[floyd_rose]

Now since the MBA season is over, it is time to look back what happened in all these stressful months that have brought joy to some and disappointment to others. The MBA season as i define starts mid November when people sit for CAT and ends in mid-January immediately after FMS. This is keeping in mind that majority of people sit for these exams. Obviously, there are some other exams as well that lie outside the scope of my definition of "MBA season". And i won't be talking about the Do's and Don't's but i would like to bring to light few of the issues that everyone of us (being aspirants) are aware but as we say "Time is the best healer", we forget about them and move forward in life. I must say there are two reasons why i am writing this. First, because i too have failed in achieving what i had expected (let's be frank) and secondly, i have lost all the interest in getting myself an MBA degree. After the infamous fiasco pertaing to the unexpected/surprising scores of the candidates, one thing that surfaced was that i was sure that the colleges are less concerned about making a man out of a boy or woman out of a girl. I won't deny the fact that money is needed to run any institution or business but transparency and the inclination to be true to the intellectual society is something that was not very much present. When we talk of MBA, the word "Professionalism" needs to be attached to each and every activity that is associated thereof. The first time i sat for the MBA exams, i used to think why the institutes introduce the B-school forms before the result and infact even the last date to purchase. I was unaware of the power of the word "Business" at that time. I wanted an MBA degree but without knowing the deep meaning of the business itself. Students, every year, shell out thousands of rupees to purchase the forms and then when they get to know that an undesired event has taken place they see their money going down the drains and become helpless and disheartened. Why not the results come out and people get to know where they stand so that they shell out the hard-earned money of their parents (for those who are still not into job) according their potency and satiate themselves. But then a questions arises: How will the institutes satiate themselves? And this is not all. Another concept has emerged these days. And we call it - "The profile call". No one has ever tried to define it in absolute terms because of the simple reason no one understands it. Now tell me, if i am rejected on the basis of some parameter, then how would i come to know that whether i am fit to apply even when i sit for that particular exam next year. This happened to one of my friends last year. He was rejected by some XYZ college and when he inquired the reason he got the reply that he did not score enough in his class XII exams. Now this person can never apply to the college because he cannot defy time to go back and change his class XII marks. Whatever may be the case, i have come to believe that all this is beyond my comprehension and I trust the Almighty for this.

I feel this is not something that the student community should come forward so as to bring transparency in the system because i don't want to burden it with one more responsibility. The competition has increased by leaps and bounds and amidst this if i ask the youth to come and fight for the betterment of the system, i would be asking too much. If youth has to do everything, then where is the moral responsibility of people who claim themselves to be the Guardians of the society. I may sound too patriotic, philosophical and unrealistic but when one sees people who being utmost capable don't make it as per their dreams just because of these issues, one feels dejected.

Again, i would say - I ain't a professional writer. It is just a perspective. If you think that the issue is irrelevant, please ignore it. I don't intend to dishearten anyone. Please pardon me on my content.

[navneet0909]

Yeah you are right my friend, Some colleges give a lot of emphasis to 10th and 12th marks. Thats school time and we do not know what we are doing. Minimum cut-offs for 10th and 12th should be removed, they can give marks according to different gradings. Ex 70% above, 60-69, 50-59...and so forth.
But let us try to first understand as why in the first place MBA colleges consider 10th and 12th marks. They want students who are doing well throughout their academics. They want bright students who get placed easily. The only parameters they have is our marksheets.

Many people dont know their lifes aim and blindly follow their peers or for the lure of it.

Want another opinion? See Jim Roger's Investment Biker. In the beginning of that book he states that the best thing to do is to take the money that you would spend on an MBA and start a business. Even if you fail, you will learn more in the first 6 months than in your entire MBA program.

[floyd_rose]

What u said is just one aspect. My views are more inclined towards transparency and being just towards our education system. The lure of money is creating problems for us and more for those who cannot spend money every year for sitting for the exams.
Apropos incorporating 10th and 12th marks, i would say there is a big assumption. People who have been academically bright will remain all through their life and the ones "were" not will remain so for the rest of their life.

[Sagar1000]

I totally disagree with people who have the opinion that one who did well in 10th and 12th are the only exceptional bright candidates. There are cases where people who hardly had 60% in 10th and 12th did well exceptionally in graduation and later on did post graduation.
However, it is true that most students are unaware of this fact during their school days and later on realise these true facts. It is important that parents teach these facts to their kids when it is early and they are young so that later on do not suffer because of it!

[Jackal]

floyd,

hey.. to start with, i know exactly where you come from.. before i start rambling on lemme say one thing 'shit happens' n its ok..!! seriously..!!

life's not fair n will never be, you just gotta make things happen..

Disclaimer: the only reason i logged on to write this is in the hope that i could help some one.. i havent been around since ages, i hope someone around still knows me..

Originally Posted by floyd_rose

I must say there are two reasons why i am writing this. First, because i too have failed in achieving what i had expected (let's be frank) and secondly, i have lost all the interest in getting myself an MBA degree.
floyd,

ok just to get you to ground reality, the only reason you write this is the first one.. just the first one.. n its a very good thing to accept failures.. getting along from there, you know life's not about an mba, you know that.. all you think is that an mba is gonna give you something which makes you stand out and makes you stand above the rest, which is not so definitely..

so why?? why do we fall into this trap of getting an awesome PG degree?

well agree or not this is something which the world has let you to belive that an mba degree is going to be life changing, you are gonna start earning big moolah.. you gonna become the know all business guru..



you know thats not true, as navneet pointed out, sooner or later you learn whatever you need to learn on your own..

ok, i am not being hypocritical as i am pursuing a management degree myself, but i have my reasons as you might have your own..

is it a business?? of course it is and there is nothing wrong with it.. education is a business.. nobody's doing it for charity

coming to the point of it being an unfair process, of course it is.. as life can be too.. but you gotta accept n move on.. 10th / 12th definitely makes a difference and so do hundreds of other things..

do you know how easy is it for a girl to get into a b school is, compared to a guy of the same calibre..??

do you know how easy is it for non-engineers or people with off-beat careers to get in?

now to contradict what i said earlier, it's all fair.. if you look at it the right way.. an mba is just one of the probable 1000 ways of reaching where you wanna be life.. and if you are depending on an external source like that, you better accept the rules by which they play.. remember your goal is not an mba.. its something else.. the issues which you think are issues are actually not.. they are just some rules of the game.. this part is just a small portion of your journey.. a small small portion..

i'd like to share a small story with you..

i am pursuing a program where i have been taught by some really brilliant faculty from all across the world.. n i am very stingy with compliments but some of them have really been exceptional.. do you know one of the my favourites till now is from a bschool called I-I-P-M.. this guy graduated from there some 15 odd years back had a long stint in the industry and then joined a bschool as a full time faculty.. do you what was my first impression of him when i read his profile before attending the classes? i was like 'wtf a c*** from I-I-P-M is gonna teach me one of my most awaited subjects..' after 4 sessions i was shocked to see the kinda knowledge he had.. till the time the course got over i was in love with this guy..

there are quite a few lessons from this story to me, the one which i would like to point out to you is that it does not matter how you get there, as long as you get there.. in fact the the more the challenges, more the learning, more enjoyable your journey is.. you might get into an ivy league bschool tomorrow.. you might not get into a bschool at all.. but you will still be where you really want to be..

fair / unfair is just the way you look at it.. think about it..

cheers

(apologies for too much text )

[indronildey]

Err ummm did anyone realise that floyd_rose wrote this post on 4th may 2009 and some replied on 23rd October 2009 ...nice post though jackal

[puri.pallavi]

Well....

I dont wish to add to the already points already stated by a the users here..
jackal..thanks for logging in

One thing that matters most to an MBA after the degree is the pay cheques, I am an MBA and it is the truth.
Floyd today you write this, come placement time and time when you get into an org, start working, these statistics will change. % in school college shall be utilization for a consultant, revenue generation for an account lead, market share for a analyst etc.
I appreciate the point you brought up here about the judging system of the education industry, but these are the parameters that we were aware of when we were studying in those respective classes. What didnt we take care then? Were we not informed...im sorry i beg to differ. [The point that he/she had difficult circumstances at the day of the exam is only an excuse] Be the change you expect, a mute spectator does not add value!!
In the end it all boils down to the choices we make.

Now that you are at the B School, why not make the most out of it...than look at the other side.

Regards,
Pallavi

[pagalguy]

I wonder why this thread was locked, interesting stuff. Re-opening it. It is in the chit-chat section and I don't see a reason for the lock. Allow discussions to thrive, let us find a balance between filing stuff in the right sections and also letting thoughtful discussions happen.

[vineetmanghani]

@Floyd:

While I totally appreciate your views on both the points you've raised, there might be some reasons for business schools to try to sell the forms before the exam results:

1. The most obvious reason: Money. A business school (or any establishment for that matter) needs funds to operate and provide quality of service. Let's face it, you pay the b-school for a service (education, placements, whatever) and they need whatever money they can to provide that service. Think of it as one of those raffles where everyone buys a ticket for 100 rupees, and the winner walks away with the entire booty.

2. The institutes decide their cutoffs for the GD-PI based on the CAT scores (or whatever exam scores) of the people who have applied to them. If they wait for the exam results to be announced, they would have very little to go on for deciding the cutoffs. They don't want the number of people applying or appearing for the GD/PI to be too less or too much.

3. Another reason could be that they want to quote figures in the press about how many people applied to their institute. Obviously, the higher that number the better.

Let me assure you that I was pinched pretty badly too when paying out of my nose for b-school forms, without so much as an idea whether I'd even qualify for those schools GD/PI processes. But that's the way the industry functions.

Hope this makes some sense...