However, it's not all about great pay packets or high-profile jobs. Some opt for an MBA to prepare themselves for a professional challenge or because they believe the learnings will steer them better along their chosen career path.

Here, four such students of ISB, Hyderabad, who come from backgrounds as diverse as the Indian Army and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, talk about what motivated them to do an MBA and what their experience has been like thus far.

Rising through the ranks
Name: Colonel K A Vijay Bhaskar
Age: 45 years
Educational qualifications
~ BSc Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi
~ BTech Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi
~ MSc Defence Services Staff College, Wellington

Background
I hail from a middle-class family in Hyderabad and joined the National Defence Academy at the age of 16. I then graduated from the Indian Military Academy in December 1982 and was commissioned into the Madras Sappers.

I've held a variety of regimental, staff, instructional and command appointments in the Army and served mainly in Jammu & Kashmir and Rajasthan. I was handpicked as Military Advisor to the Security Forces in Mauritius from 1994 to 1998 and have been in the top 2 per cent of my batch of around 1,000 officers consistently. I was also nominated for the prestigious Defense Services Staff Course, Wellington in 1992 apart from commanding two independent frontline combat units in the Army.

Why an MBA?
I have served in the Army for 24 years, last in the rank of Colonel. The Army is a great organisation, and my experience as part of it was unforgettable. However, after my long career in the armed forces I was looking for change and challenges, and a chance to apply what I had learnt in the Army in the corporate world.

I believed the best way for me to make the transition was with an MBA from a top institution. The ISB is ideally fitted to afford this with its diversity of student community, high-calibre faculty, sound administrative set-up and world-class infrastructure. I have had the opportunity to study in top-class institutions in the country and ISB definitely ranks among the best.

I found it a little difficult to adjust to the gruelling pace of the academics as I had been away from formal academic studies for pretty long. It took me six weeks to adjust, but I've been doing fine since. The fantastic student community here for made me feel absolutely at ease despite my being senior in age.

My prior experience in the Army was a great blessing as I could bring different insights, specially to the leadership programme, supply chain management techniques, logistics under extreme conditions and operations management. In fact, most of these concepts actually originated from the Army.

One forms great bonds here -- with fellow students, with the faculty and the alumni. This, combined with the wonderful network of friends and mentors I have in the Defence Services, which I greatly cherish, will give me a formidable edge in accomplishing any task in future.