IIM Shillong College Review

IIM Shillong is one of the most beautiful campus in India. Recently it has moved to its own and much more beautiful new campus. But beauty is not everything. You get the right environment to study, interact and grow your career.

The course curriculum at IIM Shillong was fair and mostly research driven. There is a trimester every 3 months. I met very experienced and wonderful teachers during my two year journey. One disadvantage was that there was no specialization at IIM Shillong. But the advantage of it was that they offer General Management specialization which teaches almost every aspect of management. During our second year, we can also choose subjects according to our own career growth. The most widely used teaching methodology at IIM Shillong was story telling (in other words Teachers giving their own experiences and relating them to bookish knowledge). Most of the faculty members were retired company professionals who had almost 15 years of field experience. Real-Life problems were given to us in the form of case studies and we had to solve those either as class or exam questions. Apart from that there were also marks for class participation, attendance.

The placement drive of the college was at par with some of the other leading IIMs. Some of the prominent companies were - ICICI, Delloitte, JP Morgan, Cognizant etc. Most of the companies were offering Finance based roles, while consulting roles were also provided by some. The placement was taken care of by the Placement Committee which is comprised of students themselves. They work day in and day out to get all the students placed. Every year some 4-7 students opt out due to their own personal reasons. While a very few of them have to wait post the recruitment season to get placed. Interview/GD preparation classes were regularly conducted by the Placement team to prepare the students.

There are various student managed committees/clubs in IIM Shillong. Committees such as Cultural Committee organizes cultural events and makes sure the IIM Shillong family stays happy. Then there is the IT Committee which takes care of the technical requirements of the college and also organizes many tech fests. There is the Sports Club to conduct sports events and also a very special Golf Club manages events at the Shillong Golf course (one of the biggest in Asia).

Total fees for the course is around 14 lakhs and can be paid in 6 installments of every 3 months. It may look expensive but again it is at par with the fees charged by other leading IIMs. To be honest, no backdoor entry is possible at IIM Shillong. No extra money has to be paid to get admission. The booking amount to be paid is around 10000 rupees and that is also deducted from the first fee installment. There is complete transparency in the fee-breakdown that is provided to us in the form of a prospectus while getting admission.

The college did offer scholarships to merit students (depending on their performance in a trimester). There were also govt. scholarships for ST/SC Candidates in which the entire course fee was covered.

Male to Female ratio during my time was more towards the male side. Parties were a common phenomena at IIM Shillong and since the college itself was located in a residential area, we used to get a lot of complaints from the local residents due to the high music and party during night time. There was no religious discrimination as we were all a family. Workshops, cultural events were organized regularly to keep the students involved.

Yes. Hostel is mandatory at IIM Shillong. The curriculum is residential. The entire complex is serene and situated at a slightly high altitude on a small hilltop. Although the hostels were not of five-star quality, they were enough to keep us comfortable. The hostel committee took care of the management of the hostels and its residents. The hostel fee was inclusive of the annual fees.All required facilities were such as geysers (as Shillong is very cold), water purifiers, heaters (again Shillong is very cold), Wifi, beds, study tables, almirahs etc.

The organization that I am currently working in has a high number of IIM Shillong alumni including my immediate senior. They are very helpful to me. Apart from that there is also an IIM Shillong Alumni group which helps each other in every possible way. IIM Shillong always had an Alumni committee (comprising of current students) which always interacts with the Alumnus.

When I was doing my engineering, I thought why only engineering when a person with both technical and functional expertise can be a great asset to any Organization. That is when I decided to go for an MBA. I took a break after my engineering and prepared for CAT exam. I cleared the exam in my second attempt. I got calls from 4 IIMs and IIM Shillong was one of them. I chose IIM Shillong as it was very near to my hometown. The admission process for most of the IIMs are the same.

There were limited number of in-house faculties. Most of the faculty members were visiting faculty but with tons of industry experience. The average age of those faculty members would be 45 years. They shared knowledge about their own industry experience and also gave us case studies based on real life problems.