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Women in B-Schools: A Perspective

Shruthi Raghavan, Harvard Business School, MBA Class of 2007

I was twelve-years old when I heard about Harvard Business School for the first time. For a few months I was fascinated with the idea of joining this august institution—at that time I thought it was a school where I could do my ninth standard! However, over the years, my focus shifted to other activities—school, homework, friends, family and so on. When the time came to decide upon my future plans, college education and career options, I chose to do Bachelor’s in Commerce and simultaneously pursued my CA. The idea of an MBA (by now I knew a little more about Harvard) rose again, only to fade out to the periphery of my mind—after all, how could a 17-year old girl from India really hope to make it to a place like that?

It was only after 2 years into my job as a factory commercial manager with Hindustan Unilever Limited that I finally got the courage to even look up MBA options abroad on the Internet; even that tentative first step towards the fulfillment of a childhood dream was a momentous occasion for me. As I got involved in the B-school application process and interacted with other applicants, I was surprised to find that though there was a plethora of young Indian men in their 20s—IIT graduates, business analysts, software successes, bankers and the like—there were very few Indian women in the race. This was doubly surprising considering a fair number of Indian women do pursue MS degrees abroad. I was curious enough to delve further into the issue. I asked numerous female relatives, friends and colleagues why they had never contemplated an MBA from a non-Indian school. The concerns and constraints were eerily familiar—in fact, I too had agonized over many of these before deciding to go ahead with an MBA. The foremost concerns were for societal issues. Since most MBA applicants are in their mid-20s with a few years work experience under their belt, this is usually the age for most women to contemplate marriage or they are already married. Living apart from their husbands for 2 years is very rarely an option. An even more unlikely option is for the husband to stay as a dependent during these 2 years. (Somehow, it is perfectly acceptable for a working woman to quit her job and follow her husband if he needs to go abroad for his MBA). An ideal situation would be if the husband also secures a job or opts to study in the same country. I was lucky in that sense—my husband was very keen that we both pursue an MBA.

If this first hurdle is crossed, she now needs to convince the other actors in this drama—parents, in-laws, grandparents, her aunt’s mother-in-law’s brother … the list is usually pretty daunting. Then come other concerns such as:

• Financial commitment—the possibility of a 100K+ loan is enough to send shivers down the spine.
• Family life—considering that she would be at least 26–27 years old when she finishes her MBA and then would need to work for a while to start repaying the loans, this could significantly impact the decision to start a family.
• A natural lack of confidence—after all, very few women are from IIT or McKinsey or are police inspector. That defining difference in a world-class work experience, enriched with leadership, is so difficult to get in this country.

While some of these are certainly compelling reasons, some amount of careful research will indicate that there is a silver lining to this cloud after all. Many top schools offer need and/or merit-based scholarships, and loans at reasonable interest rates. This mitigates the financial worries to a large extent. As for personal reasons, every woman needs to achieve a state of balance where she does justice to her personal and professional life—at what point this balance needs to be achieved, only she can decide.

But the crux of the issue probably lies in her lack of conviction in her ability to make it to a good MBA programme. I too had quite a few qualms about this. We tend to underrate ourselves, thinking that our educational background (probably from a middle-rung college in India), our employer and our accomplishments cannot compare with Ivy League undergraduates working with consulting firms, or even with Indian men from MNCs. Ladies, let me give you some good news—while the number of Indian women applicants is low, their success rate, i.e., gaining an admission to their top-choice MBA programme, is considerably higher than that of Indian men!

This is not because B-school admissions committees, in a mad scramble to maintain the diversity quotient of their school, have a separate quota or reservation for women from developing countries, as an acquaintance once charmingly phrased it. What we do not realize is that Indian women have risen above mediocrity. After all, most young women from India who contemplate an MBA are usually well qualified and employed, and are making a mark in a country like India (which still has antiquated notions about women), and that makes us special. It demonstrates, as much as a GMAT score or your college extracurriculars, that you have the inherent ability to think, lead and manage; that you are the kind of applicant they are looking for. During my Harvard interview, possibly the one sentence that made the maximum impact on the interviewer was: ‘I was my factory’s first woman employee in its 20-year history’. It is these kinds of factors that make us really competitive candidates.

The schools also recognize the special needs of women. There are scholarships for them. The brochures also include specific sections on family life, child care and health facilities. And once you are admitted, current women students contact you to understand your specific concerns and address them. In my case, I had reservations about living apart from my husband—soon I was inundated with information on how some first- and second-year students were managing in similar situations, travel options between the two cities, class time tables and free time available. The support offered is tremendous. And of course, the age-old question of females—what do I wear to class?—is also addressed by current students.

When Mohit and Hari first suggested the idea of this book, I was thrilled because it would truly be a practical aid in the labyrinth of the application process. And when they asked me to give some pointers on the unique aspects of being a woman in this process, I thought it would be a good opportunity to address some common myths. If you have a supportive family and cherish an ambition to do an MBA, then the sky is truly your limit. Be proud of what makes you unique and let that shine through your application.