My Journey To IIM Shillong

“A dream doesn’t become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work.” Doing MBA from a reputed B school like IIM Shillong is a dream for many but only few are able to convert it into reality. I belong to the lucky lot. The day I got a call from IIM Shillong, I started my research and wanted to put in my best efforts to capitalise upon this opportunity. IIM Shillong is the seventh oldest IIM in the country and has made a great mark for itself in the past 10 years. The day I received my admission offer letter from IIM Shillong will always be marked as the best day of my life. I was so excited that I couldn’t sleep for 3 days. I was never fascinated by just the “IIM” brand tag of IIM Shillong. When I looked through the curriculum of IIM Shillong, I realised it was the only IIM offering 84 elective options to choose from, hence providing its students to study and specialise in a domain they have interest. It is also the only IIM which focusses on sustainability in management practises. In today’s world, climate change, depletion of resources, water scarcity etc have become pressing issues, they are threats to human existence. IIM Shillong understands the gravity of the situation and is trying to educate the future managers to take sustainable decisions which will be good for the society and environment as well as the businesses. There is a special foundation course on sustainability management and as part of the course we go to a sustainability trek, it is the highlight of the course. The trek is breathtakingly beautiful.

When one is deciding upon which Bschool to choose its more about objectivity wherein one considers his or her career 10 years down the line. I went through the placement reports of IIM Shillong and I saw my dream company name and profile on it. Amazing stipend and CTC were like a cherry on the cake. IIM Shillong is the youngest amidst the old IIMs and oldest amidst the youngest IIMs, hence I had my own inhibitions before joining IIM Shillong. But then I read that IIM-A,B,C graduates did not even have steady jobs in 1990s but with the turn of millennials, their reputation in the market sky-rocketed and today their Alma matter’s name pushes them into board rooms with ease. IIM Shillong has displayed the same potential to grow since the past 10 years of its establishment and 10 years down the line, it will be part of the top 5 Big Leagues.

Dr A.P.J Abdul Kalam is my role model and IIM Shillong was very close to him. He believed in this institution. In his memory, Nurturing Minds is an initiative started by the students of IIM Shillong where students teach school kids of Shillong and surrounding areas. I wanted to be a part of such an initiative Last but not the least, natural beauty of Shillong cannot be ignored. IIM Shillong is called the “Campus in clouds”. The campus is going to stay etched in memory for eternity. Also, our batch – Batch of 2020 is special for being the most diverse batch academically. Also, our batch has the highest number of girls compared to previous batches. The scope of peer learning in our batch is immense. Even though situated in a remote location, we are given ample opportunities to interact with successful corporates through a special event series called “Podium”. Hence, IIM Shillong encourages beyond conventional learning, it wants us to learn beyond the classrooms as well.

Aditya Birla Group

Aditya Birla Group is a huge Indian multinational conglomerate and is in the league of Fortune 500. Given an opportunity to join any company of Aditya Birla Group, I would want to join Aditya Birla Retail Limited, the leading retail arm of Aditya Birla Group. Currently, its operational hypermarket and supermarkets as one of the strongest chains in India. According to ibef, the Indian retail industry has emerged as one of the most dynamic industries and accounts for 10% of country’s GDP and around 8% of employment. The retail market is expected to grow and reach US$11.25 billion in 2019. ADRL will get a lot of opportunity to grow during the favourable period and being a part of such a company would provide me great platform to learn and grow.

 

Vasundhara Singh

PGP 1st Year IIM Shillong