5 Not-So-Pleasant Truths About B-School That You Need To Know

Googling your favorite B-school will most likely bring up articles and stories that sing its praises. However, such pieces do little justice to reality. Just as there is a left for a right, there is also a not-so-pleasant side to these truth about B-school in addition to their golden crowns.

Below, we divulge a few truths about B-schools so that you have full knowledge of what you are getting into before you step inside a management institute.

You will repay your laidback attitude in the form of overwhelming backlog

Do not underestimate the number of quizzes and assignments you will have- planned as well as surprise ones.

Apart from this, you have to contribute to group projects. You will have club activities to be present in. Professors will expect you to turn in assignments loaded with questions after questions the next morning. The business school curriculum is not for the faint-hearted.

Hectic, yes. That is what your schedule will be. A laidback and procrastinating attitude will only land you deep in a pile of the backlog that you’ll wish you hadn’t accumulated in the first place.

You’ll struggle; sometimes for scraps

One of the scraps is sleep. If you are aiming to be an A-grader, then you can’t expect to get your 8 hours of sleep and balance it with your social and academic obligations. Even 5-6 hours will be a luxury.

Speaking of grades, you’ll be struggling to get an A, too. B, C, and D are standard grades. MBA programs are notorious for the superhuman effort it takes to score an A while acing all other areas of your life.

C for competition, c for cut-throat

These scraps are what will get people into a competitive spirit. Some are quick to adopt it; some aren’t. But, all are affected by it.

Remember, there are toppers from all over the country in your batch. Even if you were the topper in your undergrad, there are bound to be those who are better than you in some of the subjects. Everyone is aware of this fact and is looking over their shoulders.

You might or might not find true friends but you’ll definitely network

Networking- that core business term you hear so much. It isn’t just about gelling along with people, sharing your ups and downs over drinks, and sliding in a business favor here and there.

Rather, networking is transactional. Your social network in B-school will be made of people who’ll help you to be in the right place at the right time, and hence, advance on your career path or meet some goal. You approach them and strike up a camaraderie that is based on extracting your best interest at the right moment. You’ll hang out, go to the movies, and have fun with these people. But friends? Like F.R.I.E.N.D.S friends? Those will be only 1 or 2 out of so many.

Hence, many people will only seek to network with you and not befriend you. This is one of the lesser-known truths about B-schools. Don’t be living under rocks.

Placements dominate

Instead of discussing what they want out of life or their careers overall, people talk about placements. Which company is coming, what roles are they offering, what package are they offering, who is likely to land in which company, and what it will say about them.

The placement related CV points are another hot topic. They are incredibly essential in building your eligibility in front of your dream company. To collect them, you have to participate in case competitions, club activities, and other events that happen on-campus. Then you have to carefully sift through your gathered points and decide which ones are to be presented in front of which company. And oh, you don’t receive a CV point for every event. That is another one of the unfair truths about B-school.

TPC is (more or less) The Boss

Clubs and committees are joined, not because they have real growth value, but because of what they can add to the CV points. One of these committees- The Placement Committee- is highly revered and feared. They are awarded leniency in grades and attendance. They get advanced insider info about competitions and company visits. They can pull in favors for their friends. They can choose to alienate someone from the placement process entirely.

Fortunately or unfortunately, such is the culture of B-schools.

You cannot base your entire decision of the B-school you want to attend on the shining qualities only. It takes guts to acquire a business education that turns you into a professional. You need to know the entire picture. You need to know these truths about B-schools. Now that you know them, ask yourself:

To B or not to B? Am I willing to go through all this and more?