Why Invest In An MBA With So Much Uncertainty Around?

Gonzalo Santaella

This year will probably be remembered by the uncertainty we all faced.

Back in January, we all no doubt made plans to travel abroad, start a new business, pursue an MBA, or seek many other projects that would have made the year 2020 an amazing one.

However, things turned out to be completely different. 

All of a sudden we were not allowed to leave our homes, and no one could give us any certitude about what the future would hold and what we should do. I was personally worried about whether to pursue my MBA this year or defer given the large amount of debt I was about to get into, and the increased risk towards finding a job after graduation. During this period, I also saw many campuses close, move their programmes into virtual classes and tell their incoming students that they will not be able to attend classes physically until 2021, at least.

It was comforting to me when INSEAD approached my class to explain the measures that the school was planning on taking to avoid moving the classes online  from delaying the start of programme to looking for different solutions for the students who needed visas. INSEAD was determined to do its best to reopen its doors a few months later. Now I feel very safe attending classes given all the precautionary measures there are, such as weekly testing and social distancing within classes.

No one can guarantee that there is not going to be a second wave or that the school will not close its doors again, but the flexibility and professionalism that INSEAD showed during the past few months facing an unprecedented problem has been remarkable.

They put students first, and I am sure that whatever the outcome will be we are all going to have an incredible experience  different, certainly from the one we initially thought we would be having, but that does not mean it could not be better.

I was also concerned about deferrals. I have heard about a lot of people who were looking to delay their studies until they could find more certainty with what would be happening, which is understandable given the big investment everybody is making. I also thought a lot about this and wondered whether I should wait a little longer before deciding to take this big step in my professional career and my personal life.

In the end, I understood that the MBA is all about challenging yourself and dealing with uncertainty all the time. We will be dealing with unexpected situations our whole life, before the MBA, during the programme, and in our future jobs.

The truth is that it does not matter what the problem you are facing is, what matters is how you respond to it.

Finally, since the very first day I came to Fonty I have felt very grateful for the people I met from my class and I was amazed by their stories, ambitions, and motivations for coming to INSEAD. I was impressed by the diversity I saw from the very beginning. I was also able to meet not only my class but the other cohorts as well, and was very surprised about how responsive the INSEAD community was and how everybody worries for you to feel comfortable and live what I have been told will be the best year of our lives.