Whats to look for in an “MBA” program?

When I ask any MBA aspirant what will you look for in “MBA program”, the answer I get in 99.9% cases is “Placement”. If placement is the only factor that attracts students to do an MBA. I also find that the aspirants are not really worried about the quality of education, they only want to know the placement and salary statistics and discounts offered on the fee structure!

The questions that are often discussed and deliberated in social media , blog and forums and even in person when the aspirants meet each other or even me when they get a chance to meet are : Which of the big consultancy firms/tech firms come to campus and when? What was the highest and lowest package last year? What has been the trend of average packages over the last few years?

Many aspirants focus think and calculate return on investment (RoI) and opportunity cost in terms of salary lost. They always calculate of cost of the entire MBA program and the years it will take to recover that amount (with interest). When I ask a student for the most nerve-wrecking day spent in the college and the answer I almost always get is – “My Placement day”. Is it always right to think placement and placements alone out of an MBA program?! Is it right to equate can MBA program to chit fund company where you invest and look out for returns?!

MBA is certainly not a business venture where the goal is to reach a break-even point and become profitable in 2 years.  MBA is also about an “experience” which will be of phenomenal use to face many challenges in your career path. It is journey which equips you with knowledge, skills and ability which will stay with you for the rest of your life! It’s an intangible asset, which can never be stolen, which never depreciates, which offers a lifetime value and gives you the moral strength while you work with your business peers.

Hence what should you look for in an MBA program?

I urge all of you to read the blog of Mr.Prerit Arora, who completed his MBA from SCIT (completed in April 2014) and the interesting point which would fascinate many of you is he is currently “PLACED” with PricewaterhouseCoopers. He wrote this blog during July 2013 and it is relevant even today! The link for his blog is given here :

http://blog.scit.edu/2013/07/22/the-proof-of-the-pudding/

Cheers

Dr Raman

 Director SCIT and Dean – FoCS – SIU