a period of two hours.
Surprisingly, more important than how much we score, is the amount of
time we spend analyzing our performance. This could stretch over days
– where the solved and unsolved questions are revisited. It is a
process which is drawn out over time and ingrains in our system some of
the finer qualities of effective question selection, time management,
solution approaches, etc. No, there cannot be a short-cut to this.
Taking back-to-back tests, give very little time for analysis. Also, it
builds a feeling where one is tempted to try scoring well in the test
to come, instead of learning from the pitfalls of the present one.
Practice tests – both, the home and the national ones –
play an invaluable role in honing one’s test-taking skills. Spare
no effort – in fact, you might consider resetting your watch to
1100hrs every time you start attempting one.
07. To get ahead of the pack, stay away from it
Some of us have a habit of preparing in isolation. For most it’s
a compulsive habit, while for some it’s decisive. One of the
biggest misconceptions that we all come across in some phase of our
study life, is that it works to our advantage if we keep away from the
group, when it comes to matters of sharing information of knowledge.
Knowledge restricted, is knowledge gained? Actually not, in fact
it’s just the reverse. That is the beauty of the manner in which
the tests are structured. The oddball who decides to dispense with
helping others, also stands a high risk of not getting help when he
needs it most himself. In a test where you are rated against your peer,
where the percentile matters more than the percentage – a
cloak-and-dagger approach to studying would ring the death knell of any
aspirant. If it’s a melee, you have to be in it – in the
thick of things to know your own strengths – apart from
discovering the many weaknesses of others, of course.
08. Underrating yourself keeps the pressure off
Stars performers always attract attention – from well-wishers and
others, alike. Times like these, expectations sky-rocket, complacency
sets in, the pressure of performing increases – in short, it
might not be an easy situation to handle. True, especially if all this
is happening well-before when it actually should be. To countervail
this, most of us take a diametrically opposite approach. We discredit
every success of ours as a stroke of luck, and weigh heavily on every
little setback. In short – we underrate ourselves. Although this
might seem like a pragmatic thing to do – of course, everybody
loves an underdog – we need to be very careful in walking that
thin line of modesty. Unchecked, it might breed dissatisfaction and
infuse a latent sense of hopelessness in our minds. The next time
someone asks you about your preparations or your performance, try this
– instead of painting a sorry picture, tell them that you did
your best and you have your fingers crossed for the results. Sometimes,
being candid works wonders on both you and your party. You gain in
confidence and the nosy parkers cease their taunts.
09. Sacrifices are imperative
This stems from the old maxim that in order to gain something, one must
sacrifice another thing. While this might be true in cases, they are
definitely not mandatory. But yes, if that is what it takes to make
things work – it could be for the better. A sacrifice, however
trivial it might be, stays in the mind for a while to come. Especially
if we choose to forego something that is very close to our heart in
order to accommodate our study routine, we tend to work doubly hard to
make sure that the sacrifice was well worth it. In cases like these, it
adds a dash of responsibility and character to our cause. It makes us
sure that no matter what the compulsions, a course once planned is what
we will stick to even if it requires the re-shuffling of a few
priorities. Of course, at the very end of it all, in the event of
things not working out in our favour – we would not want to have
this one incident to blame.
10. Disadvantage – the fresh graduate
Quite a bunch of the applicants, predominantly those who apply as fresh
university graduates fear the fact that they might be at a disadvantage
when it comes to the selection rounds that follow the written test.
Simply put, this would be a disadvantage only if we’d want it to
be one. For starters, there are enough a more things going our way.
Unlike most of the working applicants, we would be in the habit of
studying and ought to have our core graduating courses and projects
right on the top of our minds. It is then up to us to allocate time
from our final semester and do justice to the preparation plans.
Secondly, it is important to know that although business schools do
recruit fresh graduates in large numbers, it is important to
distinguish yourself from the person right next to you. To make a start
– read up about things outside your university curriculum –
current affairs, the Indian economy, the Chinese manufacturing model,
etc. Bottomline, the well-informed, mature freshman with a fair idea of
the happenings of the world around him - Bingo!
11. Disadvantage – the working professional
The biggest challenge that working applicants face, is that of
time-management. Based on your profile in the company, you might be in
India… abroad, working twelve hours a day… or even
longer. It’s a slipstream you have to avoid at all costs –
and if you are determined enough, it won’t seem as Herculean as
it sounds. The trick is to prioritize the tasks and making sure that no
matter which slots you juggle and reshuffle, the top spot remains
untouched. Re-schedule work hours, take a day off to catch up, start
early so as to accommodate unforeseen office night-outs – but
fight tooth and nail to stay on course. Once the initial hurdle is
through, your work experience promises to be a show-winner at almost
all of your interviews. Undertaking initiatives in the workplace,
assuming responsibilities within the team and having a crystal-clear
idea of how your individual contribution fits in to the bigger picture
– additives that will make sure you blaze through the final
rounds.
12. The easier section must be done first
Rigid answers like this surprise me no end. True, it might hold good
for one who wants to make sure he is off to a secure start. Another
candidate might simply not feel comfortable with the idea of leaving a
difficult section till the end. This is where beginning early displays
its merits. The home-tests offer numerous opportunities to experiment
with different time-splits, order of sections and strategies. A time
comes when we boot a high score and with new-found confidence in the
winning combination, we teeter on the edge of aborting the
trial-and-error process. This could simply be the first nail in our
coffin, if we’re not careful enough to try all the permutations
and combinations possible. Over a period of time, we zero in on a
particular strategy and then try it out in the national-level tests.
Well, there is no denying the fact that some of the world’s top
consulting firms and investments banks troop to the premier Indian
business schools to pick the crème-de-la-crème of the
graduating batch. With a predicted shift of the balance of global
economy towards the Asia-Pacific region, and an emergent India with a
key role to play in it – pursuing your management course in this
country would have obvious merits in the long run. Factor in the high
return-on-investment and globally accepted teaching methods and you
have a powerful case for the Indian MBA. What you might have to forego
is the high networking value, the rich global perspective and all that
comes with the much-talked about ‘foreign b-school’ tag.
But given the way in which the Indian premier b-schools have come up
over the years and are finally making efforts in expanding their reach
beyond the national boundary, there is a good chance that things might
just be on an upward spiral. If you are one to jump in to where all the
action is, well – congratulations! You now know 12 ways not to
derail your MBA entrance preparations.
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