At 80, retired teacher Usha Ray earns an MBA in Hospital Administration, proving age is no barrier to learning or chasing one’s dreams.
Age is just a number, an adage says. This is true when it comes to studying or chasing one’s dream. Girish Mohan Gupta bagged an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Sambalpur, at the age of 84. You may be surprised to know that he was an atomic scientist and entrepreneur. Earlier, Peter Fung, a Bay Area retired neurologist, graduated from the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business executive MBA programme at the age of 76. However, the most interesting story was shared by Usha Ray, who became the senior-most woman MBA in India at the age of 80.
Usha Ray MBA
She got her M. Sc Zoology degree at the age of 19 and started teaching. Usha taught in India and in international schools in England and Yemen before retiring in 2009. Revealing how she became interested in an MBA, she told the Telegraph, “In 2023, when I used to interview people who applied for jobs at our hospital, I would see MBAs everywhere. I thought, what is this MBA everyone is doing? I wanted to know for myself.”
80-year-old MBA India
However, it was not so easy to take a plunge at this age. She said further, “I am not computer savvy. I hardly knew how to operate a computer. I bought a laptop, started learning, and managed the online classes.” She did a specialization in Hospital Administration and Health Services. Ray pushed through with unwavering determination. She followed a rigorous routine; she would return from work at around 4 pm, spend her evenings studying, and often wake up at 3 am to revise. Sharing the details of her struggle and hardship, she said, “Age was not in my favor. Memory was not in my favor. I had to make so much effort; three, four, five, or six times I had to write. But I managed, and I got around 80-82 per cent in the exams.”
Pleased with her grit and dedication, the university’s director, Safia Farooqui, asked her to pursue a PhD, an offer she politely declined. Ray said, “An MBA is enough. I really feel proud of myself.”
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