'Why I quit my job to study at Harvard': Start-up founder's 5 reasons for the switch

Quitting your job for higher education is not a new phenomenon at any given point in your career. Sneha Biswas, founder of Bengaluru-based edtech start-up Early Steps Academy, is among such people. Biswas shared the reasons behind quitting her job to pursue an MBA at Harvard Business School (HBS) in a recent LinkedIn Post.  

The first among these reasons was fear of missing out (FOMO) besides getting a global overview, preparation time and energy of the campus. Biswas said she never experienced a more fun and useful way of learning and realised she “surely will regret it” at 60 if she does not do it.  

She also noted learning with people of different countries and nationalities can accelerate one’s career 100 times and that HBS had representation from 60-65 countries every year.

She underscored, “Harvard was never my goal. But enjoying my work and striving to do my best at job was. That enabled me to have a solid resume even without trying. When it came to application, I didn’t have to do anything extra. Harvard’s admission rates are low, yes. But then again, IIT admission rates are eight times lower.”

In this post, Biswas also talked about writing a Harvard case study and said, “I applied only to HBS. The point was not [to get an] MBA, but to experience Harvard’s method of learning. To experience gold-class education.”

“There is a strange energy in that place, where everyone is trying to become a better version of themselves and everyone is wanting to do big things. The place is magical, and I wanted to be a part of that magic,” Biswas said towards the end of her post.

Sneha Biswas is the founder and CEO of Early Steps Academy, which focuses on conducting online live sessions for students in Grades 4-12 across seven countries.

She has also worked as a Consultant at Bain & Company. Biswas was also associated with salt-to-software conglomerate Tata Group, Singapore-based ONESMART Education Group, energy giant Schlumberger, and has also volunteered for the not-for-profit Teach for India fellowship.

Biswas has an MBA from HBS besides a bachelor’s degree from IIT Kharagpur and a summer fellowship at University of Oklahoma.

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