Congratulations! You had worked hard and got into a prestigious MBA college. So, what now? I believe that many of you would be wondering as to what to expect from the MBA program at the Indian School of Business (ISB). Here is my take on how to prepare for the ISB MBA experience.
ISB’s curriculum is challenging and rigorous. During the first 6 months (called the core terms), you would be learning about major business disciplines. The courses cover topics in Accounting, Finance, Strategy, Marketing and Economics. The next six months (called the elective terms) allow you to deep dive into your chosen specializations. The typical classroom expects participation from the students. You would be encouraged to present and defend your stand on an issue. Moreover, most courses have a strong emphasis on team activities. Thus, to succeed in this environment, you need to develop strong interpersonal and team skills.
Learning in a MBA school often goes beyond the coursework as well. You would meet people with diverse and phenomenal personal and professional experiences. You would get a chance to develop insights into new industries, explore and critique new ideas with your colleagues. So, it is imperative to have an open mind to have an enriching experience.
The one-year MBA at ISB is fast paced. So many activities happen (often in parallel!) around you that you could get the sense of being lost. Therefore it is imperative to develop the skill of prioritizing things. During your stay here, you should identify activities that resonate with you personally and/or professionally and work on them.
And finally, it is important to have fun! During the course of the program, you will be challenged in many possible ways. It is important to try to counter these situations with a calm head and not succumb to them. Sometimes, you might even encounter failures. In such situations, it is very important not to be plagued by self-doubt or frustrations. The mantra is to learn from your failures, laugh at it heartily afterwards and move on to bigger things.
The ISB experience is the one that can transform you into a new person altogether with a new vision. So in order to make the best out of this one year, prepare well for your GMAT and once you are at ISB, live every moment to make it the best moment of your lifetime!!
Sriram Govindarajan, student of PGP Class of 2014 at the Indian School of Business. Sriram is a student of the PGP class of 2014 at ISB. He has an undergraduate engineering degree in Computer Science from BITS-Pilani. Prior to ISB, he had worked for four years in product engineering in the computer networking industry. Sriram loves sports. He plays table-tennis and football. Besides, sports, he is passionate about writing.
