Pursuing education abroad can open doors to
unimaginable opportunities
I met Tina Ghosh (name altered to protect privacy) in 2013; rather I met her mother first who was worried about what her 20 year
old should do after graduation. Tina was a recent commerce graduate and didn’t
have any brand name academic institutions on her resume. To say that she hated the
academic oriented Indian system was an understatement. Most of her friends had
secured admits in various Indian B Schools with aim of starting a career in
finance. Though Tina was a commerce graduate, she didn’t feel comfortable with
accounting and couldn’t imagine herself working in finance (no wonder her
mother’s anguish). Speaking with her friends, she wasn’t sure if she would
enjoy the traditional Indian B School experience.
Today, Tina works for
Rado in Switzerland in marketing and manages alliances and promotions. After
our interaction, I unearthed that luxury and lifestyle were her thing. She was
also a people’s person and quite creative. A marketing career in the luxury
space seemed like a good fit – no wonder she’s enjoying her career and route
she chose.
If you have recently graduated or are about to
graduate in next 1-2 years, you may be in the same place where Tina was in
2013. The chances are you’re already thinking about what you want to do next. If
you are considering pursuing further education – you should know that there are
literally hundreds of universities offering various courses to suit your need.
While most candidates that I have guided have
preferred the ‘normal’ degrees – the MBA, Masters in Finance or Marketing, MS
in Engineering, Sciences, Life Sciences, Business Analytics, Social Sciences
and Humanities, some others have preferred non-traditional (and sometimes brand
new) fields such Luxury Brand Management, Fashion, Wines & Spirits, Film
Studies, Design Studies etc.
Regardless of what course you enroll, from
personal experience and from experience of those I guided towards these paths,
I’ve summarized some of the strongest reasons why you should consider studying
abroad:
1. You develop a Global Network: Having a ‘network’ is a must-have to succeed
in today’s world. Global Schools attract students from all corners of the globe
and provide you a ‘safety net’ across the world. This is a life-long asset that
will only keep growing and helping you.
2. You develop a Global and Financially Rewarding Career: Having worked in leading MNCs both
in India and abroad, I can tell you that a global education gets you started on
a global career track. This track is seldom accessible for local school
graduates (including the illustrious IITs and IIMs) since it exists primarily
in the HQs of Global Companies which are primarily located in the West or Japan.
When you graduate from a global school, by virtue of your school brand or your
alumni network or by ‘just being there locally’, you start off working in
Global HQs and have access to all lead decision makers. By developing working
or mentor relationships with the right contacts, you shouldn’t be surprised if
you are appointed as CFO for India, sometimes as early as 5-10 years of being in global HQs.
3. You develop Global Acceptability: You become part of a global talent pool and
attract employment from not just your home country but worldwide. This can take
you places and have satisfying impact on your financial ambitions.
4. You become a Global Person: There’s a difference in visiting foreign destinations and actually
living, studying and working in them. Foreign university graduates truly
internalize this ‘internationalness’ – the ease of interacting, working and
living with ‘foreigners’. You start looking at ‘foreigners’ as friends and
colleagues and build truly enriching bonds. You thereby rise about the silo of
being an ‘Indian’, ‘Chinese’ etc. to being ‘Global’.
I encourage you to consider studying abroad. Paraphrasing
what Gandalf tells Bilbo Baggins in ‘The Hobbit’ movie, “The World not just in
your home/neighbourhood or your city, it’s out there”. The journey begins with
identifying your core interests – what makes you happy, what you’re passionate
about and then identifying the right programs to realize your passion.
For more tips on this or other topics
or to get regular updates on new articles, write to me:
sumeet [underscore] verlekar [at the
rate] berkeley [dot] edu
Did you find this article helpful?
Get access to new articles and help others benefit as well by spreading the
word:
- Subscribe or follow this blog
(enter your email and just click submit in the box at top of page or side bar)
- Share link of this article/blog via
email or social media. Click on the relevant social media buttons below.
- Please comment so that I can
understand what you liked and how I can improve this/such posts even
further
