“I felt MBA is mandatory to escalate my career through the corporate ladder.” -

…says Dipanjan Gupta, a B-Tech in Computer Science and Engineering   from Institute of Engineering and Management. In conversation with Reshma Majithia, he talks of his decision to do a MBA from abroad…

What led you to do an MBA?  Why did you choose to pursue your MBA from Melbourne Business School?
The prime motivation behind the MBA was to get an overview of business from the owner/manager’s perspective and not restrict myself to a tunnel vision with a specific department within a specific domain. Of course, there will be a domain specialisations but I felt the need to tie up my knowledge with a big picture understanding. Moreover, I felt MBA is mandatory to escalate my career through the corporate ladder.

Melbourne Business School ticked a lot of my preferred boxes. It has earned a good ranking for itself in almost every MBA ranking lists. The other factor which drove me was the strong (Asia Pacific) APAC focus and extraordinarily diverse student base. The tuition fee was quite reasonable compared to the American peers. I was actually somewhat unaware how expensive Melbourne could get if you are here as a student; however it still turned out to be affordable when compared to the similarly ranked US or European Schools.

How did you balance your job responsibilities and GMAT and application preparation?
It was not easy. However, I was quite focused and knew what I wanted. I think I was quite driven for getting an MBA. Actually, there’s story behind this. I took CAT in 2005 where I scored 99.14% but failed to clear one cut-off (DI) and ended up getting no IIM calls. However, within a month after results were published I was transferred to the US while I was really quite upset with the process of selection through CAT and the fact that it just became impossible for me to take it again. Since then I was quite motivated to get an MBA from abroad.

It actually took four years of planning and fund accumulation from 2005-2009 to actually join an international business school program. Moreover, as I said, I think I never lost focus in those four years. I remember I used to come back home in US around 7 pm, sleep for 4 hours and then start GMAT preparation burning some midnight oil. Scoring well in GMAT was easy if you ask me however, writing those essays were not. It’s imperative to seek out guidance for those essays if one is not very confident.

How did you arrange your finances to pursue your MBA?
I lived abroad and earned some dollars to get my financial health in a better state. I took a bank loan too but that wasn’t a huge amount. I did my internship in Melbourne and managed to get an offer for a part time role there as well. Actually my budgeting and financial planning went for a toss given the steep incline AUD exchange rate since 2009. Thus, in my third term of MBA, I did a part time job along with my studies which was a continuation of my internship. That was definitely one of the most challenging phases of my life until now.

How would you describe your life at Melbourne Business School?
It has been the biggest learning of my life hands down. For two years I was with exceptional students from different corners of the world and you really feel like a global citizen here. MBS being a smaller school than most of its peers has a bit of personal touch to every process. Almost everyone at MBS from reception to the Dean would know me personally and greet me wherever we meet. That’s a fantastic feeling.

The academic pressure can be very high and it is generally very competitive. The only problem that I see with MBS is that it is located in Australia. Australia is quite a small market, thus there is not much demand working for the MBAs. One has to be proactive to end up with a good job. Waiting passively for the companies to come and recruit you doesn’t work here for most people. If you are exceptional, you may as well; but for the majority, getting a good job is quite difficult.

Is there anything that future MBA aspirants need to know and be prepared for when it comes to an MBA programme?
I will be able to answer this question only from an international business school point of view.

From my vantage point I see that the benefits realization of an MBA program has two very crucial aspects to it: a) Learning and Network b) Job.

From the learning aspect, I must say choosing an international business school is only the first step of the process and definitely not enough by itself. Interacting, socializing and absorbing values from your fellow classmates and faculty is equally crucial and if I may add, the most challenging part.
I found every moment of business school challenging in some way or the other. However, I think it is absolutely critical to enjoy those challenges and rise up to them. That would be the confidence factor going forward and would result in a strong network. I find many students particularly from the Asian cultures would form their own clans and restrict their interaction to the same. I think that’s not value for time and money if you are in an international business school.

So, in short, I think the key is adaptability and to some extent, pro-activeness.

From the job aspect, one has to realize it’s not going to be the way it is India. In most countries, US, UK or AUS the demand for an MBA is not that high (compared to India). So companies will not fight among each other to recruit MBAs. Thus, the onus is upon the student to sell himself/herself to the companies in a realistic fashion. It’s not going to work if one has been in IT industry for 8 years and then hits up an investment bank trying to sell that CV. There should be a business case behind every proposal and that would include job applications. Thus it’s crucial to know what realistic career path one would want to take and then start with the MBA. Minor changes in the plan are absolutely fine but major career changes are very unlikely. Having said that, I must say such things are not impossible, they are just highly improbable.