How to answer 'Why MBA in Marketing?' - GDPI process QnA

One of the most frequent questions that you will come across, especially if you have no marketing background is ‘Why do you want to pursue an MBA in Marketing?’.

Now the question that you might ask me is, why should I disclose my specialization at the very beginning?

Know that most of the interviewers wish to know if you have a long-term plan ahead of you!

So if you answer I haven’t really decided what specialization to pursue, you may be at a disadvantage!

Even if you say I am confused between the two, that still shows something!

Now if you have marketing on your mind as either of the specializations of your interest, then this video will act as the perfect guide to answering this question!

Also, towards the end of this blog post, I will give you a bonus tip for answering, so make sure you stick around right till the end!

This blog post will include the following points:

1. What is the intent behind asking this question?

2. How should freshers approach this question?

3. How should experienced candidates answer this question?

4. Bonus Tip

1. What is the intent behind asking Why MBA in Marketing?

Did you know? Each specialization that you choose could be somewhere related to your personality?

Yes, that’s true!

And interviewers, have this unique way of judging whether your specialization choice is in sync with your general personality trait.

So the intent behind this question can be broadly broken down into two categories;

1st is to know whether you have a future-driven approach.

As mentioned earlier, it’s important to show the interviewer that you have a long-term perspective in mind, but just generally throwing in specialization with no background may do no good!

So, think it through

2nd reason is to gauge whether you genuinely fit the bill

Now the interviewer may not be a marketing faculty, but if you have a panelist with a marketing faculty there will be deeper grilling, to understand whether you even understand marketing and if you are fit to do it!

Think about it, from a college perspective, they need to mold students who get the highest marketing placement and sail through to make the college proud, hence this is important!

2. How should freshers answer Why MBA in Marketing?

Now if you have already told them you want to do MBA in marketing, have a strong reason to back your claims!

But before we dive in, let’s understand what do I mean by a fresher here, I am looking at students who have absolutely no background in marketing- schooling or work-wise.

It is important to note that your interviewer is smarter than you, do not through in jargon like I have a creative personality and hence I fit the bill.

They won’t stop at that answer, instead make you think a lot more and establish a stronger link, and if you fail at that doing that, it may be a problem!

So, link it to your personality but make a crisp connection- for example, I have always been fascinated with the way consumers buy things, whenever I would visit a shop, I’d analyze the purchase patterns, this motivated me to learn more about this field of consumer behavior and marketing.

I read up some books – PAUSE- make sure you have some books to talk about here Check out our marketing book section here

These books helped me in understanding more, and I was driven towards marketing.

3. How should experienced candidates answer Why MBA in Marketing?

These are candidates who have pursued their graduation in fields related to marketing or already have some marketing experience.

You guys need to answer this question from a broader perspective.

For example- MBA acts as a pre-requisite for me, I know for a fact that I love marketing, and it really intrigues me but for a stronger future in this field I need to have an MBA.

This will ensure that I have an overall business understanding that will further strengthen my marketing strategies.

As a matter of fact, the interviewers are well aware that when it comes to an MBA, we are all looking for a high-paid job, but try and limit this part in your answers.

It can also at times prove beneficial, if you say that an MBA in marketing will help me get a better profile + a high-paid job in marketing, the interviewer might appreciate your honesty, but still, there is a risk involved, so see if you want to risk it!

4. Bonus tip to answer Why MBA in Marketing?

Now coming to the bonus tip!

I will be disclosing my personal answer to this question, which has worked brilliantly for me in my interviews down below!

You can change and alter this the way you want to suit your profile!

"MBA is a way for me to gather theoretical knowledge about my area of interest.

Having already worked in the Marketing industry, I realized that its very important to have an holistic idea of how businesses work and different areas within it.

I have experienced this in my last job as well, even after being the highest rated employee in my team people who had joined after me with an MBA degree had been given better job responsibilities and a better pay.

It is acts as prerequisite in the corporate world.

I plan to pursue my MBA and gain the right kind of knowledge in my two-year tenure, I plan to work in the FMCG sector of a leading marketing company to implement my MBA learnings on field.

Learn a few tricks of trade, learn how products are marketed, learn how products or not marketed.

Probably make some mistakes on my way but learn from those nonetheless.

All this with an aspiration of starting my own boutique marketing firm in the near future."