Recently I met a junior of mine, who asked me what is it like to be at NMIMS Mumbai? That’s when the idea of penning down this article actually struck me. If I were to sum it up in a line, it’s like living the corporate life even before you are actually living it. Confusing? Well, don’t worry, we’ll have that resolved by the end of this article.
A typical day at NMIMS, starts with a 9 AM lecture. Now again, that doesn’t go without saying that it starts at 9 AM, but you may be expected to be in the college premises a lot earlier, depending upon your commitments. By commitments, I mean the committees that you are into, the case studies that you’ve got to work on, the group submissions and you know I could extend this list further but now that you have a fair idea, let’s move further.
9 AM lecture done. What next? Rush to the kiosks and grab some munchies. The best part is that, at NMIMS we have kiosks at every floor. So, you could always run to another floor if one of the kiosks is too crowded. But again, the probability of you making it to the end of the line, depends solely upon your perseverance. (Just jokes)
Lecture two at 10:45 AM, and now you are no longer a famished soul and yet another intense session with wonderful insights comes to an end. You know what the best part about an MBA is? Well at least for me, it’s that feeling of satisfaction that I get at the end of every lecture. When you are out there, in a classroom with 60 odd people, it does not feel like just another classroom. It's like an entire ocean of knowledge. So many perspectives, so many ideas, all of these make me think that I need to think wider and not restrict my perspective.
12:30 AM, and now you have another lecture to go before you could cater to the needs of your hungry stomach. The clock strikes 2, and as you step into the canteen, you realise that you have just 45 minutes in your wallet. Of that 45 minutes, you take 30 minutes to make a choice as to what you want to eat, and then realisation strikes that “Oh, I’m a slow eater!’’ But you see time has its own way of teaching each one of us a lesson, so be slow or fast, 15 minutes i a luxury.
Now you are all set for the 2:45 PM lecture, but your eyes are cursing you for having to stay wide open. You know afternoon lectures are hard, but then the motivation lies in the learning. Moreover, at SBM NMIMS we have the best of professors, so you don’t really lack on motivation. Generally, the lectures end at 4:15 PM* but you see here the asterisk has a lot to say. There is a possibility of having an extra lecture post 4:15 PM depending upon the subjects. 4:15 PM is also the foundation to your group projects. Post 4:15 PM, you have some heavy prioritisation to do. You need to be wise while allocating time towards group submissions, committee work, case study submissions. One common aspect to all of these is the intense brainstorming session. Like I’d stated earlier, at b-school you could never run short of ideas. This goes on until the clock strikes….? I let you fill that gap.
In my case I barely have any gap between my goodnight and my good morning. But I like it that way. I love being involved in a lot of activities, because that is what makes me realise that, “Hey I’m learning!’’