Why MBA without a prior work experience? This is probably the most frequently asked question to every fresher who walks in for the dreaded interview rounds of every b-school in the country. More often than not, the answer to this question is the game changer. One of the reasons why I failed to clear the interviews in my first attempt was my ignorance to this question. My answers were very generic because I had no idea how life would be like for a fresher in a b-school. In this article, I will be sharing how life has been for me at NITIE.
It has been 9 months at NITIE for me and I must say that I have received more than what was expected. In the initial days, I had a lot of apprehensions - will I be able to compete with people who have already worked in a corporate environment and have hands-on experience of dealing with live projects? Will my ideas and opinions be valued? Will my perspectives be respected and equal opportunities be given to me? Slowly the nerves started settling in and I realised that I was at an advantage being a fresher. In a majority of b-schools, the percentage of freshers is very less and the same is the scenario at NITIE. This directly implied that most of the friends that I would make would come with an industry experience. Here lies the biggest opportunity to learn, you never know when a random conversation with your friends can turn to a healthy discussion and eventually teach you a lot about industry processes. I have experienced it myriad times and same would be the case with everyone. These random ‘gyaan’ sessions are unparalleled, something which can only be learnt out of the regular curriculum.
Case study discussions are a regular methodology of teaching which brings out different perspectives of dealing with the same situation. There have been instances wherein I have come up with my own solutions which sparked a fruitful discussion in the class. As a fresher with no bias towards a particular industry practice, I have always looked at situations with an open viewpoint and ensured that the basics are taken care of. Diversity in the class will ensure that no aspect of the case is left uncovered. This also gives me the leverage to grab the maximum out of the class and broaden my degree of understanding.
The perks of being a fresher in a b-school are that sometimes you can be childish and still get away. Well, why not take the advantage of being the youngest in the group? However, one of the weirdest situations that I faced initially was that I had to address all my batch mates with their first names, even those who are 4-5 years elder to me. People take it as an insult if you use Bhaiya or Sir to address them. Eventually, I realised that many corporates also follow the same convention, so it evens out now.
Overall, my personal experiences have been amazing and I really cherish the fact that I decided to pursue management as a fresher.