Ten Reasons Why I Hate Grade Disclosure Policy

The policy of disclosing grades to prospective employers is fairly divisive. One group of schools, such as Stanford, do not allow interviewers to ask students about their grades. The other group consisting of schools such as Harvard and ISB do not stop interviewers and students from discussing their grades. Both sides have valid points. However, in this post, I will be taking a partisan approach and will be making a case for non disclosure of grades at ISB.

My top ten reasons for reversal of the grade disclosure policy at ISB are as follows:

10) Most employers outside of Consulting and Banking firms dont really care about grades.

9) Disclosure of grades leads to greater competition among the students and it hinders the promotion of teamwork. In fact, as part of my research on ISB, I called a former classmate of mine (a current ISB student) and she told me that the atmosphere at ISB is very competitive which actually made me feel sad. MBA to me should be more collaborative than competitive.

8) Students might start taking courses that they know they are comfortable with to maintain high grades. They might stop experimenting and start taking easy classes which hinders their overall growth.

7) Grades do not prove how smart or dumb you are. There is more to an MBA program than getting great grades. Getting admitted to a top MBA program proves that you were not dumb in the first place.

6) As a former ISB graduate commented during his recruitment season, "It is clearly emerging that grades and being studious do not have a great correlation with getting good jobs (except consulting jobs). Many of the interviews are personal interviews and have had minimal technical content. Given this, being good at interpersonal skills and peaking when it is required is quite critical. Sitting in the rooms to study all the time will obviously not make one develop interpersonal skills."

5) Dean's list should provide adequate motivation to the students.

4) Professors have different standards for grading people. This will probably cause some variation in grades especially during the last 4 terms.

3) Students from non-traditional backgrounds might not perform as well as their peers from traditional (read engineering) backgrounds in quantitative subjects and this might put them at a disadvantage during recruitment.

2) Grades do not predict future work performance.

1) I suck at studying and will never be getting top grades. My excuse, "I study smart, not hard", worked fine during my undergrad and masters, but will not prevail at ISB.

ISB, New Admits Website and Shaadi etc!

So! The New Admits website is up, my already bloated gmail inbox will start to explode very soon! Also, I have been on a shopping binge trying to buy cheap stuff from buy.com (btw, awesome website) for 10 USD and under. Get headphones, laptop batteries, camera cases and power adapters. All kinds crap!

This blog spot is written in the interest of public welfare for all ppl who are faced with the question that I get most bombarded with most often these days! Given that my last post created some good controversy let me give it a try with this one as well! This is more sedate topic though.

Now that most ppl know that I am going to India, the perennial question is 'when I am getting married'? Some sample comments are as follows:

1. Typical Indian Dost in the US (Guy)

"Oye yaar tu toh set ho gaya yaar, MBA shmbiiyee, india shiindiyaa, abh SHAADI kabh kar raha hain?"

2. Cousins (especially sisters)

"Abhishek, abh tumhari shaadi karwa deni chahiye, its a new phase of life, you will really enjoy it, main chachi (my mom) se baat karti hoon"

3. American Co-workers and Boss

"So, Abhishek you going back to India, you must be excited, I am sure your parents must have marriage proposals for you. When guys go back to India, they get married right?"

4. The 'EX'

Naah, let’s not even go there!

5. Typical Indian Dost in India (Guy)

"Yaar, abby, mast hain yaar, party karega jaab tu aayega. Mein teri shaadi mein jaroor nachoonga"

6. Typical American / Indian Dost (Gals, yes gals in all countries are the same, no difference and they only like speaking in English and most importantly swearing in English, interesting, somehow it sounds more sophisticated and yes their vocabulary for swear words is so very very limited, please do not swear in the blog comments (it’s a public site), you have one year at ISB to do that to me)

"Abhishek, so where does life lead you next, what are the future plans" and they will giggle for the next 15 minutes and won’t listen to any answer you have, that's so irritating.

Every day I open facebook, there is someone getting married in my age group! :).

Most of the times, I just laugh off the question / comment, but I am sure when I get to India, all uncles, aunties and relatives will have this question lined! I rather solve an integral then answer the question. Even now! Yes an integral is a lot easier. Please see picture atached. See it’s easy!

It’s like getting a Dale Steyn outswinger with the Mohammed Asif just on and outside off stump line and disconcerting Monte Morkel bounce. I am sure only 75% of the blog population will appreciate this! Basically I have no answer, how do I know when I am getting married?

Damn, ISB should have put an answer to this in the New Admits website; This is the stuff we really need help with!

CHEERS!

Abhishek