Its been 3 terms(4 months) at ISB. I am back in Delhi for the term break. As the fourth term is about to begin, I reflect on the life at ISB so far. The day begins early at 7.00 am if you have morning classes. 2 lectures of 2 hours each take you through the first half of your day. The faculty is world class, the likes of Prashant Kale in strategy make you feel like a director in the boardroom figuring out what a company should do with its strategy? How did Southwest reach its enviable position in airlines? Why did Kodak lose like it did. Did Schneider India take the right decisions? You have your say and yes people fall over themselves to participate in the class discussions for some CeePee points which will count towards their grade in the subject. Whether it is global economics, corporate finance, operations management or entrepreneurship, the core term subjects bring to you invaluable learning about the workings of the corporate business environment. I often wonder what we were doing without this knowledge!
But yes it comes at a price. You get a max 6 hours of sleep a day, and the spend rest of the time outside classes trying to pin down lose ends whether in studying for your courses, picking up on a club event, organising one yourself or "networking"
Well networking is a buzzword on campus. Everyone tries to network with everyone. The other day I saw a guy try to network with the trees at ISB. Well kidding, but just about! It is such a craze at campus that no one wants to miss out an opportunity to build a contact. Its a indset that has come to stay. I personally feel that it is slightly overdone in the Indian context. As it is we are living in an almost American MBA at India. The networking challenge is one spawned by the American MBA dream as well. In the US you are unlikely to make it to a worhtwhile career unles s you are adequately "connected'. But fortunately, that is not the case in India so far. I would cite two reasons: 1. The Indian market still has jobs and work to be done, and the market tends to fins you if you have the skills for the job. 2. The Indian entrepreneur is smart enough to hire the better skilled candidate than the better networked candidate.
That saidit does no harm networking if you remember who all did you network with! Most of the times you don't!. You don't even remember the names of your classmates yet and keep asking we met before .. you are Rajat right! The person says No, I am Atma. There you go!
They say it is downhill after the third term. Lets see. The third term did seem to be over the top with workload. The ELPs are picking up, so are the pro bonos. Some of us will be headed out for Study Treks abroad and others will plan Goa trips in the next term break. All in all , life is moving fast at ISB and in no time we would be through this journey they call a "Roller Coaster".
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