MY IDEA OF AN MBA
LONG-TERM GOAL:
To leverage the expertise and hands-on experience gained as a management professional while
working for a firm, into setting up an organization (either individually or collaboratively) later on
which can contribute towards betterment of society, especially people from my region.
WHY MBA IS FOR ME?
I bring with my candidature a strong amalgamation of the best and the worst living conditions
and how it can effectively change the world we live in.
I envision myself swiftly transitioning into a leader and bringing to the peer group the maturity
of working in multi-cultural teams while I hasten towards my own aspirations and carve out my
future to bring smiles.
WHY IIT ROORKEE FOR MBA?
With a dynamic, experiential-learning based pedagogy, erudite faculties and state-of-the art
intellectual capital at its disposal, IIT ROORKEE will offer me a unique opportunity to imbibe
the core knowledge in the field of business, equip me with the relevant hard and soft skills and
inculcate the holistic outlook towards various facets of business administration, which in turn
will give me a tremendous competitive advantage in my endeavour to achieve excellence in a
managerial/leadership role. Further , getting an MBA degree from an institute with such a stellar
pedigree will significantly add to my credibility as a management professional.
MY EXTRACURRICULARS AND OTHER ACHIEVEMENTS :
Hobbies1. Playing sports and discussing sporting events/sportsmen.
2. Debating various issues on social media platforms.
3. Participating in Quiz contests.(I represented my school in the Maggi Quiz - an inter-school
quiz competition held across many cities in India.)
4. Travelling.
Academics –
I was among the top 10 students of my branch (CGPA/CPI wise) during the B.Tech course in
NIT Silchar. I was awarded the annual performance certificate for being the topper and the
second topper of my class in class - VII & class- IX respectively in my school.
Other Areas –
I won the second prize twice in the inter-school merit test held in my district. I won the first prize
and the third prize in the year 2003 & 2001 respectively in the intra-school quiz competition .
I won the second prize twice in the inter school merit test held in my district. I represented my
school in the maggi quiz - an inter school quiz competition held across many cities in india. I
won the first prize and the third prize in the year 2003 & 2001 respectively in the intra school
quiz competition . I was the runners-up in the intra school carrom doubles competition in 2001.
Briefly Describe Yourself :
I was born and brought up in Silchar, a small town in the state of Assam.I completed my
schooling and 12th from there. After that , I cracked AIEEE and got admission into NIT Silchar
in the Department of Electrical Engineering.I got placed in Coal India Limited during campus
placements there in 2010.I decided to quit my job and pursued M.Tech from NIT Silchar in
2012.After completing M.Tech , I joined academia and worked there till June, 2018.I then felt
the need to switch my career path in search of professional satisfaction and hence decided to
pursue management education.
I attribute whatever I achieved in academics and professional life to the following strengths:
1.Commitment and perseverance: I have built my career around these two crucial
qualities.Coming from a lower middle class family, I knew my best chance of getting top quality
higher education was to crack entrance exams and so I decided to cut out on socializing and
focused only on that.In my professional life also, I have maintained that same attitude towards
my work.
2.Can deliver under adversity: While working in Coal India, I had the experience of working in
extreme conditions and with different types of work force(i.e. unskilled , semi-skilled and
skilled). The extreme heat in coalfields, the conflict with the locals over land issues and the
workers’ strikes were regular occurences. But I did not yield and went about my job manfully
keeping only the interests of my company in mind.
3. Prioritise my own convictions over societal norms: My decisions of quitting a PSU and joining
academics, and later on switching from academics to management, were criticised by many. But
I always backed myself to do what is best for me and not buckle under societal pressure.Only I
know my strengths and weaknesses and what is best for me and in alignment with my goals in
life.
However, I have identified the following weaknesses which have acted as hindrances to reaching
my full potential professionally:
1. Glossophobia: This reluctance to speak before a gathering has been misconstrued as timidity
and has at times acted against me . I have been able to address this issue better after joining
academia.
2. Not being assertive enough: That rejecting people’s views or aggressively pushing my own in
a professional set up is not being rude but is just part of the job, is something I have started to
appreciate now .
3. Taking criticism personally: I was often offended by critcism in the past and am still learning
how to take it. But what I learnt is that how I feel about criticism makes not one bit of a
difference to that person criticising me. It can only affect my performance, efficiency and my
decision making adversely.
Goals:
Short-term goal: To acquire the necessary managerial/leadership skills and holistic understanding
of various strategic, structural and functional aspects of firms (through the MBA programme) so
as to upgrade myself professionally to play key strategic roles in an organisation.
Long-term goal: To leverage the expertise and hands-on experience gained as a management
professional while working for a firm, into setting up an organisation(either individually or
collaboratively) later on which can contribute towards betterment of society, especially people
from my region.
My long-term ambition is to give something back to my community and to my suburban roots in
Assam. An MBA programme, at this juncture, will align perfectly with this ambition as it will
enable me to cultivate the holistic understanding of financial, marketing and other strategic
aspects of organisations in various sectors which, in the long run, will serve as a preamble to
starting my own venture. In the short term too, an MBA will open up multiple job profiles to
choose from, each with plenty of room for innovation and out-of-the-box thinking. As someone
who has worked both in a public sector mining industry and a private sector academia, I feel that
the atmosphere of innovation, and the impetus of upgrading and reinventing oneself
professionally is not quite there in either of these sectors. While I learnt a lot about the
strategic,structural and functional aspects of both these sectors, I needed to break out from the
inevitable stagnancy and maximise my potential professionally, by switching over to a different
and more dynamic job profile. I bring with my candidature the experience of working in
extreme conditions and with different types of work force(i.e. unskilled , semi-skilled and
skilled) , the courage of conviction to switch career paths in search of professional satisfaction
and the zeal to constantly evolve through lifelong learning .I envision myself transitioning
successfully into a professional in a leadership role in an organisation and an MBA from SIBM
Pune will be a huge stepping stone towards that.A Management/PGDM programme will help me
imbibe the core knowledge in the field of business, equip me with the relevant skills and
inculcate the holistic outlook towards various facets of business, which in turn will facilitate my
switching from current job profile in academics to a managerial role with greater scope for
innovation and growth.Further, getting a PGDM degree from a top b-school like SIBM Pune will
significantly add to my credibility as a management professional.
New skills:
Soft skills are as important as hard skills for a successful professional career. In the last two
years, I have developed soft skills like Public speaking, Inter personal skills and Presentation
skills.I have researched the abundance of textual material and videos available on the internet
and incorporated the changes in my presentation and speaking skills while delivering lectures
and making powerpoint presentations inside the classrooms.I had also taken the initiative to host
or anchor events in my Department whenever the oppurtunity presented itself. I was also more
proactive and assertive in departmental meetings while being a good listener at the same
time.This certainly enhanced my reputation as a solid performer in the department.
Challenging situation:
My most challenging situation in life was when my father passed away one week before B.Tech
8th semester final exams.I was emotionally broken and to make matters worse, my request to
allow me to take the exams 15 – 20 days later after completing all the rituals was also rejected.
So, I had to prepare for the exams as per schedule in the midst of all the emotional turbulence
and unending gloom that engulfed my home. I had to also manage and arrange for the religious
rituals and ceremonies myself.
The two major lessons for me were:
1.Be it personal or professional life, mishaps can happen anytime and things may not go
according to script.But we must never give up and keep fighting with a positive attitude.
2.I learnt about my myself that I had it in me to overcome all odds and adversities and that
proper planning executed with a cool head can lead to successful handling of multiple scenarios
simultaneously(i.e. exam preparation and managing the religious ceremonies after death) .
2. I received the Annual Performance Certificate for being among the top 3 rank holders of my
batch in classes 3,5,6,7,8 and 9 in my school.
1. I finished among the top 10 students of my branch (CGPA/CPI wise) during B.Tech
programme at NIT Silchar.
1. I won 1st prize and 3rd prize in Quiz competitions at school.
2. I won 2nd prize and 3rd prize in Inter School Merit Test competitions and other Merit Test
competition respectively
My long-term goal is to give something back to my region and to my suburban roots in Assam in a
professional capacity. An MBA programme, at this juncture, will align perfectly with this ambition as it
will enable me to cultivate the holistic understanding of financial, marketing and other strategic aspects
of organisations in various sectors which, in the long run, will serve as a preamble to starting my own
venture. In the short term too, an MBA will open up multiple job profiles to choose from, each with
plenty of room for innovation.As someone who has worked both in a public sector mining industry and a
private sector academia, I feel that the atmosphere of innovation, and the impetus of reinventing
oneself professionally is not quite there in either of these sectors. While I learnt a lot about these
sectors, I needed to break out from the inevitable stagnancy and maximise my potential professionally,
by switching over to a different and more dynamic job profile.My immediate goal is to acquire the
expertise and the skill sets necessary for empowering myself to transition successfully into a
professional in a leadership role in an organisation through management education.
A Management programme will help me imbibe the core knowledge in the field of business, equip me
with the relevant skills and inculcate the holistic outlook towards various facets of business, which in
turn will facilitate my switching from current job profile in academics to a managerial role with greater
scope for innovation and growth.Further, getting a management degree from a top institute like IIT
Madras will significantly add to my credibility as a management professional.This will be instrumental
for me as I strive to seek the following goals:
Short-term goal: To acquire the necessary managerial/leadership skills and holistic understanding of
various strategic, structural and functional aspects of firms (through the MBA programme) so as to
upgrade myself professionally to play key strategic roles in an organisation.
Long-term goal: To leverage the expertise and hands-on experience gained as a management
professional while working for a firm, into setting up an organisation(either individually or
collaboratively) later on which can contribute towards betterment of society, especially people from my
region.
I believe I will be a useful addition to the MBA class of 2019-2021, if I am selected. I bring with my
candidature the experience of working in extreme conditions and with different types of work force(i.e.
unskilled , semi-skilled and skilled) , the courage of conviction to switch career paths in search of
professional satisfaction and the zeal to constantly evolve through lifelong learning.I can therefore share
my experiences,speak about the challenges I faced in different sectors and my own takeaways from
them, which can contribute to a experiential based learning. As I am a postgraduate from an
engineering background, I can contribute to the non-engineering students in their learning of statistics
driven subjects and usage of data analysis tools and softwares . I can also provide a comparative
assessment about the work culture and and organisational dynamics of a public sector company and a
private one, which will be insightful for others in the class , especially the freshers.