ISB for CAs: Part 1
A lot of CA students and qualified Chartered Accountants reach out to me on LinkedIn, asking about the prospects of doing an MBA (PGP) from the Indian School of Business. Through this post, I will try to cover the topics with regards to the procedure and eligibility, life at ISB and post-ISB prospects for CAs, CFAs and people from commerce background.
Advantages of doing an MBA after a CA
The decision to do an MBA is a very personal one and as a CA you may be wondering about the value addition, ROI and other plus points an MBA course will add to your resume. As a Chartered Accountant, your target should be tier-1 B-schools either in India, or abroad. Some of the advantages of an MBA course for CAs (and people from other fields too) are:
i) Networking: As an MBA, you are part of an alumni network which includes CXOs, industry leaders, start-up founders across different industries. This adds value to your professional and personal growth in the long term. I have personally witnessed how helpful alums are. Despite being busy, they do take out time to help you with resumes, mock interviews, etc.
ii) New skills: While pursuing an MBA, you work with people from different backgrounds and you end up learning a lot from them. Making PPTs, utilizing tools and resources you never knew about, learning 10 new ways to use spreadsheets, writing cover letters and drafting resumes like a PRO. Trust me, by the end of the first week, I felt that I knew so little and there is so much more to learn!
iii) Opportunities: A lot of jobs open up for you once you have a tier-1 B-School tag. As a CA, you have a lot of doors open for you but you tend to get restricted to audit, tax and the finance department of corporates. The front-end IB, PE and VC, consulting, etc. often require the MBA tag (or atleast, it is an added advantage).
Also, as Chartered Accountant, you finally get to go to college and live that college life most CAs miss out on.
How to get into ISB?
There are some basic requirements to get into ISB. GMAT score, work experience, essays and letter of recommendation are required for the application.
GMAT Score: You need a 700+ on the GMAT. Anything below that and it gets tough. However, a 700+ or even a 740+ score doesn’t guarantee an ISB admit.
Most people I have spoken to are all pumped up to do an MBA from ISB but after spending 3–4 months on the GMAT, they give up saying ab padhayi nahi hoga. 6–7 people out of 10 lose motivation in the preparation stage itself. As a working professional, it is tough to devote time to studies. And after CA finals, you feel ab bas! no more padhai.. However, GMAT is no rocket science! As a Chartered Accountant, you are not used to competitive exams or adaptive tests so you need to acclimatize. You are not in touch with quants (mathematics) for maybe a decade, so you will need to brush up the class 7–10 level math concepts. It might take 5–6 months of 1.5–2 hours a day and multiple mock tests to get to that 700+ level. Some might be there in 2 months, some might even take a year.
Work experience: You need atleast 2 years of work-ex to get into ISB. CAs tend to have atleast 3–4 years of work-ex as they don’t come through the YLP route (for final year under-grad students). There are CAs with 8+ years of work-ex too! One of the good things at ISB is that you have peers with different years of work-ex. I have worked with people having 2 years of work-ex and even 15+ years of work-ex at ISB.
Essays: You need to submit 2–3 essays depending on if you are a first time applicant or re-applicant. Now, should you approach a consultant to help you with the essay? Or can you draft the essays on your own? It depends. Do you have a good command over written English? Can you bring out your strengths (and weaknesses), goals (and past work-experience) and skillsets in the given word limit?
If you decide to draft the essays on your own, get them reviewed by your seniors at work, ISB alums and peers. You cannot get the desired essay ready in 1 or 2 drafts.
Letter of recommendation: You need a letter of recommendation from someone you have worked with closely. It could be your manager, client or any professional connection. Avoid: i Am MaAh oWn ReCommEnDatIon bRuH or MaAh mOmMy rEcoMmenD mE bRuH! or any other witty recommendation you can think of.
Now, if you get past the application stage.. Congratulations! Your odds of converting an interview to admit is ~ 20%. ISB’s net admit to application ratio is rumoured to be around 12%. Although this is just speculative data from different internet sources and can vary year to year.
The internet calls it 8:5:1, i.e., 8 apply, 5 interview and 1 gets in.
Cost of an MBA from ISB
MBA from a tier-1 school anywhere in the world is an expensive affair. ISB is no exception. For the class of 2022, the tuition and studio accommodation (meals not included) adds up to around Rs. 37.5 Lakhs. The estimated monthly expenditure at ISB can range from Rs 15,000 to Rs 30,000 — depending on how much you booze, party, travel, eat, shop, etc. This brings up the cost to Rs 40 Lakhs.
Now, as a Chartered Accountant, you know the concept of capitalization of interest cost. Most people finance their ISB education with an education loan. You can get a collateral free loan for the entire fees + living expenses at really low interest rates (fixed and floating both!). The first year of the loan is simple interest and you are not expected to pay EMIs. However, this simple interest too keeps accumulating, right? So one can assume around Rs 3–5 Lakhs of interest capitalized.
- Tuition, accommodation and living expenses: Rs 40 Lakhs
- Interest cost (simple interest during moratorium): Rs 3–5 Lakhs
Total cost: Rs 43–45 Lakhs (Class of 2022 figures)
Some people might even add up the opportunity cost of letting go of one year’s salary to pursue the MBA. I talk about the ROI part and post MBA prospects in ISB for CAs: Part 2
