IIM campus life is the most coveted part of the MBA journey for anyone. With the myriad monotonous assignments and exams, it also offers an exciting life packed with tours, events and fun moments one could only imagine in wildest of dreams. I will pen down some of those although everything cannot be written, I will try to put down everything that I can.
The first and the foremost is when a person enters the campus for the registration of the first term in IIM Indore. Life starts here and the never ceases to amaze you until you move out and it will remain a phase of your life which you will cherish until you are old, you will definitely ponder on what you could do in certain situations and what you didn’t even try in this two years. It all starts with the orientation process when you get a touch of how your coming two years are going to be. You get to realise that you will not have breathing time to forget eating and taking a bath. For the first 2 terms at least, you will be always running, be it for classes or club and committee elections and what not. One will start to hate it but when it passes it becomes one of the most memorable time of the whole two years.
The second part starts with the summer internship when companies step inside the campus in search for the nation’s best talent. More sleepless nights guaranteed you will face disheartening rejections, you will realise that luck is also an important factor along with hard work and obviously networking will take you to different heights.
It's not just studies and placements when you hear “IIM Indore”. One gets to experience a plethora of unexpected and unimagined situations which prepare one to take on similar ones in the future. For example, one of the courses we have here is Rural Immersion Programme in which we are sent to a faraway village where sometimes it is even difficult to get electricity, food and other amenities. We have to spend some days there and do research on certain parameters. But the best part is that you get to interact with people and you get to know various perspectives along with dinner at sarpanch’s home of you are lucky enough :P . This gives everyone a chance to hone their communication and convincing talent not just with corporates but also with general public and govt. officials.
The third thing that I am yet to experience and I am definitely looking forward to is the Himalayan Outbound Programme wherein the groups of 8-10 all the students are taken on treks to face the physical stress if the mental one was not enough but nevertheless it is going to be a wonderful and exciting experience which is going to teach how to coordinate and cooperate in adverse situations with your team members. It will help one to learn group dynamics in a practical and thrilling way.
This was almost what I could recall right now, I have not put a lot here and I know a lot is yet to come for me as well, but what I surely know is that it is going to be one hell of an experience and I will miss these two years my whole life.
Which ABG company would you want to work for and why?
I would like to work for ABFRL. Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail (ABFRL) is one of the largest branded clothing players with 5 brands clocking >INR10bn sales each. In 2014, ABFRL acquired Pantaloons to get a foothold in the women’s wear segment. Commendably, within 2 years, it turned around the acquisition’s ailing operations, proving its expertise in managing branded garments. ABFRL has now ventured into fast fashion via Forever 21and innerwear under the Van Heusen brand thereby now housing full bouquet of segments in the apparel category. Anchored by these potent growth boosters, we estimate ABFRL to post sales and EBITDA CAGR of 16.4% and 29.2%, respectively, over FY16-19 and 24.1% RoE by FY19. Myself being a fashion and marketing enthusiast, I believe I could add value to the firm and could learn a lot in return.