Summers provided the perfect platform for me to try and do new things. My guide was well aware of my IT work-ex background but I managed to meet his expectations in my project. He gave me a short-term live project for 2 weeks after my main project and this 2.5 month summers experience helped me establish the perfect platform for a marketing career.

Second year was the time to achieve greater focus towards post-MBA career in the form of selecting the right electives. It was also a transformation from a junior to senior with some added responsibilities like guiding those juniors who look up to you. Everything went well for me. I did not bother too much about academic marks. Placement was a bit of a rocky ride for me with me missing out on all day 1 companies. With the help of some close friends, I worked on my weaknesses over the next one month and finally managed to get through Godrej & Boyce where I am working currently, marketing industrial products.

* Having a firm career goal in mind would help to a great extent. Entering with a clueless mind and deciding to decide on the goal after joining would only put you in a fix since you would hardly get enough time to do deep thinking about your goals.

* It pays to be fully aware and prepared for the real rigour of an MBA course. Joining and then grumbling about 100-page case studies, tight deadlines etc in confessions pages just takes the sheen out of the MBA. Get rid of the engineering college mindset, in case you harbour one.

* Rather than worry about placement right from Day 1, it pays to spend the first trimester focusing only on learning and skill building.

* If you have not done anything new before and want to do so, go ahead and do it. Do not worry about the result.

* Strengthen your own abilities first before looking at your competitors. Then benchmark and aim for improvement.

* You would end up either loving your B-school or completely hating, detesting, despising it. If you belong to the former category, make sure to do give back to your alma mater after you pass out.

* The two months of anxiety before my admissions taught me the meaning of 'putting in one's best'. There is no use in putting in half-hearted, half-baked efforts and saying to yourself "I gave my best".

* Being the last person to convert the waiting list and join, I understood the need for involvement. The real action is inside the circle. Standing on the circumference and calling it as 'involvement' is like being optimistic despite needing 36 runs to win off just 1 ball. Be a part of the real action, go inside the circle, do not be a borderline case.

********************** THE END *************************************

P.S : I was waiting to write AIWTSAC the moment after joining BIM but got soaked in the MBA pressure (or rather, rigour). Now thanks to abhimukh, got to pen down a long awaited story.

Cheers,

Sekhar. S

Batch of 2012,

Bharathidasan Institute of Management, Trichy

The waiting list took 2 whole months to convert and I had to join B-school one week after courses had started. These 2 months were the unhappiest days of my life. I was on bench in my company, got the lowest performance grading in appraisal and the moment I got my result I quit my job even though it was a waitlist. The year before that i.e 2009, the waiting list had moved up to the 70s and mine, at 40, could well be a cakewalk in 2010 was what I thought. But it was not to be. The WL moved till 33 and then dragged on and on. My parents were upset with me for letting go of a secure job and sitting jobless at home. Course started on July 5 and everyday it became a routine for me to call the admissions office and check if my WL 40 had moved. It was teetering at 39 and on July 8, thursday, the reply from the admissions office was 'Sorry sir, admissions are closed'. However the next day a phone call bearing the Trichy STD code brought hope and it was indeed the confirmation of my admission. I was told to join on Monday the 12th and I geared up for what would become the best two years of my life.

The first trimester was testimony to the rigour of MBA. I was fully prepared for it after reading through countless 'Life @ B-school' posts in PG. I wanted to make the most of my first ever residential education of my life. Cherished group discussions during assignments and case analyses, did hyper-active participation in class despite getting facts wrong sometimes, participated in every single event that happened on campus and it helped me to network with batchmates outside of classes and with seniors. As far as exams went, I had a completely different approach to them in that I had to overcome the habit of mugging. Wanted to be a placement committee member but could not clear their interview. Ended up in PR committee and introduced a few new activities. Though never a sportsperson, the sporting spirit in campus motivated me to join a team of amateur footballers and play just for the sake of having fun. In short first trimester was all about having unlimited fun.

Come second trimester, it was time to start preparation for summers. The question of 'what after MBA' deserved serious attention this time. Having made up my mind to go for marketing in a product company, I began work right away on equipping myself with the required skillsets. All I had was some basic knowledge of brands and their owners. There were a lot of people telling me that the odds are stacked against me for Marketing and some even advised me to go for finance or IT. But I stuck to marketing and went on equipping myself. Made it to the finals of a MICA event in the process, ait did wonders by getting me shortlisted in a few companies. I kept on applying to product companies as long as the criteria did not say 'IT work-ex people please excuse'.

I couldn't have got a better welcome to my third term. Just 5 days into the trimester and I got an interview call from a leading biscuit company. A couple of days later the results came and I had made it. A few events here and there and the trimester went off in a flash. Farewell time for seniors meant taking useful advice and tips from them. The first step in the transition from student to professional began with the summers in mid-April.

Might just become a reality given the increasing number of B-schools (and seats, incl. in existing ones).