February 4, 2006

Degenaration

An interesting thought was shared by my Strategy professor, Dr. Amit Kapoor. He said that it was perceived that the IQ of an MBA student actually fell during the course of the programme. Though he mentioned some study done by some psychos (who apparently had no better work to do... a live example of this topic!!!) and though it may actually seem wierd, the truth is ... hold your breath ... Its TRUE.

Lemme tell you my testimony...
Before coming to MDI I used to comb the Economic Times everyday. Each article was stripped bare. Each editorial was analysed from all possible angles.
I used to finish the BusinessWorld mag the day I bought it. Outlook Money had the similar fate. Frontline, the most difficult mag to read because of the high vocabulary took longer to finish. I ate, drank and digested the news.
I followed the markets daily. I almost knew the price of all scrips in my portfolio on a daily basis.
I read. Novels, Articles, papers. I always had some or the other book in my hand.
I went out with friends. (Long walks with Audrey was a daily pleasure!) I socialised. Travelled. etc.
After coming to MDI, I can count the number of days I have read the paper on my fingers. The fate of the paper lies under my bed where many of them lie wasted.
I haven't read a single biz mag cover to cover. Of course I've counted the occasional glance into an interesting headline. But the first few lines, introductory paragraph was all there was to it.
I dont even know the price I bought some of my stocks (Though since Unnati happened I have taken some interest!)
Books. I issue them. I return them. Reading them is not on the list.
Going out. Well that reminds me, its been a long time since I went out.

Why do these things happen. Isn't B School supposed to make you a better informed, better organised, better professional and provide value addition. Almost all my friends who have come here agree that there were much better off before coming to a BSkool. All I have learnt here is a few terms (which would make no sense to those above or below you anyways), how to 'sound' sophisticated, how to maro gyaan, how to work my way through the backdoor. Did I pay 5.14 lakh rupees to go through this, and lose two good years of earnings.

Also its funnier still when freshly minted MBAs, expect skyhigh salaries. I dunno whether we would sincerely hire at that what students expect if I was on the other side of the hiring table! Prolly I would love to make a jackass of him.

That brings me to the next point. What am I doing here? Well ... a victim of necessity (to rise up the ladder ... and 'differentiate' myself from the billion plus people that we are) and marketing by newspapers, magazines and BSkools themselves. My expectations before coming here was that I would learn from the rich and diverse experience of my batchmates, that everyone around me would give different angles to analyse management problems (and trust me there are many), that our renowned faculty would give insights into fundaes rather than just qoute management gurus verbatim.... Sheesh I could go on ......!!! @#%$#^%$&

SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME I CAN APPLY THE SHIT I AM STUDYING .....
Eagerly waiting for the summer internship to start ... before I go into negative IQ !!!!

2 comments:

Venkat said...

I agree..My IQ seems to have gone down too..i barely read nething other than by research books...i used to find my readin time during my 45 mins train travel from Thane to Matunga. No train travel here so no reading. i think tha t travel was a boon in disguise. can ne one tell us that we can change the situation. cos if this goes on my IQ will be very stagnant

Anonymous said...

hey guys....
i don't think IQ has any relation with reading habits.....
yes u do have missed out on some rich reading experience but surely ur intelligence bout the real world matters and ur INTELLIGENCE to handle life must surely have been increased manifolds....
mind u....making fool of people also requires high level of intelligence....just joikng guys...