At InsideIIM, stories are at the heart of everything we do. This past year has seen our vast MBA community share with us some of the most captivating and moving tales of love, heartbreak, depression, friendships, struggle, success, and confusion. As 2019 whizzed by in a blur, some of these stories were lost amongst the thousands of contributions by the MBA community, but as the year ends, we decided to dig in deep and bring to you some gems from the year gone by. Here are the most-read and most widely shared stories from 2019. Take a look!
In 2018, after swatting away a massive number of requests, we finally came out with the first ever InsideIIM MBA Rankings - a list of the top business schools in India ranked based on nothing else but simply how the MBA community perceives business schools. Having received an overwhelming response to the rankings, we came out with the rankings once again in 2019, and this time,
the viewership for this series increased nearly eight-folds! Check out our latest rankings to find out which B-schools make it to the top.
Want to contribute to the InsideIIM MBA Rankings due to be released in 2020? Fill out this survey and let us know how you would rank Indian business schools!
Over the many years of our existence, InsideIIM has received thousands of stories from MBA students - love stories, rants, exposes, guides, and musings. But the most popular pieces are those which focus on the heart of what everyone wants to read - what really goes on within the four walls of an Indian MBA institute! Here is a compilation of stories by MBA students, describing their business schools and what makes them special!
Yes, you read that right - this IIM Indore student took just two months to crack CAT, instantly dispelling any myths about the 'right' amount of time required to crack the exam. Think this is the story of a regular engineer from an IIT? Think again. Watch this interview with a non-engineer on how she made it to one of India's top business schools with just two months of CAT preparation!
Preparing for CAT is not easy, and as a working professional, it becomes even more difficult to concentrate on studies and balance CAT preparation with work. Even so, the majority of students at top B-schools today - such as the IIMs - have prepared for CAT while working and have managed to achieve 99+ percentile scores. So how did they prepare for CAT, what strategy did they employ, and most importantly, how did they balance work and CAT preparation? In this video, we speak with Kannan Adlakha, a PGP student at IIM Ahmedabad and a CAT 2018 99.86 percentiler who prepared for CAT while working as a Data Analyst!
1% - that's the percentage of students who make it to the IIMs out of all those who take the CAT exam. About the same number of test-takers make it to other top business schools, while the rest either gear-up to take all those entrance exams once again, or kill their dreams of pursuing management education. However, there is one major opportunity that MBA aspirants often fail to take cognizance of - pursuing an MBA abroad. This post is a comprehensive guide to what an MBA abroad entails, what it takes to make it to a top business school, and how exams like GMAT and GRE compare with Indian entrance exams like CAT. Take a look!
Over the years, we have received numerous stories of MBA students sharing sneak peeks of the good, bad and the ugly of their B-school lives. While thousands of stories exist about 'learning' and 'opportunities' and 'friendships', only a handful have the courage to share stories of the 'reality of MBA' in India - stories of what goes on behind the scenes; and that too, anonymously. Here, we have compiled some such realities that B-school students (some of whom are now alumni) claim to have experienced during their time as MBA students at their respective business schools!
Not everyone cracks CAT in the first attempt. InsideIIM is rife with stories of those who've taken not one, not two, but even five CAT attempts before finally making it to an IIM. In this video, we bring to you the story of Swayam Tibrewal, who took CAT a total of four times before he actually made it to IIM Bangalore. What's more, he achieved this feat as a working professional! Take a look at his journey to an IIM after spending four years of his life preparing to bell the CAT.
Here's what's most interesting about this post - it is one of
the most popular articles on InsideIIM, even though
it was published 7 years ago! This post by an IIM Lucknow alumnus has always piqued the interest of thousands of MBA aspirants every single year since it was published, and is a highly recommended read for you.
Two years at a B-school are filled with stress, happiness, new friendships, uncertainty, sleeplessness, bucket loads of fun and new experiences. With so much going on, it can be easy to underestimate the level of preparation you need to have even before you join your institute in 2020. To help you transition into the B-school life seamlessly, we've made a comprehensive laundry list of things that will make sure you don’t miss the bare necessities you need to get through B-school. We’ve gone all out and added links to everything you’re looking for, and there’s a table at the end to suit your budget too!
The CAT exam is a tough nut to crack, and it takes a well-organised strategy and a bucket load of determination to crack the exam. So what kind of strategy would a CAT topper recommend that can help aspirants get a ninety-nine percentile score? In this video, we speak with Himanish Sinhababu, a CAT 2018 topper who achieved a 99th+ percentile score in the exam and got into one of India's elite business schools. If you're looking for tips from a CAT topper to crack the DI-LR section and improve your mock test scores, then you don't want to miss this insightful video!
- Must View
Mental health is often the most neglected when we are put to a grind. For Gayathri, it became too much to handle during her undergraduate years. Studying away from family, the pressure of acclimatizing in new surroundings and proving to others that her decision of not pursuing engineering to go for mathematics was the right one, took a toll on her mental health. To an extent that one day she decided to end her own life! In this captivating video, we speak with Gayathri, who takes us through the ups and downs of her life.
When one reads B-school placement reports, one only sees the appealing parts of the Indian MBA placements process - top salaries, top companies, top roles. However, there's a lot more that goes on behind the scenes that most people are unaware of. In this post, an MBA student from one of India's top-ranked institute's lets us in on some of the not-so-appealing secrets and realities of the placements process at Indian MBA institutes.
How do CAT 99 percentilers gear-up for the exam? What is the number of hours they spend studying? How do they improve their weak areas, and how do they extract maximum value from mock tests? To find out, we spoke with someone who was in the top 0.08% of all CAT 2018 test-takers and made it to one of India's top business schools - IIM Indore. In this video interview, he reveals how he prepared for CAT and lays out some unmissable tips for all CAT aspirants.
Every year, between January to April, working professionals attempting CAT in that year are faced with a massive dilemma -
"Should I quit my job?" Given the difficulty level of the exam, cracking CAT while working is not everyone's cup of tea. However, quitting your job also means having the sword of unemployment and a tough GD-PI-WAT experience post-CAT hanging over your head. So what does one do? If you're facing this dilemma or foresee yourself in a similar situation, this is an absolute must-read for you! Go ahead and take a look.
Making it to any IIM - let alone IIM Calcutta - is an uphill task for majority of those who take the CAT exam, primarily due to the immense competition that exists for a limited number of seats. This post captures the story of one such CAT aspirant who, after being rejected by FMS Delhi and doubting his own abilities for a year, finally made it to his dream business school in the second attempt. If you're looking for a dose of motivation and want to know what mindset is required to get into an IIM, this article is a must-read for you!
Throughout the year, we are inundated with questions from tense and eager CAT aspirants around profile evaluation, target CAT scores, and B-school call predictions - "Is there
any chance of getting a call from IIM Ahmedabad?", "I screwed up my 10th and 12th, can I get a call from IIM Calcutta with a high CAT percentile?" To answer these questions, we decided to dig in deeper and find out
exactly what profile it takes to make it - or get rejected - by an IIM. In this report, find out if your profile is good enough to make it to the top six IIMs!
Masters in Management or MiM has become one of
the most popular alternatives to an MBA - no longer do you need years and years of experience to make it to an Ivy League business school! In fact, institutes offering MiM require candidates to have less than 3 years of experience. If this program interests you, here are the top colleges that you can target to pursue management education abroad.
So you've taken CAT/will take CAT and enter the B-school of your dreams. But what next? Is taking loans, spending massive amounts of money on your education and being without a steady source of income for two years worth it? Will an MBA make you a good manager? Most importantly,
will an MBA guarantee success? Here's an IIM Lucknow student's take on what difference an MBA
really makes to your career.
PlaceCommers - they are not just among the
most hardworking souls on a B-school campus but also the
most revered and feared ones. So what is it like to actually date a PlaceCommer? This anonymous MBA student describes her tryst with dating a PlaceCommer, and explains exactly why she doesn't recommend it to anyone. Take a look - you may need this information in the near future! ;)
Over the past few years, we have received numerous book recommendations by MBA students (some of whom are now alumni) of the most interesting and insightful books that teach lessons not just on business or management but also on life. These are the best MBA books to read for those aspiring to join business schools, as well as for those already in their dream B-schools, looking forward to their life in the corporate world!
Here, we have compiled 25 of the best MBA books recommended by B-schools students/alumni on InsideIIM!
These were the top-20 most read stories on InsideIIM in 2019! We hope you found these either inspirational, moving, insightful, hilarious, or all of the above!
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