If you think the biggest sadness is not getting a call from your dream college, then you are totally wrong. It is when you have calls from the college of the same Calibre and you must choose between them.
Yes, I am talking about the Mecca of trade and Mecca of Operations. How do you choose between these two? How do you find out what's your calling? How do you know which will be a strategic fit for helping to build your profile to land you into a good company?
So, let's dive into past before we came to the answering that question.
I still remember I was going back from office, got a notification, IIFT shortlist is out. I had no hopes as my DI section went bad (this was that year when IIFT experimented with segregating all the sections) and I had checked the answer key (couldn't help) and I got negative marks in DI according to the IMS answer key.
Anyway, as destiny would have it, I saw my name, Piyush Punewar, in the list of 1900 students. Oh, I was so happy.
Then after a few days we got the scorecard. It was little after midnight, I was excited to see what my percentile and DI section marks was, and it's cut off (remember I got negative in DI according to IMS answer key, if you don't remember then concentrate in the story harder, it's only going to get better). I keyed in my roll number and the date of birth and pressed submit. There it was, 99.02%, oh how the destiny plays, I had screwed up my CAT, DILR section to be blamed again. Anyway, you might be wondering how much I got in DI section in IIFT, 0.5 out of 15 and cut off was 0.25. Yes, that dreadful a DI section can be.
The focus was clear now. To crack the IIFT interview process, oh I will write a story for that too. (Don't forget the title of this story is NITIE over IIFT).
So, my interview for IIFT went amazing. P.s special mention to IMS faculty, they helped us prepare holistically for the interview. A lot of practice and personal mock interview. You are sure you are getting personal moulding. And special thanks to Mr Vaibhav Srivastava, IIFT alumni and IMS faculty, two days before my IIFT interview, he gave me the motivation, to believe in the SECRET - ask, believe and receive.
Before the result of IIFT, I got shortlisted for the interview process of NITIE. The interview went moderately well, I believe it could have been better if I had done the exhausting research that I did for IIFT interview.
And then result day of IIFT came in. I was in office when the result came in and the first thing I did was to rush to my manager and gave my resignation.
I paid the IIFT fees and secured the admission. Got added in IIFT official WhatsApp and Facebook group. There I met a few like-minded people, and we made a different group as our talk was disturbing others.
And then started pre-assignments, to get you geared up for what is in store in the MBA life you have chosen. Deadlines were now 23:59:59. As soon as we finish one assignment, we were bombarded with the next assignment to be completed in three days, at times even one day. Those days actually helped us bond even more, as we were motivating each other, helping each other.
And as I was enjoying the whole process of IIFT, in the meanwhile, NITIE result came in. I was waitlisted, but I had a good shot at clearing the waitlist. Waitlist 1 came, and my waitlist moved from 80 to 30. Now, I started realising that I really have a good chance of converting NITIE, and I started reaching out to friends, mentors and my family to get an idea about what should I choose. And obviously, views differ considerably. Some stuff was like this,
"If you get in NITIE then you won't live an MBA life, where you have multiple deadlines to meet."
"Go to NITIE, life is chill there."
"In IIFT you will find girls plus Delhi, NITIE = no girls"
Some said, "If you are inclined towards operations then go to NITIE else IIFT."
I did extensive research on both the colleges and the above-mentioned things are more or less wrong. Life isn't chill in NITIE, you have many deadlines to meet, it's just that you do get extra free time as your lectures get over soon and it's up to you on how to utilise it.
Important points where the college are different from each other.
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IIFT
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NITIE
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- Mecca of trade, very good for finance.
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- Mecca of operations, very good for operations and SCM Roles
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- Course Fees – Rs 16,70,000/-
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- Course Fees - Rs 8,19,000/-
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- The exchange program is very good
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- The Exchange program is poor
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- one of the most beautiful campus amongst the b-school in India with a new building
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- Diversity - Students from all backgrounds are welcome, but a relatively higher number of Engineers as seen in almost all B-schools
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- Diversity - Low compared to other b-schools, only Engineers are allowed, as their syllabus is quant heavy
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- Class timing - 9 am to 5 pm from Monday to Friday
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- 8:30 am to 11:30 am on 3 days and 8:30 am to 1:15 pm on 2 days.
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Common things in both college
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IIFT
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NITIE
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- Average placement package ~ 18LPA
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- Average placement package ~ 19LPA
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| Well-known Government college |
| Number of girls are low |
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Teachers are great in both the colleges, some are very boring, some are very chill, some are very strict, some teaches so well you are awestruck that you go to their lecture even if it's early in the morning and you have partied or toil hard last night. Some are so dull, but their lecture is compulsory (Attendance 80% in IIFT, 75% in NITIE minimum required).
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A lot of guest lectures at both the college
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All big competitions are open for both the college.
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And the d-day came, and I got the Admission offer from NITIE in waitlist 3. I guess I had already made up my mind while I was researching about NITIE. I knew what I was giving up, a great bunch of good people, 2 years with them would have been a blast for sure. I was going to miss out on studying in Mecca of trade, a field which does interest me. A chance of living in Delhi and many other things which I don't even know might have happened. (In some parallel universe, I know I am enjoying hell a lot in IIFT, chanting GoIIFTGo).
The ROI (return on investment) obviously was an influencer for joining NITIE, also I have 36 months of work experience in Manufacturing domain, so it's a good advantage to have in college like NITIE, as prior work experience in Operations field gets you more shortlist. At the end of the day you are joining b-school for good placement (don't want to debate on choosing b-school for other attributes, like being an entrepreneur, majority join for a sole reason, placement, full stop.) And real competition starts when you get into b-school, as the best minds of the whole country are there (you are already top 0.1%ile of India who got admission in NITIE, our professor keeps on reminding us that).
Also, staying just an hour away from you MBA college was a very tiny reason, my friends are in Mumbai, I can go partying every weekend (Just coming back after celebrating friendship day with my best friend ) but such tiny reasons actually nudge your choice (read the nudge theory, if you haven't even heard of it, get your general knowledge quotient high, else entrance exams like IIFT will tear you apart, and it helps in MBA life a lot, I can't state the importance of it.)
It wasn't easy to choose NITIE, especially after making such a great bonding with IIFT folks. But alas, I had to say bye to my dear friends. But IIFT will always be in my heart. The first college that I converted. It's always special. #GoIIFTGo.
P.S - it's been two months in NITIE now, and there were so many instances when I felt damn I should have been in IIFT. But slowly, as I made a bunch of great friends in NITIE, I am getting a feeling that NITIE was surely the right choice. I have immense opportunity to choose what I want to do, and every senior is so helpful. I am sure that in NITIE too I will experience amazing two years (and I am sure that the Piyush in the parallel world will be enjoying in IIFT).