I started my MBA 10 years after completing my B Tech. And since most of my classmates were much younger, I felt a bit like a dinosaur (in a not-so-cool way).
If fact, I did derive some mischievous pleasure when I found classmates even more experienced – and therefore even more confused than me 🙂
But soon, as the classes started and we were deep into lectures, assignments, and tests – none of that seemed to matter.
When you are learning, there is no senior or junior – there is no young or old. Whatever your background, prior experience, nationality, or skin color – none of that matters.
There is the only thing that matters – you either understand the subject matter, or you don’t.
Academics destroys your ego – because it is not about who you are, it is about what you know.
More recently, I have been delighted to see many folks do an MBA after even a 15-20 years gap. I love that they will be sitting with much younger folks and learning together, as equals.
Sometimes, I feel a craving to do a PhD – I still don’t know why. But I suspect it is just to experience the feeling of being back in the class again – the purity of learning, shorn of all the nonsense of money, rank, power, and pretensions one carries in day-to-day life.
If you are in school or will be going there soon, do remember that you are privileged. You have something that money or perks can’t buy. So enjoy it while it lasts!
– Rajan
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