MBA in USA: Salary, Fees | Journey To 100% Scholarship - YouTube

-It's $80,000 for two years.

-Oh my God. -Yes, MBA.

-Hi, guys. We have Arpit, Shahrukh Khan of US.

We filmed a video on Valentine's Day,

but now he will be sharing his MBA journey,

how he got scholarship as an MBA applicant at Georgia Tech.

-I completed my high school,

couldn't get in IIT, AIEEE et cetera. Took a drop, went to Kota.

-Normal student, right?

-Yes.

Took a drop, went to Kota.

There I studied for AIEEE and IIT for a year.

I got a good rank. Didn't get selected for IIT,

But I got into electronics and communications engineering

at NIT Bhopal, So, I joined NIT Bhopal.

The four years of college were great.

The personality I have is because of my college.

Earlier, I was a very studious guy.

One who gets the first, second, or third rank in the class.

No confidence, nothing. Always immersed in books.

But NIT Bhopal was a different college.

It wasn't only studying there,

there were so many different things where you can explore your life.

There were people who were studious, but

I had given three years of life to only studying,

11th, 12th and the drop year.

And I was not in the mood of going there to study.

So, what were the avenues?

Going out with friends,

having fun here and there, driving around.

Meeting new people,

My confidence went up after going there.

from an introverted person, I became an extroverted person,

all because of NIT Bhopal.

I studied there.

Got a job at Verizon straight out of college.

I went to Chennai,

did software engineering for three years.

I got a promotion in software engineering.

Salary hike was great.

Within three years my salary package was more than double.

which is like 26% hike each year.

It was good.

But I couldn't code for 10 hours every day.

I couldn't sit for all day in front of the computer

and debug, code-- That was not me.

I was more people person I realized.

At the same time I became interested in stock market investing.

I started saving money and investing in stock, so I realized

that, "Let's make a career in finance."

Because I didn't have any

monetary incentive there.

I used to invest in stocks, but the profit was minimal.

It wasn't that my salary was doubling up.

It was very small, minute profit,

but still I was willing to put in the hours

and study about the stock market,

and it was genuine passion,

that in order to learn finance, I didn't had to force myself.

First thing returning from the office I used to open an accounting book,

First thing in the morning, I used to read about accounting,

looked at balance sheets, income statements,

did fundamental analysis investing.

After that, I felt, "Man, I don't want to do software.

I want to make my career in finance."

I quit the job,

passed CFA,

wandered here and there in Mumbai.

Mumbai because it's the finance capital. Everything finance happens there.

Wandered here and there.

I used to sneak into offices saying, "I want an internship."

Literally, I used to go into offices and say, "I want to meet with the HR."

They'd be like, "Do you have an appointment?" I'd say, "Yes, I do."

Then that HR would come all bewildered,

"I had no idea I had an appointment."

I would tell them, "Actually, there's no appointment.

I wanted to meet you because I have a genuine interest in your company."

They would appreciate me every time. Nobody every threw me out.

They would appreciate, take my resume but because I didn't have

anything finance-related on my degree

except for a CFA level 1, which

according to HR, everyone in Mumbai has.

Then I started working with a stock market company in Indore.

I did IPOs for companies on the Equity capital markets.

I worked there for about a year, a year-and-a-half.

Then I felt that I'd be moving forward in this field.

And in Mumbai I wasn't getting a feel

that I'd reach the level at which I quit the software engineering.

That it would take me a long time.

"I need a degree to get ahead in life."

So, I thought of applying for MBAs.

By that time I had accumulated an experience of four and a half years.

And it's hard to get a placement in the Indian IIMs with more than

two years of experience.

Because the companies come with the mentality that,

"We'll get a guy with two years' experience and not with four years of it."

Because the salary for a person with two years' experience different,

the salary for a person with four years' experience different.

The come offering salary for a person with two years' experience.

My friends that--

Because I was in NIT, many of my friends are in IIMs,

pass outs, and working in different places.

So, I asked them for advice. They said, "Go out of India.

because there, minimum experience is five years."

-Oh. -हाँ।

-So, I applied to various colleges.

I applied to Georgia Tech because there's a professor here

from whose books I had learned accounting.

-Wow. -हाँ।

So, when I was applying for MBA colleges,

I had selected the name of Georgia Tech as well,

because I knew there is a professor who can teach me accounting here.

Now, incidentally what happened is that Georgia Tech was the only school

that gave me full scholarship.

-Wow. Do you know, the students that I've seen at Georgia Tech,

in fact, even at GSU, those who go there for MBA,

they are paying minimum $35,000 for their entire course.

They must be paying around $50,000 at Georgia Tech as well.

You must have seen that? How much do pay, almost?

-It's $80,000 for two years.

Oh my God. -हाँ, MBA.

So, it's $80,000 for two years.

So, I'm not paying for tuition here.

I'm paying for the living expenses.

And I am really happy.

I've been to many trips to New York.

I've talked to many people on the Wall Street.

-I don't like the culture a bit as of yet.

-I mean, I got an interview,

it didn't go through. I'm still trying.

But the culture in Wall Street is very cutthroat.

Meaning they'd throw you under a train to succeed.

This is how I feel.

-Oh my God. -That people only think about themselves,

They don't think about you. Meaning it's a very nasty culture.

-No, but I found the people of New York to be really nice--

-The people of New York are different, the People of Wall Street are different.

There's a difference between the two. Investment banks are very cutthroat.

It's very different culture.

You have to be someone who can look after yourself.

There are some companies where people receive mentorship,

like the culture of Google, Amazon, Microsoft is good I've heard.

The work is more at Amazon,

but the work-life balance is good at Google, Microsoft.

My friends that are working at Microsoft, Google, they tell me

how supportive management is.

That the manager tries his best to allow you to learn on your own.

That if you can't, then you take the problem to them.

It's similar in investment banking,

but the expectations out of you are more.

That, "Man, you should be able to learn in three days."

You don't learn in three days, you start receiving taunts,

that, "Man, it's been three days and you haven't been able to learn."

It's different culture.

Wall Street is very different. Wall Street is all about greed.

I know this as soon as I step into the bank.

That people think for themselves, people only think about money,

they don't think about you,

and they always think about pushing themselves forward.

And in order to push themselves forward,

if they have to throw you under a bus,

-they are willing to do that. -Wow.

-They are willing to do that. I have felt that.

Even though if you talk to a Wall Street guy who'd say,

"No, no. We are great. No, we are great."

But he's just whitewashing what the culture actually is.

Now

I am more open to other things.

I'm looking after finance because it's my passion.

But investment banking is not my passion,

it is investing in the stocks, which I do here now as well.

You can do that while doing any kind of job.

Now I'm looking for a job where I'm facing clients,

where I don't have to code for eight hours every day,

where I talk with people.

Whether it be consulting,

or a sales-related job,

or business development,

where you have to find new avenues for your business.

These jobs which require you to have a personality

and where you have to be okay with talking to strangers,

and I am trying to get into those field as well.

This is my story, guys.

-And how did you get the scholarship? That's most important.

-Scholarship is based on the profile.

Every college gives you a scholarship here,

including Harvard, Stanford.

But their standards are very high.

They want a person who has studied from an IIT,

then worked at Goldman Sachs,

or at McKinsey, Bain,

who has also worked on international

multi-billion projects in Tokyo or something like that.

-Oh my God. -हाँ।

So, if you compete with that kind of guy, he'll get the scholarship

and not me.

But people of this caliber don't apply to Georgia Tech.

And my profile was very different.

I had done software, I had done banking.

And people of this profile don't come.

So, in order to give me an incentive to join this college,

they gave me a scholarship.

-Okay. -So, it's all about-

-Standing out. -standing out.

Georgia Tech is not one of the top 10 schools.

I'll be frank. Harvard, Wharton, Stanford,

these are all top 10 schools. And they are on a whole different level.

Different kind of people go there. Meaning

It's not like they take in mules and give out horses.

They take in horses and give out horses.

They only accept people

who have achieved a lot in their life,

and they accept those people.

And since they are over-achievers in their life,

they get out and achieve even more.

It's not something that would change your life.

You have already built something in your life

which Harvard is now willing to appreciate,

that, "Yes, this person has done something in his life,

and we are willing to take him."

Then you go to Harvard and then you achieve even more.

Perfect. What was the pattern of the scores?

You gave GMAT or GRE? -I gave GMAT.

-What was your score in that? -I had 720.

-Wow. -If you want to go to Harvard, Wharton,

they don't even look at anything below 760 out of 800.

-Wow. -800 में से।

And do they look at your college GPA? How much was it for you?

-Mine was 7.5. I'm totally a borderline average person.

-Still getting such a big scholarship,

like full tuition waived at Georgia Tech, it's a big thing.

Like you might not know that undergrad के लिए

Georgia Tech doesn't give any scholarship,

so they pay around $40,000 per year.

For MBA, it's so hard,

it's even difficult to get scholarship for MBA

as compared to for MS and CS et cetera.

-So, he has done a phenomenal job. -When you go to an MBA school,

it has been five years you've been out of your college.

They don't look at your college GPA.

Harvard would definitely look at.

The reason is that all overachievers are applying.

There's a person who has achieved so much in five years.

There's another person who has achieved so much in five years.

So, how would you differentiate? -Correct.

-Then they compare on college GPA.

If you're normal,

after that GPA is something which is considered later on.

They'll first look,

"See, you have done five years of work experience.

What you have achieved in those five years?"

You will be judged based first on that.

Then later on,

you will be judged based on your past.

But it doesn't work like that in IIMs because freshers apply

at IIMs.

How would you differentiate between freshers?

You'd do it using pointers, right?

But it's different for ISB.

At ISB, they require you to have at least three years' experience.

Then even if you don't have any pointers,

your work experience is good,

then you're accepted.

-Have you received scholarship from any other school?

How many schools did you apply to?

-I had applied to many schools.

I had applied to the universities in New York

because I wanted to go to the Wall Street.

It's easier if you're near to the Wall Street.

I had applied to the universities in New York,

to the University of Washington, Seattle,

to UNC Kenan-Flagler.

Georgetown University, Washington DC, there I had been accepted.

-Wow, that's an incredible school. -Yes, that was a great school.

-Yes, it's in the top 10, right?

-It's in the top 15, and had I been there,

I'd perhaps have a job at Wall Street by now.

Because a lot of people from there go to the Wall Street.

Every year about 50 to 60 people go there from that university.

But no scholarship,

private university--

Georgia Tech is a government university, so it charges $80,000.

That one's private, so it charges $150,000.

I couldn't have been able to afford that much.

-Meaning it's around one crore, the cost of MBA,

including costs of food and living,

if someone gets a scholarship-- -That was only tuition.

$1,50,000 is for tuition.

-Meaning it would go above one crore. -Yes.

It would go above that.

It's tough, but people do it.

I know many Indians

who take a big loan and go to Georgetown University or Harvard, Wharton.

They see the bigger picture.

-Yes. You get good salaries though.

Like I've seen many who do MBA

if you're going into the right field as a senior manager-

meaning any senior post,

they can easily make around 180 to 200K in New York, California,

-right? After some experience. -Depends on the school.

In Harvard, Wharton, $1,50,000 is the average.

For general college MBA, it's $100,000.

Software engineering is different.

If you are going to a different field as a manager,

$100K is a decent placement here.

-It's still good. -If you compare with

a software engineer, the software industry is different.

If they charge $100, they only pay $20 to the employee for that work.

They charge a lot

and they don't have to put in a capital investment.

They just pay salaries.

They just set up offices and they pay salaries.

If you look at Infosys,

TCS, the profit margin is 40%.

In which world do you get 40% margin?

It happens rarely.

I've got a HERSHEY'S in my pocket.

Where is it?

This is the chocolate.

HERSHEY'S must have spent a lot to make it.

They'd have maximum 15% profit in it.

And how many of it would be sold? Not much gets sold.

But go in the software,

charge $100, pay $60 in salaries.

-And-- -It becomes easier.

-It becomes easier. That's why

you get a higher salary in that sector since the profit margin is more.

-I was a lot of fun. Thank you so much for your valuable knowledge.

-Anytime. -We will see you guys in the next one.