My name is Deep Mehta and I am a current student of the International MBA (November 2012 intake) at IE. As some of you must have guessed, I am an Indian and an engineer (that’s almost obvious) by qualification; but a polymer engineer (we are a rare species) and not an IT guy. Post that I have also done a short course from India’s premier institute Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad and a diploma in Marketing Management. After graduation I worked for a Dutch Multinational as Business Development Executive (for engineering plastics) for around 3 years. However, at the back of my head I always knew that I wanted to be an entrepreneur and be my own boss. After a lot of introspection and networking trying to find out what my true calling is, I quit my job in March 2012 to co-found Bombay Clothing Company. Bombay Clothing Company is a clothing company which has its own brand name TYGR (www.tygr.in) and also caters to corporate orders.
Choosing the right MBA program which caters to one’s specific career needs can be one of the most difficult tasks – I know it was for me. I remember spending hours researching, reading and talking to alumni from various schools to find out which school fits my needs.
When choosing a school my top three priorities were –
a) Focus on Entrepreneurship – I fell in love with IE the moment I read “a school built by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs”. Coming from an entrepreneurial background and always wanting to build my own company, I wanted to go to a school that would help me do just that. The courses, the venture lab (an accelerator/incubator), and the venture network (every Thursday 7pm there are three or more start-up who pitch to Venture Capitalists on campus) are amongst the things that attracted me to the school.
b) Diversity – IE’s focus on diversity is one of the best facets of the IMBA program. In the November 2012 intake we have 68 nationalities – it’s a little odd when you meet someone and don’t know where that country is or you don’t know anything beyond “oh ya I have heard of it”. IT ADDS MANIFOLDS TO THE LEARNING. Also, IE during its launch program and the study groups ensures that you don’t have more than one person from one nationality in one study group. This means that you learn from people from different educational backgrounds, work experiences and cultures.
c) Course Flexibility – For me it’s amazing to see how IE has miraculously fitted in a whole bunch of options in its 13 months program. In term 4 and 5 I could either do a long exchange at one of the most revered universities in the world, I could put my project into the Venture Lab and get a dedicated mentor for 4 months while taking some elective subjects, or I could choose from a whole bunch of electives and tailor everything to my requirements, which is especially interesting for people looking for a career change, or I could do an internship among other options. The things to do are numerous but everything depends on what YOUR SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS ARE.
The above mentioned points were my top 3 reasons for selecting IE as my school. However, I forgot to mention that “it has been RANKED EUROPES #1 BUSINESS SCHOOL” and “RANKED #8 for its MBA PROGRAM in the world by the Financial Times in 2012”…
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