My
journey to IIM Amritsar
Hello friends ! I am quite sure if you are reading this then
you must be a management aspirant who is aspiring to get into B-School . Few
months back I was also in same shoes so I feel like documenting a part of my
life and
give an objective analysis of something which is so close to my heart.
Nothing could be as tough for me in life than to select an
IIM which has got no past, an IIM which is just born and about to start its
journey. Trust me it is hard to reject
an IIM when you get the offer letter because in India , IIMs are the most
revered management institutes as they have carved their own niche among all the
existing B Schools. But in my case , it was tough to take a decision because I
already had multiple options to weigh and was actually confused whether to go
for an MBA this year or not. As a fresh IT engineering graduate my joining in
an MNC was scheduled for August and I had joined a profit cum non-profit
organization called as Avanti fellows from 1st June which I was
potentially enjoying. An option to go for Gandhi Fellowship was also there in
the basket and on the other hand six new management institutes established by
MHRD, mentored by well established management institutes were calling.
Obviously the decision could have been simpler had these
IIMs been a little older ( because that gives you a fair idea about the structure there and it becomes easier to evaluate and decide ). We have grown up with the phrase reiterating
'Old is Gold' but then I was also reminded of a quote of late American tennis player Arthur Ashe, "Start
where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can", so I consulted a lot of people
and finally convinced myself that I will go for an MBA this year only and do my
management studies from IIM Amritsar. I considered myself lucky to get this golden
opportunity of sharing the starting steps with IIM Amritsar. Afterall when an
institute like IIM is new there are so many things to look forward to. We are just at the start of our timeline and
it's exciting to think of all the great things that are waiting for us down the
track. We can learn from all those wonderful opportunities around us.
Today when I look back, I am glad with my decision of
joining IIM Amritsar. It is not just because of great internship opportunity with
my dream company Ogilvy & Mather during summers but there are many more
wonderful learning experiences which are hard to count.
One might claim that the initial few batches are at
disadvantage because they don't have permanent infrastructure in place but you
must not forget that there is always a trade off. The rare privilege which few starting batches
get to set up a culture in an institute like IIM truly outweighs everything and
in the older institutes one just follows the set culture.
P.S. : This post was more about my personal experiences . I'm sure
you must be curious about knowing the life at IIMs, particularly IIM Amritsar. I
also understand that you have 'N' number of queries like faculty, quality of
education , peer group, placement scenario(the most important part for most of
us 😉 ), hostel and mess facilities , co-curricular activities ,extra-curricular activities, etc. The journey
of past 7 months is full of innumerable memories so I'll come up with my next
post 'Life at IIM Amritsar' soon and will try cover all such FAQs.
Meanwhile if you have anything specific to ask, feel free to
reach out to me at https://www.facebook.com/adi.yadav.71 or whatsapp me at 8953040027.
You may also post your generic queries to our Pagalguy 'Admission
Queries and Discussion thread', my media and PR colleagues would gladly answer
them.
Cheers !!
Aditya Kumar
PGP01
IIM Amritsar