'If You Go To An IIM To Earn A Salary, You've Started Terribly Wrong' | Term 1 At IIM Kozhikode

In the great Harsha Bhogle’s words, if you go to IIM to earn a salary, you've started terribly wrong. As he says, they come here to build careers. I have started terribly wrong and learned my lesson no. 1 at IIM-K.

How does B-School shape you in achieving your career goals?

Term-1 at IIM-K reminded me of the concept- Stress_Strain curve, I learned long back when I was preparing for IIT JEE, here we the students are tested to our extreme fracture limits.

The first term at IIM-K is about stress and time management. It is structured and planned in a manner to expose the student through every possible difficult situation they may ever encounter in their possible careers.

We have a joke around that the examination time is the best time of the term-1. All of us were just needed to do was prepare for the exams and yes, this was the only time when we got good sleep.  Real mishap used to start after the classes when waited for a “surprise test” email at 3:30 PM. But till 3:30 PM, everyone kept on looking at the mails, even if the quiz was not there, everyone wasted their whole day and energy studying in the anticipation of the quiz. If none came, you start expressing your frustration by some euphemistic words.

Every day you are supposed to prepare 2–3 cases for the next. Read the cases (15–30 pages each), and get yourself ready for DCP (Desperate Class Participation) to get cherry points in the subject. Let me explain DCP, following image depicts it in the best way

In term-1, you need to prepare for the summer internship for which each of the 485 students came. From resume making in the standardized format, getting it verified through different mentors, preparing for GDs, 100s of HR questions to domain-specific preparation, all have to be taken care of in the sacrosanct deadline. Adding on to these, you need to submit 7 different reports of 30-40 pages’ and present it in less than a week’s time across 7 courses and different topics that you have, believe me, no idea about teaches you the best time and stress management and this is coming from the mouth of an engineer who has seen the most demanding curriculum already. Now, after spending my time for a term at IIM-K, I understand why it is called the Kampus that never sleeps.

Here is my perspective to the academic rigour in IIM Kozhikode:

Following the routine in B-school continuously for 6 months helps you realize that you have learned how to push limits, deliver quality content in the sacrosanct deadline and everything can be achieved. B-school has nothing to do with academic intensity, in other words, B-School is about teaching you the art of common sense in the most strenuous of the times and managing those strenuous situations.