A.V. Siri Chandana : Our first year MBA student shares her opinion on the convergence of diverse backgrounds in a B school

You think you know all about life, until you enter an MBA college. There are few words that can encapsulate that overwhelming realization of the number of diverse paths which exist. It is quite a culture shock for some, how the tiny things we take for granted don’t have any space in the lives of others. There are North Indians unable to tell the difference between various South Indian languages, Engineers who tilt their heads in confusion while in conversations with the students of Accounts, 21-year olds fresh out of college learning alongside experienced people.

I think this diversity is one of the biggest merits of being in an MBA college. MBA essentially is a preparation for a life in the corporate world, where one can change locations often and be placed in areas far away from home. The time spent in the college prepares the students for the wider world, as well as giving them a perspective from many dimensions. We form opinions based on the environment we are raised in, and as people from different environments collide, our opinions morph into something with a more neutral basis because of the inputs of people from various backgrounds. Diversity is the driver of character growth, as we learn to accommodate and change, we begin to adapt as the situations require it.

Such diversity also gives opportunity for a great improvement of self. It is often that students are influenced by their families and peers and choose to make a similar decision, without having ever known that other options exist. For instance, an engineer coming from a family of other engineers, might not know that he has a flair for creative thinking and writing until he is introduced to a writer in the college. With a little nudge from friends, people find themselves learning and enjoying things they had never considered before, making for an all-round development and opening avenues for self-improvement. As everyone learns from each other and teaches each other, there is a constant imbibing of knowledge that makes everyone better-off.

The students in a B-school augment the learning obtained in the classroom with those which they learn from each other. After all, being able to understand the importance of different perspectives for solving a problem, recognizing resources and utilizing them to build an efficient system, is the essence of being a manager.