Why should I do an MBA?

Reproduced from a Quora Answer by me here.

There are many possible answers to this question depending upon what stage of life you are in - just graduating, within 5 years of work experience, beyond 5 years etc.; and whether you plan to get a good job or want to start on your own.

I will provide the most generic answer here and refer you to few blog posts of mine for variations of it for different scenarios.

What value does an MBA provide:

• Network: As you go forward in life, you will realize that success depends on what kind of people you are connected to who can help in climbing the ladder of success. For example, as an entrepreneur, your company requires to connect to stakeholders - customers who buy your product / service, service providers who can feed into your product with minimal cost, investors who provide funding etc. Similarly, in a job, if you are connected to your superiors, you get more opportunities to excel and play a more impactful role. An MBA gets you that network - a network of batchmates, seniors, juniors etc who can play all the roles mentioned above (and many more).
• Brand: Needless to say, if you want a job or you are looking to attract investors, your qualification (more specifically, the institute you get that qualification from), makes a big difference. Top B-Schools fetch the meatiest jobs and best funded startup unicorns in India were started by MBAs.
• Knowledge: Knowledge is the primary reason purported for an MBA, but Network and Brand come before it. Nevertheless, an MBA gives you a comprehensive view in 1 or 2 years (depending on the duration of your course) of the academic basics of all aspects of the business world - Finance, Marketing, Logistics, Technology, Human Resources etc. This gives you a well rounded view of what lays ahead of your student life and even if it does not equip you enough with ability to excel in any one field, it sure helps you decide what you’d like to excel in. I have given a different view of thison my blog (this was written within my first year of job; do discount my age - and relative inexperience - at that time while reading).
• Perspective: Related to knowledge, but distinct, in my experience an MBA helps one develop a wider perspective of the world. Perspective develops as a result of learning multiple subjects, debating / discussing them within your class with your peers and teachers, and generally reading case studies which may or may not be within your curriculum. The pedagogy followed for MBA - given the relative fuzziness of the field - is different from the prescriptive method of teaching technical subjects. It is more exploratory (at least in most reputed institutes) and this helps develop a habit of exploring and developing a wider perspective.

There are many other reasons why a student should pursue an MBA, but I believe the above 4 top the list. The answer, as I had written earlier, will change slightly depending on what stage of life you are in. I am linking few of my blog posts which will help appreciate the differences of value of an MBA for a fresh graduate vs. those with experience or whether you plan to get a good job or want to start on your own.

1. Experienced vs. Freshers - an MBA Perspective
2. Ideal work experience before an MBA
3. Do you need MBA to become an entrepreneur