Flame School of Business MBA Review By Arshit Gupta

The reason I came to Pune was to learn communication and FBS was the only Institute then that offered a management course in communication management. One can develop business even if their products are below par, if they have good communication skills. The ones who don't have that can't even sell the best of products as communication skills play the most important role for any business to grow. FBS was a newly launched Institute, as when I joined the first batch students hadn't completed their course so effectively, we were the second batch of the Institute that is now as famous as Symbiosis, BMCC, or MITSOM. Flames fees is lesser than Symbiosis, but facilities wise it has more than what Symbiosis Institutes like SIBM, or SCMHRD offers. Placements may not be as great as them, but facilities-wise, FBS is better than all the B-Schools of Pune.

The course of ours required a lot of workshops and experts of communication were called upon to teach us. In Symbiosis too, one will find people speaking in Marathi, but at Flames, students of our course at least spoke only in English. So, the standards set by Flames are quite high even in academics. Industrial tours, live interaction with industry people is how we were taught. The discussion room ensured that Communication Management students were better than Finance students, at least in communication.

The Faculty of flames were all IIM or XLRI graduates. Most of them were young, too, and have done professional courses from abroad in communication management. One of the professors was a manager at PayPal in the US. In short, the experts were hired as this rare course required rare professors which only Flames could have managed to get.

People with good communication skills are required in IT and Banks. So, companies from both sectors accepted us with open arms, but a lesser purse. The average placements of SIBM in 2017 were 12 Lakhs while that of Flames was 5 lakhs. The same companies paid almost double than they paid us, but if I look at the brighter side, 60% of students of communication management were placed through campus.

Hostels were like Goa's resort Villas. The Villa had 8 rooms on the ground floor and the same number of rooms on the first floor, and we also were provided a common kitchen. Each room had two students, and the common hall had Couch, TV, and AC. There were quite a few of such villas and students were free to party wherever they wanted. However, many staff members too were staying in the campus so noise was not allowed; but since the College is located near hills, the weather was cold all 12 months. We could use the garden next to the Villa, place our chairs, get the tea rolling and play games. Even the girls were allowed to enjoy the same leverage and guards ensured that no male was going to the girl's complex and no girls were allowed to enter the boy's villa.

I wish I could share a few images, because how can one describe beauty by telling how beautiful the campus is. After a pause of 10 minutes, I started writing again because I had to recollect all the things of the campus which I could mention here. The Kolte Patil builders who have built the College should use our College building as an example while advertising. I am sure their projects will sell out immediately. The language lab was out of this world as firstly, a College having a language lab is rare, and then having such a language lab is even sparse. The playground stadium was windy and it felt like we were playing in Cape Town, so I never missed an opportunity to take the bat and get on the park with my colleagues.

Life at Flames was great. Residing at a campus so far off from the city sometimes felt like we are staying way too far from civilization but the campus facilities made us keep in touch with all the happenings of the outside world. The induction program at the campus was a great way to know my classmates and then the Dumb Charade Night, Disco Night, and a Ball Night made sure that we don't miss the nightlife that Pune is offering off-campus.