Life @ IIMA

The course outline in itself is quite comprehensive for any MBA course offered anywhere in India and across the globe. A combination of several fields such as economics, finance, marketing, HR, OB, public policy, strategy, etc. made the course curriculum as vast as it could get. A progressive approach w.r.t. each o the streams made learning structured. Courses within marketing, economics, finance are structured in two or three parts helping students learn key aspects in a structured manner rather than trying to teach everything at once. The curriculum and especially the teaching methods help students prepare for the real world or the professional journey as the course teach the students on how to tackle problems on their own, think from first principle thereby helping students develop a better cognitive skillset. Additionally, the soft skills are enhanced to a great extent during the course as several means are deployed to test the same. These include presentations and cross-questions that follow it among other means. The only area of improvement in my opinion shall be regarding the finance subjects that they be made more interactive as are the other subjects. This would enable students to enjoy this course stream as well. Finally, the frequency of exams is quite high with tests being conducted throughout the year. While this may seem as overwhelming, this approach helps students in keeping abreast with each of the workstreams.

Internships are an important milestone for students at IIMA as many of them end up securing PPOs (pre-placement offers) from these companies. Similar to placements, several companies encompassing various industries and fields visit the campus to recruit students for a two-month internship. The idea is to catch probable candidates early on in the career and it acts as a great starting point for students as well. Once employed, students are onboarded on several projects (short-term) to help take the project to completion. Projects may include devising go-to-market strategy for a new product launch, consulting decks for client presentations, etc. The internship experience is judged by the recruiter on the basis of the tasks performed by the student. Internship gives in inside-out view of the professional world that is to follow post MBA. Some of the companies that visit IIMA for internships include marketing organizations such as HUL, P&G, RB, Nestle, Wipro, consulting firms such as BCG, Bain, Mastercard, Kearney, strategy groups such as RPG, Tata, Birla, operations and product companies such as Amazon, Sprinklr.

The placement season at IIMA starts from December onward. This includes a three to four day marathon placement season that witnesses more than 150 companies visiting the campus. These companies include MNCs such as American Express, Blackrock, Boston Consulting Group, Mastercard, P&G, Nestle Indian conglomerates such as Aditya Birla Group, Tata Group, Mahindra Group, HUL, technology companies such as Amazon, Zomato, Sprinklr. In total ~480 offers are made to candidates in total across laterals as well as finals placement processes. A 100% placement has been a record at IIMA for many years now. While the average package lied somewhere around INR 20 LPA, the maximum was to the tune of INR 75 LPA (and perhaps even more for international locations). I ventured into consulting domain, one of the most revered and sought after clusters post my MBA at IIMA.

The tuition fee for the MBA program (colloquially known as PGDM) for IIMA (two-year program) stands at INR 22 lacs i.e. INR 11 lacs per year. There are a couple of other significant costs as part of the fee structure particularly INR 5,000 as a refundable deposit (in lieu of any damage to the hostel and/or college property). The hostel fee stands at INR 1 lac for the entirety of two years and it is compulsory to avail of the hostel facility as the MBA program at IIMA is a residency program. Apart from this, there is a mess fee which is optional and not mandatory; this fee depends on the type of cuisine and meal program that the student opts for. There is a central government-sponsored MCM scholarship that exists or the merit-cum-means that allows the student to avail discount on the tuition fee that depends on the IIMA merit list (achievable via an RTI application) for the first term and the GPA of the previous terms for all the next terms.

IIMA typically hosts two major institute festivals namely TRBS (The Red Bricks Summit), the annual technical festival that brings together industry and academia encompassing keynote speaker sessions, collaborative projects, etc. The other is Chaos, the annual cultural fest that IIMA hosts. This festival aims to create an atmosphere of fun and frolic. While TRBS is generally held around September, Chaos is held around January. IIMA boasts of a central library quite popular among the masses as well, particularly for the breadth of subjects that it carries within itself. The library is an e-library with a plethora of periodicals and data repositories generally available to students outside at huge subscription amounts. The classrooms too are well equipped with smart technology aiming to incorporate all kinds of immersive discussions and deliberations. The architecture of the institution is a great mix of traditional art with a modern bend of mind. The inter-IIM is a key sports festival where teams from top IIMs compete with one another across sports such as cricket, basketball, frisbee, tennis, etc. IIMA also boasts of multiple student run groups colloquially known as clubs. These include Economics Club, Public Policy Club, Consulting Club, Finance Club, Heritage Club, Literary Symposium Club, etc. These aspects make life at IIMA quite diverse and interesting.

The hostels at IIMA are majorly single occupancy barring a few BHK set of units where students do share rooms (even though these are majorly blocked for PhD scholars). The single occupancy rooms are furnished with a bed, an almirah, a side table and an accompanying chair. The room is equipped with tubelights, bulb, fan and an attached balcony area (in majority of the rooms). Students do end up installing air coolers on their own especially during the summer and monsoon seasons to avoid heat and humidity. The shared washrooms are equipped with heating geysers as well. The meal is part of the mess subscription (one-time or recurring, as per the student's wish). The food is high in quality and taste is maintained in almost all meals. Any meal with a poor feedback is never repeated, and the menu is made with the aim of incorporating all cuisines of food encompassing all kinds of Indian dishes. Hostel accommodation is mandatory or all students pursuing MBA at IIMA. The registration is pre-made and no additional formality needs to be completed.

I had applied to all major business schools in India including IIM Ahmedabad. The others included IIMs including but not limited to Bangalore, Calcutta, Indore, Lucknow, etc. These colleges admit students basis the CAT entrance exam followed by a personal interview round. The cut-off for students to be able to receive a call from IIMA stands at 99.75 and above. This percentile is especially for those students with an engineering background and having minimal work experience. For a candidate like myself (general category; male; fresher; engineer), the cut-off can go even further depending on the diversity of the candidate pool in that year. Following the CAT result, the IIMA has a single day written essay as well as personal interview round. The candidates are called in groups to write an essay basis some key words or from a starting point. Following this, the candidates are interviewed on various topics including the need to pursue MBA, past experience, thought process basis the previously written essays. Apart from CAT, leading exams include XAT (for XLRI college, a leading name in business strategy and HR strategy courses), IIFT (for IIFT college in Delhi). All these exams follow the similar rule as applied by IIMs via CAT as explained above. IIFT does have a group interview to assess skills of discussion and deliberation. I had secured admission to IIM Calcutta, IIM Indore, IIM Lucknow, FMS, IIFT, and XLRI. I however did not get admitted or shortlisted to IIM Bangalore due to various reasons such as lack of work experience (prior to MBA). I chose to pursue MBA from IIM Ahmedabad as it was my dream institute. The reasons were aplenty including but not limited to the curriculum, the position in world and India rankings, the placement records, and the perceived stature of the institution.

IIMA has very well-managed classrooms in terms of both the curriculum and the attached teacher-to-student ratio. The curriculum for each and every subject is made keeping in mind the best means of gaining knowledge from the same. The courses include marketing, economics, strategy, finance, HR, organizational behavior, public policy, etc. This amalgam is a perfect blend of the set of values and skills required to excel in the upcoming professional journey. I vividly remember some of the courses (not necessarily the main streams) and the key reason is the faculty attached to it. I profoundly recall Prof. Navdeep Mathur for inculcating business acumen via courses least possibly connected with the widely known management related courses. Prof. Neharika Vohra who led several courses related to entrepreneurship in a very interesting and exciting fashion. While the courses at IIMA were definitely challenging, the degree differed from student to student as every one had their own strengths and weaknesses. Even with the challenging level of courses and the attached examinations, there were hardly people who failed the exam. The surprise tests though definitely caught the students by surprise.

The admission process includes a written essay followed by a personal interview with a panel of IIMA professors. The written essay is an open-ended thought engaging topic that tests the thought process of the candidate. The topics can roam around current ongoing happenings, a piece of history, etc. Interview rounds are quite detailed banking on the input from the written essays as well as the candidate's experience from the past. These include detailed concepts of undergraduate courses, previous work experience, and general knowledge around the candidate's areas of interest. I prepared for the personal interview rounds by brushing up concepts of engineering courses that I had a livid interest in. Apart from this, I made sure that I have a clear vision of what I desired out of my decision to pursue MBA and the path that lay ahead of me.

Ahmedabad is a lively city to be in especially for students considering that the city (along with the capital Gandhinagar) is a hub of educational institutions. This makes Ahmedabad a lively city that has within itself students from all across the country pursuing various kinds of educational courses or degree programs. The hostel timings at IIMA are quite flexible and there is no restriction on entry or exit. The city is also quite safe for female students to roam around during all hours. The famous hangout places include the bun maska corner within the campus that has been operational since time immemorial now. A few coffee and South Indian joints within the campus are cool spots to roam as well. The city has a great mix of cafes and restaurants, a food heaven for vegetarians. The area of Vastrapur (where IIMA is located) and Navrangpura are particularly the upscale areas of the city. Law Garden in the city boasts of a great place to hangout with loads of snacking options.