MBA Progress Report

All right, here I will write a brief personal post about my performance in season 2010: MBA entrance exams. Followed by a short review and whats next.

1) CAT: 96.54 Percentile
Division:
QA: 88.39
DI: 93.80
VA: 94.60
Calls: None, till now.
Expected Calls: IMT Ghaziabad, IMI Delhi.
Borderline Case: MDI Gurgaon, SPJIMR Mumbai.

2) XAT:
84.18 Percentile.
QA: 72.xx
AR: 87.xx
VA: 71.xx
Calls: None
Expected Calls: None

3) FMS:
Score: Not Yet Declared, expected in range of 440-460.
Percentile: Not yet declared, but possibly 98.5+
Got a GDPI call.

4) IIFT:
Score: 39.15 [Cut-off was 35.74 for General Category]
Got a GDPI call.

5) JMET:
All India Rank: 743.
Score: 83.75
Calls Till Now: None
Expected Calls: IIT Kharagpur, IIT Kanpur, IIT Madras.

6) NMAT:
Score: 224 out of 360.
Percentile: Yet to be Declared
Call Expected[but not confirmed].

Review:

So Basically I did well in two exams, ie FMS and IIFT, and got GDPI calls from both. I did average in CAT, JMET and NMAT, and will still get some calls from them. And needless to say, I did poorly in XAT, and will not get any calls from it. So overall, I should have around 7-8 calls, and hopefully I will convert at least a few. My IIFT GDPI will take place next place itself, as I get ready for it. The others will take place later, possibly in March. As I do not have a job, it is imperative for me to convert as many calls as I can this time itself. My prime target is FMS of course, that’s the best amongst the lot. And coming a close second is IIFT. And I am not really interested in doing an MBA from an IIT, but lets see what the future has in store for us.

Personally, I am quite disappointed with my CAT and XAT result. I expected 98+ percentile in CAT[which could have fetched me MDI and NITIE calls]. And I better not talk about XAT for now, I know people who didn’t prepare a bit and managed to get 98+ percentile in XAT. Heck, there are some guys who didn’t even apply to XLRI and still got more than 95 percentile. Have lost the respect I had for XLRI after seeing its erratic criteria of giving calls. [People with 93 percentile have got calls and guys with 99.9 percentile don’t]. Moreover the paper was exceptionally tough[having questions of IITJEE standard], and to make matters worse, it had differential marking. So if someone guessed and got a 5 mark question correct, its quite possible that his percentile will shoot upto 98[say]. In the eventuality that I will repeat next year, I will surely not be taking XAT come what may.

So, to end, the bottomline is that I have to concentrate on IIFT and FMS for now, and do my best to convert both of them.

All the best for GDPI[to all aspirants]. With this, I am signing off for now.

Thus ends the Written Stage of MBA Season 2010. Am I satisfied? Mostly yes. Now lets see how the GDPI Stage turns out to be.

P.S.- I will not be appearing for MH-CET.

Career Counselling? WTH!

I believe that one of the biggest problems that the Indian youth face nowadays is regarding choice of career. Most do not take a decision for themselves, and let their parents/relatives decide. Which can turn out to be disastrous since nobody knows you better than yourself. I have heard many of my friends say the same thing over and over again-‘Yaar, I don’t know what I want to do in life. I am not sure which career to opt for, or what to do in future. I am not satisfied with my current situation/my job/my life/etc.’ Many of them opt for safe courses- Engineering, Medical, Management, etc which can guarantee them jobs. But what after that? If you get into a job which doesn’t suit your aptitude, then you will struggle throughout your life.

Anyways, I recently read ‘Serious Men’, written by a journalist, Manu Joseph, who is also the editor of the Open magazine. It’s a fantastic novel, dealing with current day Mumbai, Science, Astronomy, Love, Sarcasm, Reservation, Education, Poverty, etc. Highly recommended novel, and a well deserving winner of the Hindu 2010 Literary award. I am quoting an entire page from the same[Verbatim]:


This, Ayyan accepted, was life. It was, in a way, a fortunate life. It would go on and on like this. And one day, very soon in fact, Adi would be an adolescent. An adolescent son of a clerk. A miserable thing to be in this country. He would have to forget all his dreams and tell himself that what he wanted to do was engineering. It’s the only hope, everyone would tell him. Engineering, Adi would realize, is every mother’s advice to her son, a father’s irrevocable decision, a boy’s first foreboding of life. A certainty, like death, that was long decided in the cradle. Sooner or later, he would have to call it his ambition. And to attain it, he would compete with thousands and thousands of boys like him in the only human activity for which Indians had a special talent. Objective-type entrance exams. Very few tests in the world would be tougher than these. So, in the enchanting years of early youth, when the mind is wild, and the limbs are strong, he would not run free by the sea or try to squeeze the growing breasts of wary girls. Instead he would sit like an ascetic in a one-room home and master something called quantitative ability. ‘If three natural numbers are randomly selected from one to hundred then what is the probability that all three are divisible by both two and three?’

He would have to answer this probably in thirty seconds in order to stand any chance against boys who were barely seven when they were fed iron capsules and sample-question papers for this very purpose; who had attended tuitions and memorized all the formulae in the world before they had learnt how to masturbate; whose parents whispered into their ears every day of their lives the answer to the decisive question: ’What do you want to become in life?’ Adi would have to fight them for a sliver of the future that men of God reviled without conviction as the ‘material world’, exactly the place that a father wishes for his son. Adi, despite the misfortunes of poverty, would somehow have to find a way to get into an engineering college. And then ensure that he did not spend a single day of his life as an engineer. Because everyone would tell him then that the real money was in MBA.

And so, even before the engineering course was over, he would start all over again, and prepare to battle thousands and thousands of boys like him in yet more entrance exams. When he finally made it and became a zombie who had entirely forgotten what he really wanted to do with his life, the light-skinned boys in the dormitory would look at him with a sad chuckle and whisper among themselves that he was a beneficiary of a 15 per cent reservation for the Dalits. ‘Lucky bastard,’ they would say.



Okay, I agree that the above page is highly exaggerated, in fact to the extreme. Obviously not ALL boys are taking up engineering, and Indians are definitely not good in just competitive exams, to name a few. But the point to be noted is the thing in General which the author wants to say. Lack of clarity in making the biggest decision of one’s Life- Career choice. Doing engineering and MBA from a good college will almost surely fetch you a good job, and that is the only reason why people do it. Because that way, at least they can earn and sustain a living in this highly competitive global environment. Even if they have to sacrifice their dreams for it. There are many people who say that let them do engineering and MBA first, and then they will try to achieve their dreams. That is just an excuse for avoiding risks, and rarely if ever wills such people achieve their goals. At max, they can earn a comfortable living in this materialistic world.



Unfortunately, in India, the concept of career counseling is almost non-existent. 90% of Indian students take up a career/course which is not suited to their aptitude/liking. No wonder they get frustrated and depressed, many even take the extreme step of committing suicide. To avoid such incidents, I believe that schools should include mandatory career counseling say for students in standard 9th or 10th. Parents should also be counseled and told not to interfere in the personal decision of the student. It is a very big misconception that only engineers and managers can get good jobs. It’s a commonly known fact that Indians only look up to education as a means to getting a job, and not as something to gain knowledge/skills/experience/etc. It’s the lure of those attractive placements that students automatically gravitate towards IITs and IIMs. I have met very few people who wanted to study in an IIT because they had an interest in Science or Engineering. We really need more students like Rancho from 3 Idiots[played by Aamir Khan].

If only people started following their own passion for a change, it would benefit us all. But are they ready to give up the security of a high paying job and take a risk? The future will tell.

Welcome to the Wrong Career!

Recently, I read an excellent article(In Education Times dated 17/05/2010 ) about career counseling and the wrong career choices made by students. [You can read the article Here ]

Am quoting 3 lines from the article:

‘An IIM graduate gave up her job in McKinsey and now runs a publishing company. ‘

‘A student who opted for chemical engineering completed his studies, but somehow never cleared all the subjects in every semester. ‘

‘A doctor, who had done well in his medical programme, was very clear that he wasn’t keen to practice medicine at all.’


Now what do these 3 lines tell you? That those 3 people were fools? Obviously not. Fools cannot get admission into IIMs for once, and they usually wont perform well in their medical programme. No, it’s just that those people did not really know what career they wanted to pursue. What’s the harm in that, you may ask? In a country where millions of people are illiterate, what difference does it make whether a person becomes an engineer, or a doctor, or whichever career from where he/she can earn the maximum? Well, it does make a difference. It may be a subtle difference, but at the same time, it’s quite imperative as well.

In India, most children do not choose a career path of their own free will. They are mostly influenced(or rather forced) by their parents, peers, relatives, friends, etc. So in most cases, following the norms of the society, a child takes up a path in which he has no interest in. This is because our society looks down at people whose children are not engineers, doctors, lawyers, etc- Ie the traditional streams. Though in recent times, a variety of new courses have opened up[Hotel Management, Hospitality, Forestry, Rural Management, etc], but surprisingly most parents still want their children to continue with the traditional streams, especially those in middle class and lower class backgrounds. The reason for this is also quite obvious- Money. Since India is still a poor country, most people look at education as a panacea, a tool which can get them a job. Every parent will want his child to get a secure job, especially if it’s a necessity. And with just 5% of the Indian population earning more than $10 a day, you can bet that there is a mad rush to get high-paying jobs.




The other obvious reason is status. People want to boast to their neighbors that their wards have got admission in such and such 5 star colleges. Even the student usually targets a institute, not because he wants to really learn anything, but because he knows that he will get instant fame after booking a seat in the institute. This points to a deeper malaise- We have too few good quality institutes, especially for Higher education. Look at the ironical situation- Whereas on one hand, we have thousands of good private schools taking in thousands of students and offering high quality service, on the other hand we have even more number of private colleges offering a lugubrious or dismal service with pathetic conditions. Most students passing out of such colleges do not get a job neither do they learn anything. They just add to the growing un-employment queue. This shows the desperation for obtaining nugatory degrees. Some people sell off their land to get their children admitted in such colleges. And the ROI (Return on Investment) is practically zero. Somehow many fatuous people believe that a degree [Especially an Engineering degree] is all it takes to get a job.



So we have lakhs of students opting for engineering, and around the same number opting for MBA. Why don’t we have an equal number of students entering the Law, Medicine, Sports[Heavily required],Arts, Commerce, Scientific Research[Where India lags behind most countries], Ph.D [We have too few of them], Music, Painting, Archaeology, Core Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biotechnology, R & D, Astronomy [India has just a handful of institutes that offer a course in Astronomy], Manufacturing, Core- Cement, Fertilizers, Power [Solar, Wind, Geothermal, others], etc. I could go on and on, about this demand-supply mismatch but then my post will never finish. We have such a high deficit of trained people in these sectors. Reason- ‘Most people are unable to finish their school, let alone complete college. And the ones who are privileged enough to attend college, end up running blindly after money and annihilating their careers.’

Indirect consequences of the above :
1) Increasing the divide between the poor and the rich.

2) Very few good quality Non-Engineering, Non-MBA colleges coming up. [The Government is only focused on bringing up more IITs, NITs, and IIMs.]

3) Mushrooming of coaching institutes across the country that are fooling people and making the most of this travesty.

4) Non-traditional streams are dying down, since they are not getting a Quality boost.

5) Lack of scientific research and development means there is very little scope in India for genuine students. Even those seriously interested in Science are opting for engineering. This is also the reason why most of the Noble Prize winning Indians live outside their homeland.

The sad thing is that even today most people believe –‘If you are not from an IIT or an IIM, then you are nothing.’

Engineers dominating at Bschools

*Continued from the previous post:


So I had discussed 2 reasons for ‘Engineers dominating at Bschools’ in my last post. In this post, I shall elucidate a few more.

See, there is a psychological reason for this. We all want to do what our friends/peers are doing. This is due to an ersatz sense of security. We do not want to take any risk by doing something different from others. If one sees that most of his friends are doing engineering, and then MBA, he/she will automatically want to do the same. The student believes-‘So many people are doing it. Obviously there has to be something good about it.’ So he also gets into the rat race without knowing where it ends. Only after he has completed his MBA does he realize his mistake- that he failed to take an independent decision. Wrong decisions can be career threatening. The main problem is that people sacrifice their passion, and get into a line which is totally un-suited to them.

Engineers can easily manage both the QA and VA part, whereas Non-engineers who are good in English struggle in the QA/DI part. This is a well known truth. It is generally seen that most people take up engineering even if they don’t like it. So they usually get fed up of their subjects quite soon. They believe that MBA is their savior, the degree which will get rid of their misery, so they blindly run after it, without bothering to even know what an MBA really is. Heard of the hackneyed phrase-‘History repeats itself?’ The same thing happens again, and he gets fed up of studying business, thinking that he will get into whichever job which pays the most. He gets into any XYZ job, and after that starts hating it as well, criticizing everyone from his boss to this colleagues. Why did all of this happen? Simple, he chose to quench the innate talent which he had, and instead chose a path which did not belong to him. If he had done something which he genuinely liked, and not done something which others were doing, he would have been successful and happy [Terms and Conditions applied].

The main problem is that India is still a poor country, and most people will not feel like following their interest or nurturing their passion, if they can’t even feed themselves and their family. So money always comes first. Education, for them [majority of the people], is just a medium to get a job, and nothing else. This is why so many of them aim for the IITs and IIMs, thinking that their future will get secured, since those institutions guarantee jobs for all their students. We have to change this thinking philosophy. Education should be pursued for developing one’s own knowledge database, and then working on one’s interests, and not for getting placements only. You may be interested in Photography, Martial Arts, Sports, etc, but if you choose to get into the rat race [primarily Engineering and MBA], only for money/job, in the long run you will end up as just another loser. But of course, you need to work assiduously if you want to achieve something. Always remember-‘A shortcut to success will cut your life short’. [I made this phrase-impromptu]


Thanks again, folks. See ya.

5 Reasons on Why not to do an MBA

You may be surprised about this, coming out of an MBA aspirant himself. But yeah, MBA has become the recent fad, and I believe its too over-hyped. So here are the 5 main reasons. There are other reasons too, which I will mention later.

1) Money. Yeah, money. Cold, hard cash. Money, honey, yeah yeah. There is a saying in Hindi, ‘Paisa Bhagwaan Nahi Hai. Par Bhagwaan se kam bhi nahi hai.’ (Money is not God. But it is also not less than God). Probably it’s one such thing, which almost every man or woman is after, in this world. It’s also probably the major reason for the majority of crimes and wars which are prevalent ubiquitously. So what is my point? That money is not important? That we should not aim at making money? Isn’t that illogical and absurd? What are we studying for anyways? Isnt it to get a decent job and make loads of money? Well, money is surely important, no doubt about that. But if your primary aim is just to make money, and do nothing else, mark my words, you will never succeed in life. But unfortunately this is the number 1(and plausibly the only) reason for the majority of students who want to pursue an MBA. So it is but natural that most of them end up as failures, or get into some odd jobs which they end up hating. Reason being simple enough: They themselves had no idea what they wanted in life apart from money. Earn money, surely. But by good means. And though an MBA degree will surely help you in doing so, money in itself should NOT be the main reason for becoming a manager.


2) Because my friends/peers are doing it: So if your friends decided to jump off a 100 storied building, you would too, right? Please say yes. Come on, lead your own life. Create your own individual identity. You should not pursue anybody else’s dreams. Make your own. And just because all of your friends are giving Management exams does NOT mean that you should blindly follow them in lure of money and fame. According to me, this is also a major reason for failure. The student himself is clueless as to why he wants to do an MBA, and consequently he plans nothing for the future and makes a mess of it. This is because he/she never performed a self-analysis test. On whether an MBA will actually help him/her achieve his/her goals or not. In fact, I have seen students giving CAT simply because their room-mates/friends were doing the same, and they did not want to be left behind in the rat race. Nowadays, in India, the situation has become such that almost 4 out of 5 students want to do an MBA. And most of them are doing it because they see others doing it. Some do it because their parents/uncles/relatives advise them to. This is not only silly buy extremely ridiculous. As Napolean Hill remarked, 98 out of 100 people do not pause and think as to what they actually want to do. It’s the remaining 2 guys who obtain success as well as money.


3) Because MBA is the only way that I can be successful in life/Get a great job: On the contrary the truth is far from it. Though it’s true that if you get into a top Bschool, you will definitely get a good job, with a handsome pay-check. But then, not everybody is suited for the corporate world. We all hear about youngsters getting into IIMs, young entrepreneurs making it big, but scarcely do we hear about people who have passed out of IIMs(or other good bschools) in their 30’s or 40’s. This is because most of them join any job they get with a high salary, get so immersed in the hectic schedule that they have little time for anything else. As a result, they don’t even get time to spend their money and enjoy or relax. Rather the only thing they are spending their money on seems to be on ‘health’. Not surprising for persons who work 14-18 hours a day. Ultimately, one should remember that a person comes empty handed and returns empty handed. You cannot take your money with you to heaven. So why so much greed for it? But we don’t seem to learn our lesson. Money is all that matters. No matter how much I have to sacrifice for it. Sigh! Guys, becoming a manager is good, and an important occupation no doubt, but it’s not something everyone and anyone can do. The current trend is a good example. Most engineers go into Bschools only for money and fame. They are least interested in Business or the Corporate World, but more interested in placements. They end up becoming mindless machines who keep working past their limits and finally lose everything they have earned. Their family, their money, their fame, and sometimes even their sanity. No wonder so many of them commit suicide in depression. Why does something that tragic happen? Simply, because most of them were not suited to work in the Corporate World. But they went ahead, because their friends were doing the same and due to their lust for money, without realizing their true potential.


4) Because you want to study in the IIMs/Other premier Institutions:
Sure, getting into an IIM/Other good Bschool is a very prestigious thing, and something which is a dream of lakhs of students. But you should not aim to do an MBA only for that reason. I have seen people who badly wanted to get into the IIMs but had no clue as to what an MBA/PGDM was. Their logic was that they wanted to study at a Premier institute, and since there are no IICs(Indian Institute of Commerce) or IIAs(Indian Institute of Arts) or IIMEs(Indian Institute of Medicines), or IILs(Indian Institute of Law), it would have to be the IIMs. For such people, the course contents or the degrees do not matter at all. The only thing that matters is the money and fame. By getting into an IIM, they will supposedly get both. Who cares whether they teach Business or Management or Economics or Law or whatever. We can adjust to anything. Just give us quick bucks and fast fame. Obviously if you feel that you can be a good manager and can adjust well in the Corporate World, definitely aim for the IIMs, but please don’t do it only for the fact that you feel they are the ‘shortcut to success’, because they are not.


5) Because you feel that you are consummate in English and also a Maths Wizard: Even if you are impeccable in Maths, that does not automatically qualify you for an MBA degree. Rather if you are really that good, you should either do an MSc./Ph.D. in Mathematics, and continue your research in Mathematics either in India or outside, under the guidance of an experienced Mathematician. But no, you would not do that, would you? The reason simply being that it’s not luring enough, and it would not give you a seven digit salary. So, rather you opt for an MBA. Never mind the fact that you don’t know the B of Business, or that you have not even touched a Management book in your life. But you are supremely confident of cracking the CAT, because your Maths is God-level, and you speak in English (more to show off than anything else) wherever you go. Though the CAT and other Management exams do test your proficiency in Mathematics and English, that does NOT mean that if you are good in either or both, you should do an MBA. But unfortunately, in our society such is the prevalent case. People only see MBA in front of them, killing any scope of creativity within them. The student could have done better if he had pursued English or Maths at a higher level, say he could have become an eminent etymologist or Operations Research Expert. But he is rather forced to do an MBA, and get into a corporate job which he hates from the start. People presume that since a person is good in English and Mathematics, he should do an MBA. In fact the actual truth is just the reverse. A manager should be proficient in English and Maths, and NOT the other way around. In fact I have seen people attempting CAT, simply because they loved the feel of the paper, its pattern and the way it was set. No wonder CAT attracts so many engineers. Because engineers love working with Maths, Logical Reasoning Puzzles, even Verbal puzzles. But one should have a real motive as to why he is pursuing an MBA. And that should not be something asinine as ‘I like the syllabus/pattern of CAT’ or ‘I am good in English and I love solving puzzles.’

Anyways enough typing for now. More on MBA later. Hope all of you liked this article. I definitely enjoyed typing it. See you later. Take care folks.

So Few!

Well this is a topic I had wanted to write about since a long time. Probably over 3 years. Finally I have got the chance to write it in my blog. It is a controversial topic, and I don’t expect you to agree with me.

I suppose many of you might have wondered as to why there are so few girls in the IITs, IIMs and many other premier institutions, mainly related to engineering and management. Is it because girls are not as smart or academically brilliant as their male counterparts? Or is it because they are not interested or mentally inclined towards such streams(engineering, management, etc)? Or is it because of our mental and social outlook towards girls? Or lack of opportunities? Or something else? Why is it that over 90% of the cases, it’s always the male who emerges as the so called winner?

For the past few centuries, in India, women have been treated with lack of respect. They were expected to act as housewives and home keepers only. Female education was strictly discouraged and prohibited by many. Nobody wanted their daughters to pursue higher studies. Though this situation has changed in recent times, we still have a long way to go. For starters, India is a country which has a low sex ratio, around 925. Most of the developed countries have a sex ratio of over 1000, where the females are given equal rights as men. We find women workers, engineers, entrepreneurs, doctors, managers, etc in every area. No longer is the female sex, considered as a weaker sex. At least, this is true in developed countries. The situation in developing, or underdeveloped countries is far grimmer. In countries such as Afghanistan, women are discouraged from even coming out in the open, let alone working at par with men. The situation in India is better, but it can still improve. The condition of rural women is deteriorating day by day. Many urban women are working nowadays, but they form just a fraction of the total working force.

If you take any company, or any premier institution, educational or otherwise, the percentage of males will always surpass that of females. Why does this anomaly exist? Shouldn’t females be given equal rights and opportunities? For starters, not all women are willing to work in companies, and managing the house is an equally important task. Taking care of children, is also something which the women feel is a prerequisite. So that takes care of the company’s thing. What about the institutions? Well, it is partly true, that many girls prefer to study arts and commerce, and few are interested in Science or Mathematical subjects. Whether this is due to peer pressure or not, is another question. So I decided to due some research about this. This is what I found:

In the premier engineering institutes, the percentage of girls usually varies from 10% to 25%. Though there are exceptions, no doubt. In the not-so-good engineering colleges, the percentage of girls is usually a bit higher, than say the IITs, but nevertheless it scarcely goes beyond the 30% mark. There are very few girls in IITs.

The percentage of girls in Commerce colleges, usually ranges around the 50% mark. Or less. I do not have further information about this. 

I am not considering girls-only colleges, especially in the Arts stream. But under co-ed, arts stream, the percentage of girls is usually higher than boys. But we have very few premier Arts institutions in the country. 

For Science courses, such as BSc, MSc, etc, again the percentage of boys is usually higher than that of girls, by a wide margin. Very few girls, go for higher scientific research. 

Same is the situation for many other courses, such as BCA, BBA(here girls sometimes form a majority), MCA, Maths/Physics/Geography etc Honours, and others. 

Finally we come to management. The situation in IIMs is even worse than the IITs. The percentage of girls usually ranges from a miserable 5% to 10%. Should this situation be accepted, and left as it is, accepting that boys in general have better aptitude than girls? Surely we don’t want ‘All-Boys’ IIMs? Do we need to create a separate female reservation quota? Though most people would argue against it. Especially the male class. Maybe reservation is not the solution. But definitely the situation needs to improve. Girls should be encouraged to come forward and pursue higher studies. They should be treated with respect, at par with boys, and given proper guidance, not neglected, as has been done in the past. The concept that girls are only fit for cooking, washing and sewing has now become obsolete. I have seen many people, who simply assume that girls do not deserve to do well, and it will only be males who will succeed. This is just pure male chauvinism.  

Girls may not be physically as strong as their male counterparts, but are definitely capable of matching them in all other aspects, especially in handling stress, mental duress, emotional strains, etc. Moreover, the environment in study institutions becomes much more amiable, with the presence and liveliness of the fairer sex. There would be much less fights, as to who should win over the particular girl as well, assuming there is 1 girl for every 20 guys. (Okay this was a joke)

More on this topic later. Have to scram. See you all later, folks. Keep commenting. Adios,