Mr Banker

12 Nov 2007, Times of India

Anupendra Sharma shares his experience of studying in three top institutes across countries.

It was 1992 in Manchester, UK. My application for burger-flipping had just been turned down by McDonalds in the midst of a recession. It was a character-building experience as I ended up in a Pakistani restaurant chopping vegetables, lugging flour on the streets and cleaning dishes.
However, my stubborn resolve to pay my way through my Masters degree crumbled that first weekend. I was exhausted from working 12 hours a night at 80 pence an hour. When the University gave me a job shelving books for 5.50 pound an hour, I was relieved that I could keep my promise.

I used my 99 percentile GMAT, above-average BITS Pilani grades, a well-written essay, and resume with interesting summer and extra-curricular experiences to get accepted into the 25-strong, one-year Masters in Accounting and Finance programme at Manchester Business School. I had no prior background in the subject.

Remembering the McDonalds rejection, I applied for 100 jobs, filling every one of the four-page applications by hand. I was living by Andy Grove's philosophy that `Only the paranoid survive.' I researched every company that interviewed me in great detail and my first offer came on
December 8,1992,and I was proud to have five offers by the time the recruiting season ended, although only two classmates were employed. I observed that Indians in other Masters and MBA programmes had offers as well. Indians generally fare better than most international student groups in finding jobs, even in adverse economic conditions.

I joined London-based auditor at Pricewaterhouse for a year, and then moved as a financial analyst on the core team launching Ford in India and China. It was exciting. But, I was still keen to pursue my dream of an Ivy League MBA.

I made two mistakes in applying. Firstly, I applied early with two years of experience at two different companies. Secondly, I knew little about the MBA a d m i s s i o n s process. I thought my rank and my high GMAT would get me in. I was lucky when Cornell called.

The US MBA was very different compared to the UK. I immersed myself in school, tried different things and led initiatives. I started a shrimp farm in Central America, taught three classes, worked during summers at McKinsey London, learnt to fly a plane, worked as a computer consultant, assisted the career office, and racked up $90,000 in loans even with B-school jobs and summer internships. But more importantly, I met my wife, a classmate at Cornell. When I graduated, I pursued my dream of working on Wall Street with several investment banking offers.

B-school taught me many hard skills, but more importantly soft skills that included networking, leadership, entrepreneurship, presentations, communications and golf - the skills that carry us through our careers. If you can combine these skills with integrity, tenacity, hard work,
patience and good humour, with a dash of good luck, the MBA degree has the potential to achieve all of your dreams.