Apoorva Makhija aka The Rebel Kid moves to New York for MBA: ‘This degree of no use’

Explaining her decision to move, Apoorva said, “I have travelled quite a lot and when I landed in New York, I was like… I really want to live here. There is something about that city. It’s so fast. Everyone is so well-dressed. The food is great. I love the architecture. And I have seen New York in almost every single web series that I love. And so I have always wanted to live there so I only applied to one college because I only wanted to live in New York. I was like if I get in, I get in and I will go. And I got in. So now, I have to go.”

Apoorva Makhija is currently in New York.(Photo: Apoorva Makhija/Instagram)

‘This degree I am going to do is of no use’

Apoorva acknowledged her priviliged position and said, “I have great friends, great house, a full-time house help. My career is going great. I make a lot of money. Everybody here knows me. I have access to a lot of things in this country. Then I am leaving all this to live in a dorm in Manhattan to study and be a student. And I don’t know anyone there.”

Apoorva said that the education course that she has chosen to pursue, an MBA, won’t really help her in her career. “This degree that I am going to do, is of no use. I never want to do a 9-5. I can start a business today if I want to. So why? Why would I do that which is why I am a little scared but I am also happy that I get to go,” she said.

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‘My thinking has become very limited’

Apoorva said that her primary reason for travelling was to meet new people. “I want to meet new people, and the only way you can do that is through college. Here (In Mumbai), I can only meet new creators through this job. I don’t want my circle to be just creators. My thinking has become very limited, I haven’t touched grass in a very long time and I just want to meet new people who don’t care about this world. The only way I could do that was if I go and study.”

Apoorva Makhija was recently seen in the reality show Lock Upp. (Photo: Apoorva Makhija/Instagram)

When the host concluded that she was not really going for the education, Apoorva said, “I don’t mind studying. I have always been good at studying.” When asked about her qualification, Apoorva said: “I have done B-Tech in Computer Science. I had a 10 GPA in my 10th. 95.4% in my 12th. I had a 8.4 GPA in my college. So, I don’t mind studying. I can study. I don’t mind giving exams. I just want to have fun while at it.”

‘I want to have a good college life’

She also revealed another important reason. “When I was in college, I was in a relationship. I met this boy on the first day of college and I only hung out with him for the next four years. I really f***** it up. Now, I want to have a good college life.”

Apoorva Makhija turned to content creation during COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo: Apoorva Makhija/Instagram)

When asked if she would continue to make content there, Apoorva said, “I haven’t been doing that for a long time anyway. Even when I travel, I don’t feel like pulling out my camera and recording things. I do it mostly because my manager asks me to or because I have a brand deal for a particular trip. But I never feel like doing it.”

‘Dad still manages my finances’

In the same conversation, Apoorva recalled speaking to famous sharks who were ready to invest in her beauty brand, but she dropped the plan after realising that she did not know enough about running a business.

She said: “I wanted to start a beauty and personal care brand and I reached out to people and these are people that you have seen on TV and people are dying to talk to these people for just an hour. They were ready to put in money, take care of operations, give me 50% equity, make sure that they buy me out in a few years, they were ready to do all of that. When I was working on this brand, I realised that I don’t know so much. I don’t know how supply chain works, I don’t know how to do operations. Except for marketing and branding there is barely anything that I know in this world. I don’t want to be this person. I want to get smarter.”

She shared that since college, she has felt stuck with the mindset of her 21-year-old self and has struggled to move beyond it, admitting that her father still manages her finances.

“It’s so stupid. Why can’t I just learn it? I was like I am going to force myself to get a degree that teaches me all of this and I am going to force myself to sit with people who have worked in these fields who want to run businesses who have probably worked at senior positions. If nothing else, I get to live in New York.”

When Apoorva had to go through massive trolling

Apoorva Makhija found herself in a controversy after she appeared on Samay Raina’s India’s Got Latent with Ranveer Allahbadia in February 2025. The remarks made by the contestants and panelists on the show were perceived as offensive, and the show was cancelled at the time. This led to multiple police complaints and FIRs against the panelists, and they also faced severe hate online.

She was recently seen on Netflix’s Lock Upp.