Getting into the b-school of your dreams is a great thing for sure but it is very important that the aspirants and existing MBA students be aware of the fact that unlike their undergrad course, MBA is not at all going to be all relaxed and chilled out. It is going to be a total roller-coaster ride instead. So what is it that you can do to cope and manage that is a part and parcel of the
b-school life?
This journey may get daunting at times and it is very important that students know how to manage their stress to keep up with the MBA program and make the best out of it. For this article Team InsideIIM reached out to the
premier Indian b-schools and gathered some key insights about the same. Our search for finding out ways to cope up with stress led us to
MDI Gurgaon where we met the student counselling team which has been set up to help the students in case anyone experiences a lot of stress and seeks help while maintaining anonymity.
Ms Shruti Jain Garhawal and
Ms Adya Shakti have been very kind to take time out from their hectic b-school schedule to share their experience as student counselling team members and they have offered some valuable advice regarding coping up with stress at a b-school.
Ms Shruti Jain Garhawal:
I appreciate the efforts made by InsideIIM team for reaching out and publishing an article about this important, yet not so commonly discussed, aspect of MBA – managing stress. Being the eldest sibling, I have had the opportunity to guide and support my younger siblings in their journey. This transformed me in such a way that I feel more empathetic and compassionate towards people and I love to listen to people and help them out in whatever capacity I can.
Moreover, sometimes even the person next to you might be facing difficulties but cannot talk to anyone about it because of the fear of being judged.
Some of the reasons why people experience stress during their MBA journey are: Academic rigor, Placements, Difficulty in transitioning from work life to college, personal insecurities, Interpersonal conflicts and related issues. Let’s discuss each one by one:
Academic rigor: While most of our undergraduate studies have been relatively relaxed, MBA is nothing even remotely close to that. One is expected to be on their toes every time every single day. There is a myriad of things going around, and one is continuously engaged in one thing or the other. Sounds scary? The idea is not to scare the readers but to give you a perspective of
how things really are in a b-school. However, the key to handling this kind of stress lies in consistency and planning. During the MBA journey, one is always occupied with countless things, you must prioritize as to which you would want to do yourself and which one you would want to delegate. The most common source of stress with respect to academic rigor is one’s constant struggle to meet the deadlines. Proper planning and vigilance will keep you alert about the deadlines, and you will not experience any stress in the last moment.
Placements: This has been sighted as the single biggest source of stress by the management students but in my opinion this stress is more of accumulated stress. Many a times, people are not very well prepared for their placement processes and then they find it difficult to handle rejections. One must understand that to handle this kind of stress, the best way is to have relentless focus on your preparation. As the Spartan saying goes, “The more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war.” Another common concern cited by the students is peer pressure during placements. One must understand that being in an elite b-school you will be hired for the leadership programs by some of the biggest companies in India and abroad. Comparing one’s offer with those received by others will not help you in any way. If a company has been able to select you despite cut-throat competition in the talent war then company must be having an attractive offering to have been able to attract you in the first place. Moreover, the placement that you get from college does not define you in any way. It is just going to be your first job, a stepping stone to much greater success so always think of your placement as just the beginning of your success story and future certainly has a lot of better things in store for you.
Transitioning from work life to academic life: Some students face difficulty in transitioning from routine work life to the rigorous academic life which the b-school demands. These are mostly people who had relatively relaxed work environment at their organizations. To handle such kind of stress I would suggest that you simply put in your best effort and reach out to your peers for help in any assignment which you might feel to be a little difficult. My experience as a student counselor has taught me that this is a very common kind of stress and it is just a matter of time, it automatically fades away by the time you complete your first trimester.
Personal insecurities: Sometimes I have met people who are very insecure about an aspect of their life. This has a very negative impact on their mental well being and it keeps building with time as the students facing such issues are not always comfortable talking to others about it. I have handled a few of such cases and I must admit that a lot of what such people think is not really true but only self-made doubts. Once they find out that every person has some or the other insecurity and it is perfectly okay to be the way that you are. The society, in general, is much more kind and receptive than ever before, so if you have developed any sort of stress due to any sort of insecurity, please understand that others are no different and each person not matter how perfect that person might seem on the outside, has certain insecurities deep down. It is perfectly normal to be different in your own way, that is what makes you special. You must celebrate any such difference instead of worrying about it.
Interpersonal conflicts and other related issues: Conflicts are part and parcel of our MBA journey just as in any other aspect of life. You must understand that in any pursuit, conflicts are but natural and form my experience, I can assure you that it is not the conflict which is the problem, in most cases it is one’s inability to handle conflict correctly. You must understand that MBA programs worldwide focus on diversity and during your MBA journey, you will meet a lot of people who will have a totally different set of beliefs and they may seem to challenge your core beliefs but as mature adults you must try to learn from such differences and make the most of it rather than getting involved in conflicts. A typical MBA classroom is nothing short of a melting pot for cultures, my classroom for example has students from about 20 different Indian states and 4 different countries. This is an excellent opportunity for you to interact with more and more diverse people and broaden your perspective about the world to become a global leader in future.
In the end, it is all about talking it out and helping one another. We have to be mentally present and keep our minds open and try building a culture of opening up on our issues within our group. The feeling of being judged should not be there and this could only happen with a collaborative effort of everyone.
Ms Adya Shakti:
The decision to join counselling cell for me stems out of the fact that I lost my best-friend in the year 2016 to “Depression”, after she was gone I made it my purpose of life to listen to people and help them if possible in my personal capacity. As I grew up with four of my siblings all with different interests, behavior and temperament, it gave me an edge in dealing with people who are different in their own ways. I have talked to a number of people since then all opening up in ways I had never expected that particular person to. After coming to MDI Gurgaon when I got a chance to work for the student counselling cell, I tried my best to get into it. In the past 3 months of my stint with the Student Counselling Cell, MDI Gurgaon I have interacted with a lot of people and the issues that have majorly concerned the students can be fairly bucketed into two categories, one the stress due to the MBA curriculum or the placements and the other category includes stress due to personal issues ranging from societal pressure to personal issues. The people who are stressed because of the MBA curriculum and placements generally get used to it and mostly approached us in the first few months after joining the institute but the people having issues in the latter category sometimes has left us worried to the extent that can’t be put in words.
A very common of it is they have no one to talk to or have dinner with, they feel less attractive or unacceptable as they are single , people who have faced betrayal from the people they considered friends, and people who were abused in their childhood to list a few. We are not well-equipped in terms of knowledge to deal when the case is critical so we seek medical attention and MDI has a dedicated psychologist who has helped a lot in dealing with those cases. To sum up this article I would like to list down a few of my suggestions for the upcoming batches based on my experiences which will help in a more positive and friendly campus, as losing our classmates to depression would be the last thing that anyone of us would want.
I believe that it is very important to develop a positive temperament and set realistic expectations for ourselves also when the society is letting us down it is very important to define ourselves in ways that we want and before seeking acceptance it is very important to accept ourselves first.
We should always have a hobby or an interest to pursue, it helps in keeping the stress at bay and also nurtures us. If anyone of you feel that you are lacking in something the first step would be to accept that and progress further It is also important to read a few books to guide yourself better for your career.