teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime”...

    Published in the February 2003 edition of the MBAA Journal



    I am a recent graduate from Boston University, School of Management, completing my degrees in MBA and MS in Information Systems. Today, I am pleased to share my thoughts and experiences which led me to the B-school.

    My MBA story starts long before I even joined the MBA program. Actually, it started almost right after I finished my undergrad in Computer Engineering in 1995, and was looking to do a master’s degree to compliment my bachelor’s. In the meanwhile, I got myself a job with Siemens Power Systems Control in Minneapolis at the start of 1996. After a year of my work there I took my GRE and applied for MS programs in several universities, but I must admit, it was a half hearted effort. I got selected in a MS program in 1997 but decided against it at the last minute as I had to go overseas for some projects, and also because I did see the value I was looking out from the MS program.

    In late 1998 I left Siemens while I was on a project in Hong Kong and came back to US to work as a software engineer for Lucent Technologies in New Jersey, which at that time was at its peak. I liked the job, and was riding the high waves of the IT boom. I was working as an analyst now, and started managing a team and a project. But I always felt that something was missing, that I could do better then this. I realized that as much as I liked the IT industry, I wasn’t meant to be a programmer all my life. I wanted to move up into the management, I wanted to make changes in the organization; I wanted to implement new ideas and needed more autonomy and freedom to do so, and I concluded that I really did need a specialized degree to get there. And that’s when I again started thinking about going back to school.

    I researched a few master’s program and learned that MBA was very hot and was geared towards a management career. But I was concerned as I didn’t have any finance or accounting background and wondered if it would add value to my IT experience. Would I have to totally change my career path? Would I have to start over everything? What about my knowledge and experience in IT? I wasn’t quite sure about whether the business administration was something in line with what I was doing at that moment.

    I talked to one of my friend who just got into an MBA program and liked it very much and came to know that MBA is not all about being a CEO or CFO; it’s about management and leadership in your own area of interest. I started researching various MBA programs and was delighted to find that there were so many tech-MBAs being offered in various schools around USA. I found that you can pretty much

I researched the institutes based on their reputation, programs offered, facilities, and location. Because I wanted to stay close to east coast, I short listed four schools, three of which were on the east coast. I prepared for the GMAT in the meantime and gave myself about three months before I took it, which literally came down to about eight weekends of preparation.

    I must admit that GMAT wasn’t the toughest part of getting into B-school; writing essays, filing applications, and deciding on which schools to apply for was just as tough. In the summer of 2000, I finally get invitations from three out of the four schools I had applied for, but I still had to decide on which one to join. This decision was partially eased when two schools offered me good scholarships, and one of them was Boston University. I went for Boston University because of its good reputation, its comprehensive dual degree program, and its location. The dual degree program gave me the business knowledge that I needed to step up in the management, while keeping me abreast of the latest trends in IT. I was able to relate the courses back to what I was doing and how I could make a better impact by looking at the bigger picture.

    I joined the MBA and MS/IS program at Boston University, in September 2000, and after two years and five back-to-back semesters of aggressive coursework, I earned the two degrees. I couldn’t have done it without being focused on the present and having a clear vision of where I was going. It took a lot of sleepless nights and busy weekends to do justice to the program. But don’t get me wrong though, I had a lot of fun along the way, and a have a lot of pleasant memories to share, maybe some other time.

    If there is only one advice that I can give to someone who is applying for B-schools, is that MBA is not for the unmotivated. This program is for individuals that have the desire, motivation and the willingness to put forth the effort to accomplish their goals in life. However, at least, or at best, this program will give you the skills to obtain the knowledge to reach your goals. As once was so aptly said, “Give a man a fish and feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime”.

（编辑：G.FREE）