Admission into the Top b-school of India; the sentence itself has some thrill in it....Ya, like every other CAT aspirant, getting admission in IIM- A/B/C became my dream of life. Working in 12 hrs shift and preparing for CAT in parallel was truly a slogging experience. But honestly it's worth it; as everybody says (I cannot claim to say as I still need to experience the 2 years of MBA life at IIMB).
The thought of going back to college life leaves a tinge of a smile on the face of an employee of 20-27 years of age. The flashes of same old masti, chai at nearby thadi, late night parties, all night preparation for exams and all day sleep comes back filling the entire mind space. With the same expectations, I landed in IIMB with my bags and baggage. And then started my training for life. Starting with induction in the first week, students start building networks - which everybody calls one of the most important aspects of an MBA. I used to hear 50 odd names a day and literally could remember one or two at max.
What can be edgier than having your birthday in the first week of your new college among people whom you don't know anything about. Expecting a boring birthday, I sat in my room alone waiting for phone calls. Then came some friends (not properly friends by then) knocking my door. Filled with excitement, I opened the door. They knocked to call me to work for a project. Sadly, I went along with them to the place where we were supposed to discuss the project, cursing them in my heart with every step. When I reached the place, I encountered the biggest surprise; not 5 or 10 or 15 students but around 50-60 students gathered to celebrate my birthday. This is how students of MBA college unite to surprise their classmate.
Next week, we got our time table and books. Looking at the time table and number of classes, I laughed as to why people call MBA life an hectic one. Only 3 hrs classes per day and sometimes 4.5 hrs classes. Engineering had much more classes than this after all. The first week of classes were fun, new subjects, new domains, awesome way of teaching, highly knowledgeable faculty and not just theory but applications of every concept. And most importantly, 8 hrs of sleep every day. After one week, the real MBA life started showing its face from the veil. Club selections (3-4 rounds of selection process for every club; total 35+ clubs & societies); all projects stage1 submission deadlines and general body meets by placecom (nobody can imagine of missing them as they only give the opportunity to earn your bread and butter), all simultaneously took away those happy days and made them hectic and demanding.
When I asked seniors if this would be the routine for the 2 years of MBA life, they replied that it would be like this but you would get used to it. No doubt it's a hectic life out here but the exposure to the best talent and cut throat competition really gives the glimpse of the competitive world out there. I could see the amazing place where this road is heading to.
Looking for many more sleepless nights and a great career ahead.