Should you apply to ISB - Indian School of Business

Many Indian professionals, working in US, think of taking MBA at some point in their career. The first reaction of this thought is USD 120K! This is what a typical MBA from a top tier school in US will cost you. Still many of us break the ice and start looking into options. Of course there are benefits of MBA from a US school that can not be compared with other Asian top schools. But, lets look at it from a different perspective.

Choice of your school will largely depend on your goal of staying in US or India after MBA. Though route from US to India is way easier than reverse.

We should not underestimate India for its potential and growth. Investment banks are hiring people with fat packages! That is why I think ISB is an emerging institute with high return on investment. Think of spending just one year and $35,000 and end up in a $100K job in India. Isn't that a good trade? Not only that, but you still have options (though few) to head back to US. Now you are an MBA with no debt on your head.

But, remember that ISB will not fetch you a $150K job in US. Moreover, you will have to struggle as you were struggling before MBA to end up in a good front office job of your choice. Further, most of the states in US, where you may want to finally settle down, do not even know ISB. So, more struggle!

Lets take the other case now. If you do your MBA in US from a top tier school. Your debt at the end is around $100K. It Doesn't make sense to go back to India and join a $100K job in India at this time! You will keep paying your loans for life. So, you stay back for 5 years until you pay your debt. By that time you also secure a high profile position. Now, when you try to move back to India, you will probably have even higher profile and possibly equal, if not more, salary than what you would have had if you were an ISB grad. Sounds excellent, right? Wait...

You have assumed that you will get a chance to go back to India which was at your discretion initially when you decided to stay in US for MBA. Moreover, you are hoping that you will not have home and a car debt when you decide to leave for India after five years. Not only that, your kids may no longer want to go. But, these are all future risks and may not hold true. You can also mitigate them.

So, In my opinion, If you want to go back to India now then ISB is a good choice. But, if you want to and can stay in US for a while or forever, MBA from a US school is certainly a better choice. Again, the route from US to India is easier than reverse.

The comments above are strictly my opinion and you are the better judge of your needs.......

TOP MBA - Basis of Comparison

A lot of websites like business week, wall street journal, US news etc publish their ranking of business schools every year. However, no one actually publishes anything that exactly suits your specific needs. You will find ample text on how to choose a school and what matter while making a choice. But, what you don't get is a comparison of factors that matter to you.

All of us at the back of our mind know how to select the business school which best fit our needs. Even though we are computer savvy, most of us don't try to put it in a structured way. To analyze the strengths and focus areas of a business school is very necessary. But, how many of us actually try to enlist these in a way that suits our way of evaluation?

As an example, if you are a business man and your goal of MBA is to open up new ventures, then you are probably more interested in networking. But, again, it depends on what kind of network you are looking at. Automobile business? Consider Michigan university! Finance? May be Columbia or Wharton school. Remember, these are my thoughts. Similarly, when you read a standard ranking on a website there might be some assumptions made in the survey which may not apply to you. So, do not just follow them blindly. You would need a blend of inputs from various available resources configured in your way.

One of the easy solutions is to grab a computer and engage a standard utility/software like MS Word or excel to start putting points that matter to you most. Provide some standard headings to your baseline document. Using a standard questionnaire, note down what things are important to you. Then derive things that apply to you specifically. Start exploring the standard websites and their data. You know the rest of it....

Don't forget that the standard websites are invaluable sources of data to be channeled into a valuable information database.