F1GMAT: Tell us a little bit about yourself? Was Babson College always your first choice?
Naveen: I completed my Bachelors in Engineering (IT) from Mumbai University and started working in the software industry. My career experience before school has been working in software operations and sales for banks and startups in India, Japan and the Middle East. My last position was working as a project manager with a New Delhi based startup where I was the owner of the mobile and consulting businesses and also worked in pre-sales.
Babson was always one of my top choices for business school. I wanted to get an education that would be helpful towards my long term ambition of starting, managing and scaling my own businesses. I was very impressed by the diverse business interests and achievements of Babson students who have gone on to start businesses in a wide variety of fields (healthcare, web technology, operations, education, real estate etc.) I also received positive feedback from my former clients (one of them is a professor at Stanford University) about the program and quality of alumni, which gave me a lot of confidence in my choice.
Boston has an unmatched educational pedigree with many world-class institutions for business, government, science, engineering and arts (Harvard, MIT, Boston College, Boston University, Tufts, Northeastern, Berklee School of Music, Brandeis, HULT etc.) located here. This also contributed to my decision as I could tap into the local talent, research and network.
I applied to Babson in Round 1 and was admitted with a fellowship.
F1GMAT: Hi Naveen, we were impressed with your blog post “MBA: Hype or Reality? You covered in detail about the motivations for getting an MBA. To summarize your thought, what should an MBA candidate consider before doing an MBA?
Naveen:
1. Get work experience
I personally believe that people get hired based on their work experience first and foremost. Work experience helps people figure out their strengths, weaknesses and areas of improvement. Plenty of freshers blindly want to become consultants or iBankers because the glamour of money blinds them to other factors like constant travel, long work hours and a gap between their passion and their profession. Work ex makes you comfortable with who you are and helps you articulate what skills you bring to a business program or to a new role. It also gives you critical communication, team work and project management skills that serve you well for a post-MBA career.
2. Follow your passion and the money will follow you
Most (not all) Indian applicants follow the money and lose track of what is important for their career. They prioritize the potential earnings from an MBA education over an MBA education that will help them achieve the best from their career. Success and happiness aren't always correlated with money. Do what you enjoy doing and the material benefits will follow.
3. Understand the challenges of doing an international MBA
Don't just follow the rankings. Focus on getting to know the hidden qualities of schools, the location and the cost factor; especially if you plan to grow your career away from the US or in a small business environment.
4. Network
Most Indian students demonstrate competence in academics, even in business school. While consulting and investment banking jobs usually require a moderately high GPA cutoff, the best opportunities come about as a result of networking. Now, networking requires street smarts and for a student to "get out there" and talk to people in the industry, position oneself for a job or role, and generally prove they are intelligent in real life, not just in exams. Get networking and network hard!