IIM Raipur Review

My admission to IIM Raipur was through CAT examination and the subsequent Common Admission Process (CAP). I secured 96.56 percentile in the 2019 CAT examination (Overall Scaled Score of 129.41). I chose IIM Raipur after speaking to a few alumni and a few others on Pagalguy about the course and the opportunities after pursuing it from IIM Raipur. Though I received mixed reviews from an alumnus, I was impressed by the placement figures at the institute. The average CTC offered at IIM Raipur for the batch of 2018-20 stood at 15.20 LPA which is staggering considering it was established just 10 years ago. The campus also played a huge role in swaying my decision since I wanted to have a great campus life while pursuing my MBA but all thanks to the pandemic that wasn't meant to be. Other factors that influenced my decision were the return on investment (Fees being only 14.2 Lakhs), the active presence of clubs and committees on social media and the proximity of Raipur to my hometown, Hyderabad.

The course curriculum at IIM Raipur is similar to other B-Schools in India. We have three trimesters per year model with 8 subjects per each trimester in the first year. All the faculty are well qualified with some of them being exceptional academicians. The online medium has impeded the learning to a great extent since there is not a lot of peer learning and classroom interaction compared to physical classrooms. The evaluation is done continuously throughout the trimester with multiple quizzes, assignments, group projects, individual projects, mid-term examination and finally an end-term examination. Marks are also allotted to class participation though internet connectivity issues are a major roadblock for most students. It is fairly easy to perform well and secure a decent CGPA. The teaching methods are interactive with the classes dominated mostly by case discussions which help in understanding the concepts better. Students are free to clarify their doubts at anytime.

The Career Development and Placement Office offer assistance with internships and short term projects. The summer internship program is mandatory at our institute and the CDPO oversees all activities relating to internships. Many major companies as well as start-ups from the domains of Manufacturing, FMCG/MCD, Consulting, IT and BFSI visit the campus to recruit interns. There are plenty of opportunities for the students with regards to internships as well as short term projects.

All the students in the first year have to mandatorily pursue a summer internship program after the end of the third trimester at IIM Raipur. There are plenty of opportunities for students across various domains. The placement activities are overseen by the Career Development and Placement Office. The average stipend offered at IIM Raipur was Rs. 88,139 in the placement season of 2019-20 with the highest offer at Rs. 3,91,000. For final placements, the average CTC offered was Rs. 15.20 LPA with the highest offer being Rs. 46 LPA.

The fees are fairly low compared to all the other top B-schools in India. The fees for the whole two-year course is 14.22 Lakhs excluding the mess fee. The fee hasn't been reduced even though the course has shifted to the online medium. Since the students haven't been on campus yet, other expenses are unknown. I am not aware of any scholarship or financial assistance that the institute offers to students. There are a lot of opportunities for students to pursue short term projects which offer a stipend and some without stipend.

Sadly, I will not be able to comment on this aspect of my MBA life since we are still attending classes from our homes due to the pandemic. I have only heard about how great it is to be on campus and am eagerly looking forward to experiencing it in the near future. From what I've heard from our seniors, the campus is extremely beautiful with individual rooms for each student, a state of the art library and very modern classrooms. The flagship event conducted at IIM Raipur is the Leadership summit where corporate stalwarts get together and discuss the latest advancements in today's business world based on a central theme. This year, as many as 32 corporate leaders from around the country participated in the leadership summit virtually which was a great learning experience. Karmaanta, the annual management festival is another event that is held with great pomp at IIM Raipur.

My admission to IIM Raipur was through the Common Admission Process (CAP). The process involved a written test and a personal interview. I had to travel to Bangalore from my hometown Hyderabad to appear for the process. The topic given for the Written test was to discuss the ease of doing business ranking of India. There was no word limit mentioned but we were provided only one piece of paper and had to write in the space provided in that paper. The time limit for the written test was around 20 minutes to the best of my knowledge. The further process included verification of documents and the subsequent interview process where I was primarily asked about my work experience, why I wanted to pursue MBA and was asked to discuss one recent national and one recent international news. My interview lasted for about 10 minutes and went smoothly. My preparation for these rounds majorly comprised of reading about the common GD topics on the internet and hygiene questions.