SIDTM: A JOURNEY OF AN ENGINEER TOWARDS MANAGEMENT

Admission at SIDTM was completely held virtually. All the rounds of shortisting and further rounds for final selection were also held completely online The Eligibility for and MBA in Telecom Management is 50% in Graduation from any stream and a valid SNAP score of minimum 80 percentile. SNAP or Symbiosis National Aptitude Test is an all-India Management exam, with a time limit of 60 minutes. It is a MCQ test which tests on English, Mathematics and Logical Reasoning. The application form for SNAP can be found on the official SNAP website with a fee of Rs. 1950/-. SNAP can be given twice and the best of two scores can be sent to the college of your choice. After fulfiling the above requirements one gets shortlisted by SIDTM for further rounds which is Written Ability Test, Group Exercise or Discussion and Personal Interview.

Since I am an engineer and saw the rise in Telecom Industry, I decided to join SIDTM for my MBA because it offers a dual course in Telecommunications and Marketing management. SIDTM offers 3 specializations to choose from: Systems, Analytics and Marketing. It also offers lots of certifications in various IT related and marketing related courses to enhance one's skills. Faculty is highly qualified, many of them have double and triple Masters degrees, many have double PhDs and some of them are also NET qualified. The faculty uses sophisticated simulation softwares, provides pdf notes and power point presentations to help students in understanding the syllabus more easily. Term end exams are fairly easy to pass, provided one reviews and revises the study material the teachers provide. The faculty to student ratio is 8:1.

The internship season begins during the 1st Year itself. The companies that come for the internship drive are EY, VOIS, Coee, AT&T, Aircel, Adani, etc. The roles that are offered during the internship are Growth Analyst, Risk Intern, Strategy management Intern, Business Development Manager, Technical Support Intern, etc. Most of the work involved during the internship are market analysis, market research, conducting surveys, providing technical solutions and generating leads. Some companies also provide opportunity in working with them in short term live projects. The average stipend for Summer Internship is Rs. 57,000 and the highest stipend offered is Rs. 1,60,000. If one performs well during the internship one also recieves a PPO, that is Pre-Placement offer from the Company.

The placement season kicks off during the 2nd year, that is the final year of MBA. The companies that visit during the placement season include, AT&T, Reliance, EY, Deloitte, Capgemini. The roles that are offered are Business Consultant, Risk Analyst, Cyber Security Manager, etc. SIDTM has a record placement of 100% with more than 15 students of the batch receiving also PPOs that is Pre-Placement Offers from Companies they have worked with. The highest package offered is Rs. 29LPA and the average package is Rs. 15.7LPA, top 100 students recieve a package of Rs. 10.11 LPA.

Fee structure includes, Academic fees, Hostel Fees, Mess Fees, Institute fees. The fees for SIDTM is 7 lakhs per year and needs to be paid in 4 installments. The fees can be hiked to 10% depending on government and university guidelines. Financial assistance will be provided to those who have valid documents to show that they are from a lower income category. If one is a semester topper with a minimum CGPA of 7.5 out of 10 gets a 50% merit scholarship from their academic fees. The placement is handled by Placement Committee and the placement record of SIDTM is 100%. The highest package offered is Rs. 29LPA and average is Rs. 15.7LPA. Summer internship offers stipend with a average of Rs. 57,000 and highest of Rs. 1,60,000.

Campus life is great and fun. There is a Central Library that has books for more 200 subjects and genres. It also has an Online repository of ebooks, journals, newspapers and reserach papers. Classrooms have smart boards, IBM labs that aid the students in making the classes fun and interactive. There are various committees and clubs such as branding committee, fest committee, Telecom Club, Marketing Club and Finance Club. There is also various celebration of festivals such as Diwali, Dusheera, Ganesh Chaturthi and also there is a Christmas Party that is also conducted by the Fest Committee of SIDTM. Instagram and Twitter are the most widely used social media handles that are managed by the student led committees.

Hostel fees is 1,00,000. There is single occupancy, double occupancy and triple occupancy. During the 1st Year, one does not have a choice of what room to choose, but in the second year one has a choice to swtich or choose depending on their level of comfort. Mess food is pretty good. There are student Mess representatives. Lunch, Breakfast and Dinner is provided by the Mess authorities.

Yes after I got shortlisted by SIDTM, one has to go through 3 rounds which is Written Ability Test, Group Exercise and Personal Interview. For the Written Ability Test, one has to write an essay on ONE topic from 6 topics on an online portal within 30 minutes. The topics range from current affairs, polity, geography and economics. One needs to practice writing regularly. The next round is Group Discussion in which one is in a group of 8 or 9 members and they are given a topic to discuss or a hypothetical problem to which they have to give a solution. Individually each one is given 2 to 3 minutes to speak and put forth one's points.The last round is the Personal Interview where there is a panel of 4 to 5 members of SIDTM faculty and they assess you on your individual strengths and your achievements.