During my MBA at Indian School of Business, I told myself that I will never run after grades again.

Earlier at St. Stephen's College, I was a Delhi University rank holder- someone who crammed answers to predictable questions. 

The grades indeed helped me get shortlists but I had my fair share of struggles to crack a job post my undergrad. 

In my defense, I was a gullible 18-year-old who was just fed with the nonsense around 'marks are everything' mindset. 

But this time, my situation was different. I was 26, had worked for more than five years, and exactly knew my goals from MBA. 

I couldn't afford to surround myself with the GPA culture again, irrespective of my peer's priorities. 

However, the main question was, what different could I do this time?

I started focussing on pure learning in classes to just become a better problem solver and a fundamentally strong businesswoman. 

I brought my curious mind every day to finance, strategy, and operations classes and was always left wowed with the world of business concepts at my disposal to make better decisions. 

I solved assignments to understand, not score. 

Now, I am not against those MBA students who want to secure good grades. I believe hashtag#MBA is a redemption degree for everyone, where each one tries hard to avoid his/her past mistakes. 

I, however, kept a promise to myself that I would not let this learning mindset go till the end of my journey. Slowly, things fell into place and I was one of the few students on campus, who was applying Little's Laws, Game Theory, and Statistics all together to solve business cases. I did the same at Boston Consulting Group (BCG) too! 

The reality is today I can analyze whether India should procure Oil from Russia using Game Theory Models as I worked in International Affairs and have built complex operations model for my venture using Solver. 

This is the power of a mind that acquired learning for applying, not for getting grades.

I didn't get a top GPA or any awards during ISB. 

But I did something else that was 1000 times more valuable. I learned and solved problems! 

Today, I continue to upskill every day for an hour because learning is a continuous journey that shouldn't be degree-dependent. 

I understand that peer pressure exists. But once in your life, learn for the heck of learning- it's a very liberating and empowering place to be. 

And once your mind bathes in the power of knowledge. There's no looking back ❤️!

If you are interested in learning about GGI's MBA Scholar program, you can learn here.

Author- Shatakshi Sharma, Co-founder Global Governance Initiative & GTI, Ex- BCG, Advisor; Tony Blair Institute