Indian Institute of Management MBA Review By Pawan Jhanwar

IIM Kolkata is ranked just behind IIM Ahmedabad. With availability of just 480 seats, it takes some doing to get admissions here. The CAT score is the only way you can get admissions here as there’s no management or for that matter any other quota in the college. IIM-K was the IIM to be established and has been considered as the National asset for long. The institute is now 60 years old and is renowned globally for the management education that they impart in students. Have produced some of the finest leaders and why not as the college only brings the best students from across the country. The fees are quite but the banks offer immediate loans once you have the admission letter from the college. The placements to faculty every odd thing about the college is magnificent.

The pointers system has been introduced in the IIMs since long and paved the way for other institutes. Coming from IITs, it was easier to crack the CAT but studying finance was beyond me. The college took extra care of the students coming from science backgrounds as finance was initially beyond me. The course MBA is of two years and we are provided a leverage of clearing all the credits in 3 years because if cracking CAT was tough, the syllabus in IIMs is even tougher. The college makes sure that they send finished products to the industry and therefore everything is in line from making us understand the industry requirements to get adapted in the working culture. The group studies were encouraged at the IIMs and that is how it all worked at the IIM-K.

The best part is the faculty as all of them are the pass outs from various international universities. The faculty made sure that we don’t just understand the corporate culture of India but how corporate giants in the world operate is equally essential. The faculty was so helpful and their skills of making students understand each and every topic was exceptional. All the faculty members have been teaching for a long time and arranging conferences for us was also a part of the curriculum. All in all the faculty at IIMs was highly knowledgeable and someone who knew who to make raw students into a finished product. A faculty advisor was in place in case students had any sorts of doubts.

The rate of students getting placed is 100 and that is this is IIM. From finance to IT there was no sector that didn't require IIM graduates and that was the reason the students here had a choice of which company and sector to choose. I had to work with FIIs and thankfully, the Barclays team was present during my time. Domestic companies like Kotak Securities, ICICI Pru Life, HDFC Bank, and Indusind Bank are among the long time recruiters. Various international companies like Barclays, BNP Paribas, and Citi Bank have also have IIM graduates at the top level. The average package then was around Rs. 18-20 lakhs which I believe must be nearly Rs. 30 lakhs now. The college never advertises their placement record and I don’t see a need for it as the placement is very much a part of the syllabus at the IIMs.

After staying in triple and twin sharing rooms at the IIT, I was glad enjoying my stay in the single room. The college has 3 hostels in all. The Old hostel is the best as it’s a co-ed hostel as it has different wings for boys and girls. Then there are 2 boys’ hostels named New Hostel and White hostel. Since the number of girls entering the IM has increased the management was planning to build one more girls hostel. The talent exhibited in the hostel is unmatched and the air-conditioned furnished rooms at IIM-K made life easier for us as soon we were back from the classes. All the rooms have individual balconies that made Jolka experience worth remembering.

One third of the size of the IIT Roorkee but still with a campus area of 135 acres, IIM Kolkata’s infrastructure was no less than being called state-of-the art infrastructure. The campus was lush green and had a lake inside the campus which was located between the hostel and the college building was a treat to watch. Apart from the hostel building there’s a main college building that is so huge. The classrooms are huge and fully air-conditioned giving students the experience of studying at home. There are as many as 7 Mess to choose from IIM Kolkata. There’s a night canteen that serves food till midnight and if you are hungry while studying, you can have some coffee and cookies there. There are circuits made and students are asked to jog or run to keep themselves fit.

The day at IIM Kolkata was spent attending classes. If not classes then project submissions, quizzes kept us busy. However, project submissions and quizzes were much better than macro-eco classes. The slack time was absolutely zero as there were exams every 40 days. Life at Jolka was hard but fun at the same time.