Sri Priya Vardhini is a First Year student at NITIE. She is an Electrical and Electronics Engineer from Chennai. She loves reading books on fictional mystery, Agatha Christie being her favourite.
Tanjul Raniwala is from the PGDM 2016-18 batch, IIM Calcutta. She graduated in 2012 with a Bachelors in Computer Science and Engineering. She has worked as a Research Associate at IIM Bangalore, and has 3.5 years of corporate work experience in the field of data analytics.
Watching Hollywood seasons such as “The Arrow, The Flash and the blacklist” makes me realise that we are not much left behind in terms of technology innovation. At times, I feel, 10 years down the line, I could be one of them. This thought itself gives me goose bumps.
“What will you do once you enter the gates of your dream b-school?”
You may be in your final year of undergraduate study, slog in office, want to earn big money, want to get into entrepreneurship to build the next revolutionary startup, aspire to get out of the rat race and make it big in life. If you are reading this article, my hearty congratulations on aspiring to make a mark for yourself in the society. Many see an MBA from the reputed IIMs as a panacea to all these problems. In addition to the above-mentioned reasons, the less often mentioned but a major benefit of doing an MBA is that it teaches you to handle life and the numerous bouncers it throws at you. After the torturous preparation for CAT, cracking the WAT-PI process, you reach the gates of a mighty IIM. It is foolhardy to think that your journey is over and you are all set for a rockstar life. Be forewarned! CAT is just a portal to make it to a place where you are surrounded by toppers from the famed IITs, NITs, BITS(s), SRCC, CAs, CFAs and people who have worked with Fortune 500 companies. From the first week, you will be bombarded with business jargon, balance sheets and at the same time, you will be asked to analyse the supply and demand curves. In the blink of an eye, the first quiz will be conducted where many will be pondering whether they have made it above the class average. While you get used to the routine of quizzes and exams, the first thing you will learn is that weekend relaxation is just a construct of the mind. You learn to prioritise academic work, club work at the same time make new friends.
It has been a year since I joined IIM Lucknow. Now, when seniors are packing their bags for home we are realising that about a year has actually passed. Time really moves very fast in this world of IIML (aka HELL). I hope the information given below will be useful for upcoming students. I have added some of my experiences and information a new joiner should be aware of.
It’s the last year of your under graduation program, the final lecture for the day comes to an end and you hurtle through your classmates to get out of the college building and pray to your Gods that you somehow reach the coaching centre on time. Once you make it, you wade your way through the crowd hoping to get the best seat possible in the classroom. The class begins, the Logical Reasoning faculty throws bouncers at you. After the break, your brain goes in for a toss when the faculty gives you the most difficult number theory questions. At the end of the class you get an assignment sheet, which after a quick scan, you keep it inside your sheet repository only to find older unsolved assignment sheets. You go back to your hostel room and with an empty stomach, you forage through your stuff hoping to find a noodle pack. Somehow you satiate your hunger and try your hands on those assignment sheets only to end up nodding off midway. Alas, the cycle repeats.
