MBA Marvels: A tale to tell

Unlike the traditional teaching style and material taught uuntil now, the curriculum is vast, serves mutilple facets and incorporates real business scenario building & learning. the pedagogy is meticulously designed to equip one to deal with real business challenges pertaining to different subjects like Strategy, Ethics, Entrepreneurship with the help of simulations, case discussions. It prepares you with a critical bent of mind and problem solving ability. Untimately, we all have to step outside in the real business realm and apply our rationale and learning. With teaching around maximum practical life aspects, it prepares you for real business world and its impending challenges. Also, the curriculum is comprehensive including case pedagogy, group study, projects, exams testing classroom learning and textbook application to practical questions asked. The curriculum offers a true learning process on so many levels like Knowledge, Teamwork, Time Management, Speaking/Presentation skills.

Many companies have participated in the internship process like EY, KPMG, ICICI Lombard, Goldman Sachs, DE Shaw, Deloitte, Mc Donalds, etc. with stipends offered ranging from INR 50,000 to 1,00,000. Many more companies like ICICI, Yes Bank, Integrace, and V guard participated too offering lucrative stipends and JDs with projects across all domains. A lot of startups came on board too offering internships to students in roles like Market research, Digital Marketing, and Business Development Associate. The duration of internships is 8 weeks with a requirement of working on a project in the lines of the intern role and responsibilities specified. For instance, one of the projects offered to be worked on is "Market Research on Risk Management Practices in Various Industries." The Project would entail working on it under the supervisor assigned along with the submission of deliverables as expected by the company. The outcomes generated help in clarifying a lot of tasks with assistance from the core team and aid the result

The placements recorded for my college seem to get better and more promising with each year passing by. Currently, the number of companies visiting and offers made are somewhat limited however, with every passing year more are getting on board with a higher rate of conversions. The highest package offered as per the latest record was INR 42lac and the average is INR16.5 lac with 50% of the batch falling above the average range. The top 25% are approximately holders of the INR23lac package. The roles offered are Analyst, Wealth Management Trainee, Senior Analyst, Finance Analyst, area/territory sales manager, IT Consultant etc. Top recruiters are ICICI, IDBI, YES bank, State Street, Deloitte,EY, KPMG, Amul, Anand Rathi, and ICICI Lombard to name a few. The percentage of students placed are 100% inclusive of a few students who opted for an off-campus opportunity if better. The campus placements start right from Term 4 i.e. beginning the second year. My plans after degree is to work in the domain of finance.

The fee structure is divided into two years as it is a two year program with each year further divided into 3 terms. Each term has a stipulated fee of Rs 293375 with additional cautional deposit of Rs 30000. The amount is a total of various factor expenses like Program Fee, Hostel & Mess Fee, Welfare Activities. The Program fee is Rs 268375 for each term with an additional Hostel & Mess Charge of 25000. As we progressed to the Term1, there was a hike in Hostel & Mess charges owing to the fact that IIM Vizag is still under construction with major portion of the already reduced budget allocated towards it. So in order to maintain the existing quality of food and Ac services, an additional charge of Rs 7500 was levied for each term. The total fee structure now stands at INR 19lac. However, the course offers scholarships in lieu of merit and financial assitance. A merit scholarship of INR 6lac is offered to batch topper in 2nd year and anybody with family income of below INR 5 lac is given

The Campus is very aesthetic, scenic and filled with vibrance. Sunrise IIM as it is, the campus is surrounded with beautiful rolling mountains of Vizag. It is recently built with various sports facilities, spacious single occupancy rooms with huge cupboards, notice boards and almirah m(seems the best if I may say). The mess and cafeteria is huge and a go to for all for discussions over a cup of tea/coffee. Library is temproarily in academic block as of now and a huge building allocated on it is on the floors. But the availabality of resources is no short now with various business magazines, books, journals accessibility and is open till 9 p.m.The evenings are filled with bustling activities with students indulged in various sports and extracurriculars or some hitting the gym for those biceps. I am part of a Business and Public Policy Club myself as a Junior Coordinator and has been involved in organising events and competitions like Debate, MUN and it only adds to the student life.

The Hostels here are constructed both for Boys and Girls separately. Each hostel is divided into three floors with each floor having two separate wings further. Entire hostel pool has single spacious accomodation with various facilities provided like AC,bed, cupboard,bulletin board,multiple lamps, bedlight, almirah with a common washroom for each wing. The room quality is top-notch and impressive.The mess constructed is huge too with a cafeteria beneath it which is a go-to for all folks here. The food quality is really beyond expectations as it serves various dishes considering the tastes of all students hailing from different parts of India like North,South. The registration process for the two was not separate. The fee allocate towards Hostel & Mess is 25000 each term expected to be paid at the beginning of each term only. Rooms were allocated on chit basis at the time of admission. The only drawback was hike due to budget constraints of Rs7500 per term to maintain the quality.

I sat for other entrance exams as well besides writing the CAT. I applied for SNAP and IIFT later on once I had written CAT. Speaking on CAT, i.e. Common Admission Test requires any candidate to be either in their final year of graduation or is a passout with a minimum graduation score of 60% was the eligibility. Any interested candidate was required to access the application form curated for IIMs a separate portal for the same. On that particular portal, the registration was opened in the first week of Aug till Sep end. Then, it will generate a Register ID for you for further access. In the CAT form, there were multiple sections asking for your personal/background details, Educational, Employment (if any), and preferred IIMs with a fee of Rs2500. The CAT exam was conducted in November end with medium to high-level difficulty across all sections. After CAT, I took SNAP (1hr exam with Rs 2250 excluding college ) which is easier but tests your speed and IIFT (3hrs) which was relatively lengthy.

I sat through various admission process rounds with each college having its own process. I would like to mention my WAT experience for GIM. It had 2 sets of scenario question (unable to recall) around consumer buying intention. This actually helped me since I had a prior understanding on it however, since it is time based one must prepare on WAT beforehand on multiple topics to build a strong thinking process to write faster and logical. GD experiences are engaging, interactive and not too stressful since topics are around current ongoings or abstract pushing you to either be aware or think better and speak of quality. The experiences were rather fun for me since you all are aspiring students at the end. For IIM Vizag, I remember the form containing a SOP section. This was something new. For SOP, one must give a write up begining with background, personal/educational journey, aspirations and expectations and reasons for joining the college. Interviews are usually around your academics.