Welcome to F1GMAT’s #askAtulJose series. I am Atul Jose. With the second wave of covid fatalities in India estimated to peak by the end of May 2021, I received a question from an Indian MBA applicant who wants to know:
Q) Is it wise to apply for a top school this year as the US has announced a travel ban for Indian citizens. Will the experiential learning and in-class peer-to-peer learning be impacted by the disparity in vaccine distribution in non-US countries?
This is an excellent question. We can’t fault the US schools for not taking risks and allowing students to meet in person. If you ask any serious MBA candidate, they, in addition to associating with a known brand, will share that the biggest motivation for an MBA was experiential learning through a collaborative environment.
So you have to prioritize the factors that influenced your decision to pursue an MBA:
#1. Joining Top MBA Brands – The Only Reason for an online Full-time MBA program
Once you are associated with a known brand – in India (IIT), the US (Harvard, Stanford, Brown – any ivy league schools) at the undergraduate level, or a top employer, the admissions team and the subsequent employers will be heavily skewed to ignore some of your weaknesses or at least look for other data that address the weakness. Such generosity cannot be expected if you are from a tier-2 college or university. So it becomes extremely important that you associate with a top brand in a year when the application pool will vary depending on the covid-waves and the scale of the mutation. But compared to last year when there were no vaccines, this year at least, the pace of the vaccine distribution, supply chain hurdles, and manufacturing challenges in countries with a larger population like India and China are the only setbacks. For US schools, a vaccine passport with routine tests will compensate for the lack of vaccine reach in India. Again, the scaling problem is likely to be solved by September/October 2021, and by Round 2, most countries in the world would have some form of a permanent solution, assuming no serious variants emerge by then.
#2. MBA Global Experiential Learning program – Vaccination and Projects in Developing Economies
The nationalistic approach of my country first and home-grown vaccines, although a good sentiment, is unlikely to slow down a global pandemic. In a connected world like ours with trade and cultures merging and emerging, a collaborative united approach to vaccination will lead to better results. This is particularly challenging for top Business Schools that have designed experiential learning to work in developing economies. With the pandemic and travel restrictions changing depending on the fatality that the covid-19 variant brings, students this year will face a lot of uncertainty on participating in an experiential learning program in Asia or Africa. Since most schools have experiential learning during the summer, it is likely that you won't face the same challenges as someone who entered in 2020 would face.
#3. Peer to Peer in-person learning vs. Zoom/Skype Learning in an MBA Class
The zoom/skype fatigue is a challenge that schools clearly understand. It is just for a simple reason – you are forced to stare at a screen and not move your attention to reflect on the points made by your peers. The screen is addictive by design. Unlike a phone addiction where we assume the ownership of wasting our time, in virtual meetings/classes, the resistance in following a timeline where you are expected to pay attention to the screen leads to frustration.
During in-person class, no one expects you to stare at the professor without moving your gaze or even stare at your friends. Will we ever adapt? Unlikely.
US Travel Ban - Factors
The US will end a year-long travel ban for travelers from Europe, the UK, and Ireland by mid-May 2021. The ban was extended for a year primarily because – vaccination will reach at least 50% of the population in the affected region by May 2021 and in India by Sep/Oct 2021, provided the third wave that is also expected to arrive at the same period will not create mutations that derail the vaccination drive.
And finally some positive news – Trends from the 1918 Pandemic
There were three waves with nothing close to the tremendous effort made by the global scientific community to develop vaccines. Despite that, by the 1919 summer, the pandemic that began in early 1918 subsided. If history is any indicator, by 2022 Summer, when you will be ready to join the program, the pandemic would be an afterthought.
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