As a female MBA student, I get a strong sense that some male classmates presume I have benefited from unofficial positive discrimination and do not deserve to be there as much as them. This is untrue and irritating, but should I tackle it head-on and challenge them or rise above such pathetic views?
There are two different things here. The first is whether you have benefited from unofficial positive discrimination. As most schools are ashamed of how rotten they are at attracting women, it is possible that you did. The other question is whether you deserve your place. Just because you may have benefited from discrimination does not mean you don’t deserve to be there. Throughout my career I have benefited from being female — I have been given opportunities and pushed forward and allowed to be different. At the same time, I think I deserve the breaks I’ve been given, so I don’t feel in the least sheepish about it. Make the most of it and take the opportunities. Women spend too much time trying to prove that they deserve the positions they have been given. I suggest you copy your male colleagues and act entitled. If you do it convincingly enough, they may well end up thinking you are entitled to everything you’ve got.
I have a PhD in physics and decided to study for an MBA to help turn my specialist knowledge into a career in business. I find that some of the people teaching courses are less qualified than me and I feel short-changed. Is it unreasonable to demand that I am taught by more highly qualified academics for the rest of the course?