My Perspective

Chennai: MBA is the buzzword now with MBBS graduates, merchant navy officers and scientists. Two doctors and eight merchant navy personnel from the 2008 batch of MBA students at the Great Lakes Institute of Management are all set to make their mark in the corporate world. Dr Rahul Dixit decided to pursue a different field while studying for a MBBS degree from Sardar Patel Medical College, Bikaner. He obtained his MBBS degree in 2003 and tried his hand at civil services first appearing for the exam in 2004. 

“Today, there are very few seats for MD programmes in India. A plain MBBS degree does not hold much value,” says Dixit. For the record, India produces 30,000 MBBS graduates every year but less than 50% of them get a MD seat. After MD, there is DM (doctor of medicine) essentially a super specialisation and seats are scarcer here, the ratio of MD to DM being 1:40. “If you have to set up a practice in a metro, DM is kind of mandatory,” says Dixit. So, instead of toiling for a MD and DM degree, Dixit opted for a fasttrack one-year MBA programme. He has no regrets having bagged an offer with Technopak. “I would be joining their healthcare division so my MBBS degree would come in handy,” says Dixit. 

Interestingly, those who are already making big bucks are also opting for MBA. Rajesh Kumar Ravi and Sanjeev Kumar Kohli of the batch of 2008 were merchant navy officers before taking the plunge into MBA. What’s fascinating is that Ravi and Kohli would be pretty much drawing the same package in the corporate world now as there were drawing out in the high seas. “I actually prepared for GMAT on both land and sea,” recounts Ravi lightheartedly. Kohli, on the other hand, was close to getting the captain’s licence. “As far as my career in merchant navy went, I had reached the ceiling. Plus, I have a family now and I decided on a career shift,” rationalises Kohli. He would be joining Genpact in Gurgaon as an associate vice president, his package being Rs 16 lakh per annum.

The complete article is on page 19, TOI Chennai dated 1st May 2008.