1)
BC in the night: To my mind, the biggest learning at a B-school comes from your co-participants. I’ve often had this discussion with my Dad when he questions me about spending so much money on B-school education if we don’t pick up too many things from the classrooms. My answer to him is always that learning comes from your friends, batch mates, seniors and juniors. An extension of this argument is to not stick to your rooms mugging away to glory, but spend a lot of time in human interaction, which generally happens in the night. Very few things match the pleasure of a discussion in the mess at 3 in the night. This also helps you in networking (Why is networking important?- I trust some other post to address this, but in short: 1) Doing business- networking is the most important 2) Getting references in the industry 3) Most joy in life comes from relationships)
2)
Watching sport in the common room: I won’t say much about this, except that apart from the pleasure of watching it with so many people, you also learn a lot of little things. Don’t miss this experience.
3)
Listening to a great professor: As Ankit rightly pointed out, the good professors at B-schools are few and far in between. However, the ones who are good are really worth listening to; because the learning from their lectures transcends subjects. It’s learning about management in general, and the lessons of life. With this in mind, my suggestion always is to choose subjects based on the instructors, unless you are very sure about the stream you want to take up (which most people are not!)
4)
Participate in a B-school competition/Organize One: It’s a lot of fun doing both of them, for the take aways from such events are immense, apart from the fun you have. Organizing B-school events, gives you apart from other things, a lot of bonding and camaraderie with your fellow participants. A successful event organized gives you a sense of achievement and a high which few other things can match.
5)
Prepare for Consulting interviews: This was certainly one of the most enriching experiences for me at IIM Indore, for I believe that consulting interviews capture the essence of management issues and principles. Preparing for these interviews really polishes your skills and encourages you to think (which I think students have forgotten how to do). Apart from these, it’s also a chance to peek into the best minds in the campus, and how they approach issues. So irrespective of whether you have bent of mind towards consulting, I strongly recommend this.
- Karan Maroo
(The author is an alumnus of IIM Indore – Class of 2011 and of IIIT-Hyderabad – Class of 2009. He was the winner of ‘Aswamedha 2010′ – One of IIM Indore’s flagship events. He will work with Standard Chartered Bank and was the member of the Placement Committee of IIM Indore)
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