A Sneak Peek Into The MBA Life | Tips By IIM Shillong Students

Diversity in an MBA program is like a balanced diet. We know it is the necessary bare minimum, yet only a few MBA colleges ensure the same.

We cannot blame the institutions here. After all, an MBA is a master's degree/diploma (depends on where one is headed), which ideally requires prerequisite knowledge of certain domains like finance, statistics, and accounting.

Therefore, ensuring diversity is not without its own set of challenges. Students coming from academic backgrounds apart from those of the 'Usual Suspects' (commerce/engineering) are already at a back foot. Sprinkle this bunch with a couple of CAs and CFAs and Voila! Our undercooked dish of the crème de la crème students becomes even more undercooked!

Coming from diverse backgrounds ourselves, it was indeed an uphill task for us to stay not only up to date but also relevant in class. Sometimes, we felt like an endangered species where lasting, even for the first term, felt like a dream.

However, does that mean that there is no hope for students having humanity, fashion, or heck even a medical background?

Well, of course, there is. Alfred never gave up on Bruce Wayne. Bruce Wayne never gave up on Gotham. I do not know where we are going with this, but we surely are not giving up on you.

With inputs from the smart pack of diversity wolves at IIM Shillong, here are some hacks for the non-engineer and non-commerce participants out there who are about to enter into their MBA courses:

1) Face the triumvirate of Statistics, Finance, and Accounting early on (Kyunki darr ke aage jeet hain!):

These harmless subjects are not going to leave your innocent self throughout your MBA journey. If you genuinely wish to learn upon these subjects or are looking to brush up on them, we suggest you go through the list of online resources that ensues. Most of these resources are free.

a) Statistics: 

1.    https://www.bcfoltz.com/blog/stats-101/

2.    https://www.khanacademy.org/math/statistics-probability

3.    https://www.jbstatistics.com/

b) Finance and Accounting:

1.    https://www.learnwithflip.com/programs/finance-and-banking-fundamentals

2.    https://www.coursera.org/learn/finance-for-non-finance

3.    https://www.udemy.com/course/the-complete-financial-analyst-course/

c) Marketing:

1.     https://www.coursera.org/learn/wharton-marketing

2.     https://learndigital.withgoogle.com/digitalunlocked/course/digital-marketing

d) Operations: 

1. Book – The Goal by Eliyahu M. Goldratt: This lovely book written is a must-read for all operations enthusiasts.

e) Information Systems:

1.     https://www.udemy.com/course/microsoft-excel-2013-from-beginner-to-advanced-and-beyond/

2.     https://www.udemy.com/course/r-programming/

3.     https://www.udemy.com/course/python-coding/

4.     https://www.udemy.com/course/tableau10/

Try to brush up these concepts even before you start your MBA course. Life will be more comfortable if you can do even 10% of the materials mentioned above. We know you feel like enjoying the spoils of war after cracking those prestigious exams, but try to buckle up and push yourself to finish them. Because the moment you enter that MBA college, you will realize that the entrance battle was nothing in front of the war that you have taken head-on.

2) Padh lo Beta mauka hain! (because you know the rest):

Cliché Alert! Yes, we have been hearing this diatribe since time immemorial, but it turns out our parents and teachers were not wrong after all. Keep chipping away on your weaker subjects as and when you get the time. The first year of the MBA will rarely give you time to breathe, but do not hit the panic buttons yet. You will slowly but surely get used to it.

3) Do not become a Betaal! (read Free-Rider, not Ghost-Rider):

For those who get a high from getting optimum results by putting in the minimum effort (was avoiding using jugaad but anyways), remember one thing: you are not in college anymore. Face it. The very reason you decided to come to an MBA college was that your existing skills were not sufficient to get you a decent job. So do not fool yourselves by shunning away from hard work. There is no replacement for the same. Period. Get down and get your hands dirty as much as you can. You will not regret it.

4) God helps those who help themselves (Not sorry for the sermon):

Do not have a bachelor's in commerce or finance? No problemo! Nudge that CA/CFA/commerce graduate in your group and ask them to guide you. Do not leave the seemingly undoable finance assignments on them. Practical learning and peer to peer learning are going to be your knights in shining armour, whereas classroom learning will rarely be a Dark Knight. In short, get help yourself by getting help from the domain-specific members of your group or class.

There is no one way to reach the end goal. The branch grows high above the canopy seeking light, whereas the Root burrows deep below seeking water. Paths may be different, but the end goal is to nourish the tree. 

Similarly, once you enter your dream MBA college, you will surely discover more and better ways to tackle those two rigorous years. These four hacks, however, have been familiar to all the experienced folks we interacted with.

On that note, we will call it a wrap. We wish you all the best in all your future endeavors. May you arise out of this journey like a Phoenix: renewed, reformed, and resurrected.

Authors

LOKPRIYA 

A member of the Student Council at IIM Shillong, Lokpriya, is a fashion technology graduate from NIFT Gandhinagar. Poetry and classic Hindi movie lover, Lokpriya is also an avid photographer and an aspiring documentary filmmaker. The recent lockdown has helped her discover the hidden chef within her.

DEVASHISH MOTWANI

Hailing from the city of Nawabs-Lucknow, Devashish is a History Graduate from Hansraj College, Delhi, and is currently a mango student at IIM Shillong. An amateur crossfitter, Devashish is also a cricket aficionado and loves to read novels in his spare time.