Why I Went For an MBA

It is standard for students to have a couple years of work experience under their belts before applying to an elite business school. For me, it took about four years to apply, and I had five years of work experience by the time I started my MBA program. This was partly because, though I may not have actually felt "ready," I did feel trapped. More than to build a new life, I wanted to get away from the life I already had. At that point, I knew I had to apply to business school, or I wouldn't have been able to build my career.

I had to move forward!

My first degree was in IT management. I thought that would get me the business expertise I needed, but it hadn't. I had been working for four years. I knew if I stayed another year or two, I would be locked into being a tech lead. That was all I could see myself being when I looked four to six years into the future.

I didn’t feel that I had the confidence to chase my goals, so I drew a line in the sand. I told myself that I had to start looking at business schools, and I had to apply. I don’t even know if I was really ready when I applied. I just knew it was something I needed to do to move forward.

I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into. I guess I really didn’t know enough about the full scope of what I would get from an Ivy League business school. I did know it would teach me about business and allow me to reboot my career.

In retrospect, I guess I wasn’t really ready for business school until I got there, as opposed to some people who begin the application process already having a practical justification for their decision. Because of this, I found myself scrambling and making things up as I went along.

My advice is to look ahead to your post-business school career, envisioning a concrete goal and mustering the confidence to attain that goal. It all worked out for me in the end, but it might have gone even more smoothly if I had plotted my goals more definitely in the first place.