12th February, 2017
Pune
It was a chilly morning in Pune as I made my way in a bus up the hills of Lavale to one of the premier b-schools of the country, SIBM Pune. Nestled amidst the lush green hills and situated miles above the main city, the SIBM campus is truly a gem when it comes to some of the most iconic college campuses in the country. But as I approached the college another ‘GEM’ had already preoccupied my mind. The ‘General-Engineer-Male’ jinx that ruins dreams of numerous b-school aspirants like me every year. Hence even after securing a 99.31% in SNAP, I wasn’t really optimistic whether I would finally make it to this campus I always coveted for and hence decided to enjoy the scenic beauty instead as long I am here.
The bus took a serpentine route up the hills amidst trees and bushes. It was almost as if I was on route to a hill station like Lonavala. A fountain at the entrance and an artificial waterfall adjacent to the main building is what one will see when he enters the campus and it is simply breath-taking! From the campus I got a birds-eye-view of the entire Lavale, reaching as far as Hinjewadi and Wakad along with the distant hills and valleys! Coming from a hustling and bustling city like Kolkata, such a scenery was so engrossing that for some time I forgot I had a GDPIWAT process coming up in next few hours.
The reverie was short lived as members of the Aspirant Relations Team at SIBM Pune led us to our assemble area where we were segregated into groups of 10 students each for our GD rounds. I started interacting with my group members to break the ice before the GD starts when I found out that I was the only engineer in my group and rest all were BBA, CA, BCOM & Economics graduates! So much for a positive start to the day! I was pretty sure from my group may be I would be the only who’ll be rejected. Nevertheless, I decided to give my best shot.
The process started with a WAT round on a current affairs topic followed by a GD round on the same. I had expected the GD to turn into a ruckus since the topic was quite common but to my dismay it was quite structured and everyone allowed others to speak and built on their points! Maybe this non-engineer’s group was adding to my luck! The next process was the PI round before which we were given lunch. Being a big time foodie I have to admit that it was the most delicious food I had ever got during such a process and hence I went on gobbling my entire plate along with food from other friends in my group who were busy brushing up their technical and GK knowledge for the PI and left most of the it untouched!
The PI started off with an extempore round which was quite challenging and it then moved on to various topics like my academics, work experiences, the choices I have made in my life thus far and the reason behind them followed by the reason for choosing my specialisation for MBA.
As the PI ended, there was another surprise for the aspirants as there was a campus tour where I had an opportunity to get a feel of the entire campus before departure. As the sun was setting amidst the green hills of Lavale I made my way back on to the bus, and contemplated about the lucky people who would ultimately get a chance to live on this campus, err, hill resort for 2 years!
15th August, 2017
07:00 AM
Pune
It feels so surreal writing this article, sitting on the balcony of one of the SIBM hostel rooms and watching the sunrise. Something which I never envisioned would happen. Yeah! I got through, even being a GEM, in this cut throat competition, as they say. In retrospect, SIBM was never about any Engineer, B.Com, BBA or anything for that matter. It was all about being street-smart, ability to think on the spot, and the resilience to make every onslaughts thrown at you into an opportunity for self-development.
To all such GEMS aspiring to be in SIBM, one of the coolest campuses in India, I would say that just be yourself, because that’s when you allow your quirkiness to flow freely and become resourceful to control any situation.
Cheers.