Yesterday we had our Graduation party at ITC kakhatiya. It was good fun. finally we have become MBA Graduates ...

Yesterday Placom met with the entire CAS team to give its feedback. We also had a high tea for all the students hosted by CAS. Today we have a dinner at CAS Directpr's house and then PLACOM has a party at some pub.

I think we are closing the placement process Tomorrow with 100% placement. Around April 11th, we will have a national press conference to announce the figures. I think the average this year will be a digit more than last year's.

All my classes and exams are over. I am just enjoying the final week. We have parties daily and the grand finale will be at Kakhatiya (hope the spelling is correct).

So what else … I have to start packing things … I will not be staying for the orientation as I have to join work before that. Finally it looks like I will become an MBA.

Well… I have my last exam tomorrow. I am not in the mood to study so I am just browsing. I browsed through some ISB blogs today and am pleasantly surprised to see the increase in the number of ISB bloggers. Some blogs were simply superb. I felt that I didn’t do my job properly as a blogger reporting on ISB life. I have been lazy and my posts have been infrequent. Hope the next batch bloggers will be frequent and will keep the momentum going …

I was also going through the placement reports of other Bschools … Booming economy has spread positive energy across all the schools, even the second tier ones … I am happy about that … Being with mature students has given me the maturity to overcome the barriers of bschool brands and be happy for a student placed whatever may be the school he is from … Whether he is from top rung school or a third tier school … Pain of being jobless is the same for everyone … I know that feeling … though I was not in such a situation in any part of my life, I have seen my friends and relatives suffering …

Today I had the last class at ISB. Tomorrow I have a presentation and one exam on Saturday. With that, the academic life at ISB comes to an end. We have a week off and the graduation ceremony is on next Saturday.

I thought of answering two questions in the comments section in this blog.

Sujayath - do you think, at the end of it, the 15 lac investment was worth it?Sahil

I would say, definitely.

I wonder why this question is never asked to any IIM guy. I think ISB guys face this question just because the fee is high. Think like this – An average ISB guy gets around 10 L salary and if this is excluded from the fee to effectively compare with the IIMs, the course fee will be just 2 L and other amenities like laptop, hostel etc adding to 3 more lakh. So, the fee is out of question.

I don’t have to talk about faculty. If they are not the best, ISB has no reason to get them to campus.

Personally, for a person like me who has just around 2 -3 years of work ex, this is a huge leap, in terms of learning, designation, salary etc. Apart from that, ISB has refined my intuition process and I can take any work assignment confidently. I have learnt a lot from the experienced peer group, I mean it.

It doesn’t mean though, that every ISB student has been moulded into a great piece … You might find some guys not that promising … As I said already, ISB is a Gym, but not everybody works out.

On : 3/24/2005 4:24:37 AM Truthringer (www) said:
I agree about ISB being pathetic when it comes to media-saviness. MBA is nothing but a perception game. Never mind if half the class get 5 L salaries. If u r able to successfully broadcast the one or two guys who got the big ticket jobs, that has the public flocking. Last yr, ISB had a grad picked up by GS for 150 K. But, hardly anyone knew about it. This time same thing happened in IIMA and the whole world knows... Sujayath, maybe ur bschool administration will do well to attend a few mktg classes from all those profs u get from Wharton....hahahaha

I would say the other way – ISB handles media more effectively than any other institutions.

The common question is why ISB is not making a lot of news (noise??) like other B schools. The reply from me would be that doing so will make ISB look like IIPM which dares to think beyond IIMs. Media is a dangerous weapon and I am totally convinced that ISB communications department is handling it in the best possible way.

Yes, last year GS picked up a guy for 150k. And publishing that news created a lot of problems to the ISB from recruiters’ side. I think they don’t want ISB to publish the figures as other institutions might demand more the next year. I don’t know exactly what the highest offer at ISB is but soon it will be published, if the recruiters agree. You should also note that this year 152k paid in IIMA was for a lateral, which is reasonable. The guy with good experience should be able to get good offers whether he is at ISB or at the top IIMs.

And again as correctly pointed out, MBA is a perception game. Don’t get carried away by the highest salary. What does it mean to us if we are not the ones who are getting it?

Go through this article which makes a lot of sense:

http://in.rediff.com/getahead/2005/mar/23rashmi.htm

Yesterday I had my International Finance exam and it was pathetic. Well, lets blame the prof for not having the courtesy of asking easy questions for us poor chaps in the last term :)

I am going to be busy till Friday – I have three presentations to make within Friday and an exam on Monday. Well, after then I can relax till Graduation day. Mmm … I am eagerly awaiting the demise of the Assignments era …

Just now returned from the section reunion. It was a great fun. We went to Dhola-ri-Dhani. They have actually created a Rajasthan Village setting. I had hookah for the first time (flavored) !! It was fun with rajasthani dance, boating, camel ride etc!!

Regarding placement report, as I said already, it will be published only in April first week. There are official reasons behind it and we cannot push the school to publish it earlier. It has been like this even in the previous years.

Assignments have started strangling me. I have to complete three projects with presentations and two assignments within next week. To worsen the situation, there is an exam this Friday and another one on Monday.

And at this situation, what will I say if someone asks about the life at ISB. Here I go for a yearbook survey “Life at ISB”.

Life? At ISB ??? Life at ISB ranges from small micro organisms to Dinosaurs. There are a lot of parasites who thrive on others for group assignments. There are cockroaches who survived amidst a lot of evolutionary changes. There are few butterflies but still in the cocoon stage. There are buffaloes that don’t care about anything. There are giraffes who stick their neck out to look at others' window. Lions are little different at this jungle. Usually lionesses hunt food for lions and here that’s exactly opposite. ISB is the Noah’s ark where you can find a pair of ALL the species. In modern terminology, we call it diversity.

And guys, take it lightly. Don't shoot questions asking me whether it is true that people override in group assignments at ISB:(

ISB is getting ready to send us out. We have been instructed on exit procedures. The first activity is submitting the “Student Offer Form” to CAS which should be done before March 18th. This exit procedure mail has sent alarm inside my body on the hell lot of pending assignments and projects to be done. Today for the first time, I didn’t watch TV from the morning (which starts at 11:00 AM for me) and am sitting before the laptop full day. Assignments are the most boring part of the ISB life.

Today I thought of writing about Negotiation Analysis class. I was not able to enrol in it in the sixth term and was regretting it. The same course was offered in the last term by a Permanent Faculty (Dishan Kamdar). I attended it without much expectation. Usually permanent faculty in the ISB lose their shine infront of the dazzling superstar faculties from Top universities. But Dishan is too good and I am happy that the quality of permanent faculty is building up year by year inspite of the initial staggering. The new professors who joined this year are really good both in research and teaching. Dishan was mentioning that he had very good offers from other schools and he joined the ISB only because of the environment that fosters research. He said that Ajith has promised him data from all top companies for his research.

Just 19 days for Graduation ...

I think my blog is spreading a view that ISB life (atleast in the last terms) is not as hectic as it is supposed to be. There are guys who are slogging like hell and they will kill me if I say life is not that hectic. The truth is that my character is such that I don't slog much. I am basically a lazy fellow and to add to that, I don't care about grades (doesn’t mean I am a poor student – never went below B grade :)).

According to me, Grades make no sense for guys aiming for a career in IT. I don't know about other areas but am sure grades matter for Consulting / I-Banks. In fact, I was pushed to my limits for the first time in the ISB but soon I learnt the techniques of leading a peaceful life amidst the hectic schedule. Some days I have missed my whole night’s sleep but mostly I sleep for eight hours. I know guys who sleep only four hours a day but I never wanted to disturb my sleep schedule. I do watch TV regularly and movies occasionally. I do have time to read some philosophy books and do have time to gossip.

All I am saying to guys who are afraid of hectic MBA life (especially after reading “ Snapshots of Hell”) is that we can survive in ISB amidst the academic storm.

And I cannot write much about Placements now. I have to wait till the official reports are out. I can write more about placements after that.

mmm… There have been a lot of complaints on my infrequent blogging … Not just comments but I also receive emails scolding me for not blogging regularly… Actually these complaints never hurt me, Infact I am happy that there are some regular readers for this blog …

I just didn’t blog because there was nothing significant happening here. Everything’s as usual - I go for classes, enjoy swimming, play snooker, watch movies and postpone my assignments … There are lot of parties … On Placom side, we have a Placom party and a dinner at the CAS director’s house …

And there’s something dramatic that happened to me. But I cannot write about that now (just to avoid unintended consequences …) I will write about that after graduating ( just three weeks to go … )

And it is true that I didn’t share everything I know about ISB … The only apprehension is that not all readers are mature enough to understand the issues clearly … You can always mail me if you want opinions on anything regarding the ISB …

He identifies and forwards good ads 

From Chait Spam Works ... 

Chait Spam works

Writing about ISB life would be incomplete if I didn’t mention about Chait Spam works .. Chaitanya is the one who supplies spams frequently and keeps our mailboxes vibrant … Else guys like me who don’t have many friends to keep mailbox alive would have no reason to check mail every one hour … To honour him, other ISB students who send spam mails occasionally, dedicate them to Chait Spam works … I will give some of his forwards here … Hail Chaitanya …

The last month at the ISB ... Gym is full ... Swimming pool is crowded ... Snooker table is always occupied ... Faculty are considerate on the workload ... Mails are floating around requesting for batch photographs and comments on friends for the yearbook ... I have started receiving mails from alumni associations … Everyone is talking about joining dates and place of work … The last month at the ISB ...

As I already said, any admitted student interested in taking this blog can mail me at sujayath@yahoo.com … I will also blog on my post-MBA life but that may not be frequent ( I know … I was not frequent even while blogging on ISB life) …