One of the most widely used terminology in MBA admissions. Your parents look for ROI when they spend money for your well being & education, you look for ROI when you spend time & money for your girl friend with whom you’re serious for a future, and you look for ROI when you invest time and healthy sex with your spouse (or sometimes from your GF also!!!)!!
So the above are not true yeah, so then why this misconception about MBA or any education for that matter? Now even if it is true, the above 3-4 cases of ROI mentioned, you get your supposed ROI in 1-2 years? Your parents get ROI when you get a job, i.e. after at least 21 years!! You get ROI from your girlfriend after at least 2-3 years (okay agreed now that this is a short time, but then what is the rate of break ups after this supposed fast ROI?!!). You get a ROI from your spouse (or maybe GF) after at least 1-2 years after marriage only. Again this is small time but then blame the way GOD has made nature and the reproduction process for humans!
MBA education is an investment for a lifetime, not for 1-2 years immediately after your course. Okay agreed you have loans to repay, you have other commitments to keep immediately after MBA. But then given the state of things in India and anyone who is knowledgeable in the MBA circle, its terms and terminologies and the colleges, the top 40-50 under any ranking, one should be knowing that the average salary in almost all these colleges is easily 5-6lakhs (okay, so don’t believe me, go and check for yourself). But then come on this is average salary, which means there are some with salary figures above this also - 7lakhs, 8lakhs or maybe 12lakhs & above. So why can’t you be that person? You don’t trust yourself? You’re not confident? If not then you don’t have any right to be an MBA grad or at least the time has not yet come for you to be one. Maybe you need more time in the industry with some work experience before you understand the importance of MBA and its exact purpose. Maybe you need to rethink on why, when and from where MBA?
The whole issue of ROI from MBA crops up from the fact that education is privatized in India; it is a business these days!! Get it done with, and its sure shot way to glory and fat pay packages! For the colleges, it is just a way of earning money! So what happened to our culture and our traditions? In all other cases, even where it’s not necessary we put the credit or blame on our culture and traditions. America is better than us, but then we’re better than them because of our culture. Remember that scene from the bollywood movie, Swades?
हमरे पास कुछ है जो उनके पास नहीं है, और ना कभी होएगा
क्या?
संस्कार और परंपरा, और जब तक ई हमरे पास हैं तब तक हमरा कोई कुछ नहीं बिगाड़ सकता, हमरा देश दुनिया का सबसे महान देश है
हाँ भाई, संस्कार और परंपरा हमारी सबसे बड़ी ताकत हैं
So then, what happened to this sanskar and parampra now? Our education system was never like this. It used to be gurukul system, where no one looked at ROI. Children used to be sent to the gurukul for years till they complete their education. It may be more than 10 years also!!
Bottomline: ROI is a misused term. ROI is not in the short run, but in the long run. Your MBA degree will add value and give you the desired “ROI” and also the capacity to repay your loans. But, but, but…Only if you are best at what you do and are confident about yourself. So get yourselves some of that before you speak about ROI!!
