The journey through Planet-I

I chose this program because IIM Indore is one of the topmost colleges in the country. The PGP-HRM course is extremely well structured and covers a lot of subjects that are relevant to the current scenario. Subjects such as Competency Frameworks, Talent Acquisition, Performance Management, Compensation & Benchmarking, HR Analytics, etc. are taught to us by a few of the best faculty in the country. All the faculty here are PhDs from one of the top 6 IIMs of the country and are excellent in their knowledge as well as teaching. The method used here is a discussion with a combination of presentations, cases, and another plethora of methods that are beneficial for the students. The faculty: student ratio is around 1:12. Exams are conducted for each term promptly, with in-class quizzes depending on the professor. The questions in the examinations are usually learning and application based, hence if a person has understood the concepts well, they would be able to score good marks.

The Summer Internship is a compulsory factor of the programs here at IIM Indore. Hence, the summer internship opportunities are excellent. Renowned companies hire students for summer internships, starting from Tata, Adani group, Pernod Ricard, ABFRL, etc. to start-ups that are coming up. The main focus of internships is given to the learning experience that a student gets. However, the stipend is also lucrative that is offered by the companies, with the highest stipend being 2 lacs and the average stipend at 1 lac. The basic roles that the companies hire for are talent acquisition, performance management, learning and development, and industrial relations.

The placements offered by the college are excellent. There are two placements, Summer Internship (SIP) and Final Placements (Finals). The companies start coming for SIP at the end of august itself (TERM 1), and the placement week is generally in mid-September. The finals start in mid-November (TERM 5) and the final placement week is usually in mid-December. A lot of companies visit the campus, starting from big names like Tata, Aon Consulting, Jindal Group, Kotak group, etc. The offer: student ratio is generally 1:1, with some students getting multiple offers. Last year, the highest package offered was INR 36,00,000 and the average package offered was INR 22,00,000. The college usually has 100% placements, with very few opting out to pursue the highest studies.

Since this is one of the top IIMs in the country, the fees are equally high. It costs around INR 9,00,000 per year. However, the fees are a value for the money, as we are provided with world-class infrastructure, excellent peers, and several certifications that would otherwise cost a lot. Also, since this is an AA-level institution, it is pretty easy to avail of an educational loan without any collateral, which is an added advantage. There are several scholarships available for the students here, the best being the Need-Based Financial Assistance provided to students who are economically weaker but good in academics. Several other scholarship opportunities also exist. Over 50 companies come to recruit each year with more than 50 offers rolled out to the batch of 40 students. The average package of the institute was INR 22,00,000 with the highest package being INR 36,00,000 for the PGP-HRM course.

Campus life is one of the most exciting life. As is said, if one can survive MBA, one can survive anything, and it remains true to that. The campus has world-class infrastructure beginning from smart classrooms, to an Olympic size swimming pool, a cricket stadium, an events court, a steam and sauna bath, and whatnot! The library is open 24 hours and has more than 7,00,000 books both online and offline. It also has subscriptions to various economic journals of the world. 3 fests are conducted every year, i5, Utsaha, and IRIS. Each is unique in itself. IRIS is the annual cultural and management festival and sees the participation of more than 5000 from various reputed colleges in the country. It also has fun nights, where Neeti Mohan performed this year. There are lots of student-run clubs, including information clubs and activity clubs. Everything on the campus is run by students, and hence, even the students get enough positions of responsibilities to fulfill.

This is a compulsory residential program, and hence, it is compulsory to live on campus in hostels. There are 10 boys' hostels and 5 girls' hostels, each with a capacity of more than 100 individuals. All the rooms are single occupancy, and everyday maintenance of the rooms is done by the cleaning staff. The rooms have all the basic requirements, a bed, and mattress, an almirah with lock, chair, table, shelves, bunks, etc. All the hostels have security guards 24*7, and hence, it is extremely safe inside the campus. Each floor has 2 clean washrooms and 1 water cooler/water purifier. There are a total of 3 messes each with a dining capacity of 150 individuals at a time. The food quality is average and it is in the form of an all-you-can-eat buffet. The mess menu is decided by the students' run mess committee on a fortnightly basis. The cleanliness in the mess is top quality and constant checks are made for the same. The registration process for the hostel and mess is automatic.

To get admission to IIM Indore's PGP-HRM program, the first step is to clear the Common Admission Test (CAT). I gave CAT 2020, held in November 2020. The overall cutoff for that year's CAT for IIM Indore was 85 percentile. I cleared it and then got a call from IIM Indore stating that my interview was scheduled on a particular date. I attended the interview, post which they told me if I am selected, I would know by email. My selection came in the last shortlist of June. The CAT application form can be found online on google by simply typing "CAT 20XX". The form is usually open in the first week of August and closed in the first week of October, with the exam taking place on the last Sunday of November.

There was no GD or Written Test for admission. There was only 1 round of interviews, which was conducted by a panel of IIM Indore professors. The interview started with my introduction and why I would like to do an MBA in Human Resources. Then they asked me about my background and where I belong to. Then, there were a couple of GK questions based on that. A couple of questions were also asked about my academic background (Computer Science) and a few questions about what I currently know about business. The interview concluded with them asking if I wanted to ask them anything. I prepared for this interview with various online platforms' help, one of which was Inside ILM's course on interview preparation.