Unlikely Winner

“Are you going to present your half-page CV to corporates?” These words sent a chill down my spine and woke me up from a dreamy slumber of getting into an IIM. Though brutal, it was honest. My CV was half-page with a major part of it filled with some random certifications done through some websites, whose answers can be found easily on Google Baba.

Getting into an IIM was a dream of mine which came true with IIM Kashipur offering an admission offer. I thought life will get easier from here, after all, I had an IIM tag on my LinkedIn profile. How wrong I was!! The game was just getting started. Not only was the pressure of studies, projects, and quizzes on top of my head but also, I realized I had nothing to write on my CV except the marks and an internship, while few students were making their resumes two pages long.

Among several long, monotonous, and repetitive zoom meetings and preparation sessions, I got to know about case competitions held by corporates and other B-schools. Some companies used case studies to recruit students for their organizations. In the beginning, I wasn’t excited about them because why do anything extra when you already have so much mandatory to do. So, there went the first few case competitions, with making effort only because Placement Committee sent a mail. So, I along with my team members submitted a few presentations which didn’t get selected in any further rounds.

Gradually, I realized that since these competitions required minimum eligibilities to appear and everyone started from scratch to find the solution for the case, this might be the place for a person like me who does not want to be let down by my past and is ready to do anything in my present to achieve my dream.

A big change came when our submission got selected in the Welspun Disruptor Case competition. Our idea was among the top 100 selected among 10,000+ registered teams. Apathy changed to enthusiasm. Lethargy to action and indifference to interest. I along with my team members, worked hard to present our idea simply to make sure that evaluators can better understand the idea. Again, to our surprise, we cleared the semi-finals and reached Finals with 20 odd teams. During this time, my team cleared another Case competition named “Steel-a-thon”, among the top 40 teams from 5000 odd registered. This was a surprise. To be a fresher and still be able to present ideas along with Work-ex peeps, who already had an idea of how the industry works and its intricacies, was a boost to my confidence.

During all the case competitions, I realized that case competitions are less about frameworks or some jargon to be presented, but more about common sense. Thinking about it, people have been doing business for thousands of years. They didn’t have Porter’s five forces or Swot analysis. They used their common sense and did what made the most sense at that time. Common sense about how to research, interview, write and present. The same can be applied to MBA studies. Beneath all the frameworks, is common sense presented as a mumble jumble of corporate jargon. After this, I was better able to understand the curriculum cases, how to approach them, research about them, and present them. Case competitions are a wonderful opportunity to present your ideas and vision directly to the senior executives of a company. It is likely that they are facing the same problem themselves and have a certain inkling about how the organization is going to tackle that. What we must do is use our common sense and think about how we can do the same. There is no single correct answer, but every answer has assumptions, which must match those mentioned in the case.

To common sense.

 Thank you.

PS. – My CV got filled.

Nikhil Jain

Nikhil Jain is a second-year student at IIM Kashipur (Batch – 2021 -2023). He is a B.Com graduate from GGDSD college, Chandigarh. He is an active member of The Finance Club of the institute. He has keen interest in sports, reading and writing. He is a firm believer in hardwork and aims to achieve excellence through it. You can connect with him on LinkedIn.

IMPORTANCE OF EMOTIONAL WELLBEING

“You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.” — Gautama Siddhartha Buddha

Emotional well-being is a crucial component of human life. It affects one’s perception of life, relationships, and health. Being emotionally healthy, will helps an individual manage different aspects of their lives and cope with a variety of emotions without losing control. When faced with hardship and stressful events, emotional wellbeing will guide their ability to develop positive emotions, moods, thoughts, and feelings, as well as help them adapt to new emotions. This will assist an individual in building stronger bonds with people around them. One of the pillars of emotional well-being is resilience, and it helps people recover from difficult events in the job, furthermore, having a stable state of emotional well-being also helps with the development and growth of an individual. Being resilient will help shape the way one would respond to and manage the stress of changing surroundings.

Emotional wellbeing is a quintessential aspect when considered within the paradigms of an individual’s growth, understanding, empathy, humor, and compassion. One must always prioritize emotional wellbeing, on doing so an individual can keep a healthy mindset, which allows them to be open to feedback, both good and bad, discuss difficult situations with anyone, have conversations and build strong bonds with others.

Emotionally healthy people are in control of their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. It allows them to cope with life’s challenges and prepares them to bounce back from setbacks. When we consider emotional well-being from an essential perspective of a corporate scenario, we cannot overlook the unavoidable pressure that one feels in the initial phase of their career. Having a stable mindset is not just helpful to the individual as a human resource but also to the company which employs them. Investing in the well-being of an employee can lead to increased resilience, better employee engagement, and overall growth in the performance and productivity of the individual.

Benefits of emotional wellbeing for a management professional:

Emotional wellbeing enhances interpersonal relationships and creativity. A good relationship built on a healthy mindset goes a long way toward productivity and growth, we all understand that happy people are more approachable, more likely to get along with other employees, and have a positive outlook towards any problem thrown at them. Emotional well-being is an important tool in the defense against the cumulative effects of stress. A positive approach helps an individual recover from stressful events much faster as compared to someone emotionally unwell. In addition, research also shows that emotional well-being may have a direct effect on other aspects, for example, some studies have shown individuals with positive emotions are correlated with more effective immune system functioning which in turn could help reduce absenteeism and sick days.

Finally, emotional well-being leads to greater job satisfaction. It helps in lesser burnout of individuals and fewer intentions to leave the job. People who are emotionally well tend to emit fewer negative emotions. The effect of emotional wellbeing on job satisfaction is thus essential for the growth of the individual and any institution which they serve or intend to serve.

We’re all more mindful of emotional wellbeing right now, following a few years in which the nature of human subsistence and co-habitation, in the social milieu has been majorly challenged. Several people have experienced the shock of a sudden vacuum of human interaction and the incorporation of an isolated, sedentary lifestyle. Taking care of your emotional well-being has never been as important as it is now, however, emotional well-being is always a wise investment

Dipti Sarkar

Dipti is currently pursuing MBA from prestigious IIM Kashipur. She is honest, hard-working, patient, reliable, and disciplined. She likes working in a team, being open to ideas, and always enjoys good company. Her hobbies include swimming, gardening, and learning and is passionate about the things she does. She wants to influence people by inspiring them.

How I kicked out FOMO using Live Projects

Learn to see, Learn to Hear, Learn to feel, learn to smell, and know that by practice alone you become an expert “ – Willam Oslar

As soon as you enter an IIM you see yourself surrounded by 300+ with diverse experience in all imaginable disciplines. Your colleagues could be commerce graduates, CAs or CFAs, or industry veterans with extensive expertise in a particular domain. You may find yourself surrounded by folks who have settled on their specialty and career path. While taking on this new endeavor amid all this craziness, it’s easy to be confused and overwhelmed.

MBA life begins on the first day of the induction program, with a flurry of activity all around us and a persistent “Fear of Missing Out.” For someone new to a demanding schedule, it is natural to be stunned by the pace of life at IIM. But you need not worry, because no matter what you do, “Bunny life mai Kuch Na Kuch reh jaata hai”. So just take a deep breath and try to grab an activity that would help you hit the ground running in your MBA life. To help you with the FOMO we encourage the students to pursue a Live project.

A live project is similar to a mini-internship that you can complete in addition to your studies. It provides you with hands-on experience with real-world management issues and challenges. Depending on the deliverables, projects can last anywhere from 15 days to two months or even longer and you need to devote only 2-3 hrs a day to the project depending on the work.

Aside from enhancing your overall profile, live projects allow you to apply what you’ve learned in class to real-life issues, such as time management.

Eligibility for Live Project:

  • If you are a fresher and want to explore different domains like Marketing, IT & Analytics, Strategy & Consulting, Finance, Human Resources, Operations & Supply Chain
  • If you are a student having worked in one of the domain but want to explore opportunities in different domains available
  • If you are a student having work experience in one domain and want to gain further expertise in the same domain by working with different firms on diverse projects

So basically Live Projects are for all!

Speaking from personal experience, I have always been motivated to apply in Live projects related to the Supply Chain & Analytics domain because it piques my interest.

What I learned from the live project:-

1. Recommending without first putting it into practice is futile: Live projects not only broaden your knowledge base in your field of study, but they also teach you how to practically approach any topic and overcome diverse hurdles.

2. Given that you learn and improvise, few organizations allow you to celebrate failure.

3. Listen to and learn from others (everyone in the team) – Consider different perspectives.

4. Last but not least, competitions will benefit from experience gained via live projects

Benefits I received through Live Project:-

  • Networking:- Working with different organizations for a short period will help you earn one of the most important skills of an MBA i.e Networking
  • Domain knowledge:- A student throughout an MBA can take multiple Live projects in different domains to get an idea about the job opportunities in that domain thus to get an idea is that sector for him/her considering the career perspectives
  • Internship Opportunities: If you perform exceedingly well in your live project, you will be given a Summer Internship opportunity from the organization itself. That’s cool, right!
  • Stipend:- Last but not least, most Live Projects are paid opportunities, so the stipend earned can be used for parties, Late night Nescafe coffee & Maggie’s cravings, and so on.

Thus Doing LPs is a good way to enhance your knowledge and support your Pocket !!!

Once you join IIM Kashipur, from the first month itself you will be provided ample opportunities to participate in Live projects across various domains which will in turn help you alleviate your stress level and counter FOMO. I hope this information will help you to understand the importance of Live projects and encourage you to take multiple live projects throughout your course

Hoping some of you guys to see soon at our Lush Green Campus of IIM Kashipur !

Ciao !!!

Kaustubh Deshmukh

Kaustubh Deshmukh is currently pursuing his MBA from IIM Kashipur. Prior to this he worked as a lead process engineer in an Agrochemical MNC for 34 Months. He’s an avid trekker and loves listing to podcasts in his free time. You can connect with him on LinkedIn.

IIM: A Place which never sleeps

Once upon a time, there lived a king who wanted to show his supremacy in his kingdom. To do so, one day he declared that from now on the day would be considered as night and night would be considered as day. People were supposed to work at night and sleep all day.

It seems like a funny story to hear but comes close to reality when you are doing MBA from an IIM. This place never sleeps. On the campus of an IIM, you will never find a time when there is silence all over. Be it the classroom or the hostel, library or the sports ground, people seem to be enthusiastic everywhere at any hour of the day. In one place or the other, students are seen to be lively and passionate about the life they are living.

When I first came to campus, I heard this as being the norm here. But I could not relate to it as much. Being a person who keeps her sleep on the top of the priority list, I could never imagine facing this in reality. A girl habitual of sleeping for a minimum of 8 hours a day could not get comfortable with even the thought of surviving on 3-4 hours of sleep. But isn’t this how life unfolds itself?

Keeping up with the classes, projects, committee work, case competitions and numerous other responsibilities, I gradually started to blend into this culture. The deadlines were said to be sacrosanct and the limited number of hours could never fulfill that. Submitting the projects by the end of the day and getting to Nescafe after that for the coffee became a ritual which we followed every night. I believe as I was walking further in this journey, MBA started to grow on me and I became more and more suited to the ways here.

If in any case I had a day off from the requisites, and I slept for more than 5 hours, it seemed like I missed out on so many important things. We called it having FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) and wanted not to miss out on anything from this ‘once in a lifetime experience’ which we are having doing MBA. Everyone has their eyes on the goal of living and enjoying each moment and learning the best from this process.

In this course of management, the first thing I learned was to manage my own life and prioritize what to do and when. The process itself requires us to be proactive at all times of the day. I learnt not only to manage my sleeping schedule but also how to manage my emotions regarding this lifestyle.

There were times when I struggled to keep up with this kind of positive approach towards everything. And I could not fulfill my obligations and was disappointed with myself. But as the course of MBA is, it does not give the time to cry, and things move very quickly here. Day by day, bit by bit I became accustomed, and things flew seamlessly.

This journey not only taught me to be at my maximum potential but to give my best to everything. It pushed me out of my comfort zone and inspired me to become better with each passing day. Not sleeping did not seem a big deal when I got the satisfaction of getting a good job done. It traveled me to that salvation when these basic things did not matter much. In an IIM, the famous lines of poet Robert Frost become more evident,

“The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but I have promises to keep,

 and miles to go before I sleep, miles to go before I sleep.

About the Author

Aarti Singhal

Aarti is a first-year MBA student at IIM Kashipur from Batch 2021-2023. She is a B.Sc. Hons in Mathematics from the Delhi University. She is an active member of the Media and Public Relations Committee of the institute. She has keen interest in dancing as well as reading and content writing. You can connect with her on LinkedIn.

Action-packed year at IIM Kashipur

All the images I had formed in my mind as an MBA candidate were about to become a reality. And then came an exciting moment in which formal e-introductions with seniors and peers began to circulate on the official WhatsApp and Facebook groups. My eagerness to share the learning experience with my friends increased as I became more acquainted with the outstanding profiles of many of my colleagues.

The journey here started with a 10-day long induction program. Being a fresher, this was my first experience of the world of case studies, presentations, and hours-long virtual meetings. Now when I am into my third term, and I look back to those hectic induction days I realize that the reason behind those long days was to prepare us for the actual challenge that we were going to encounter throughout our MBA journey.

The first term of business school is usually the hardest, as we become accustomed to lengthy and intense lecture sessions and deadline-bound projects. Students are also exposed to a critical component of B-school pedagogy, the case study, in which we learn not only about firm evolution strategies but also about managerial issues. When we looked at the world through the lens of management metrics, subjects like economics, marketing, and accounting began to fill our heads, and our vision of the world began to alter. The surprise quizzes necessitate prior preparation for each lesson. A manager is supposed to talk a lot, and the system of class participation marks reflects this. Group projects aid in the crystallization of specific concepts, such as Porter’s “five forces analysis” or the BCG matrix in the real world. The addition of lectures by famous people and domain experts is the icing on the cake.

Student-run bodies in various fields such as marketing, consulting, operations, and investments provide numerous possibilities to conduct and participate in various events that encourage us to apply what we study. Then there are cultural bodies, such as those for singing, dancing, and theatre, which play an important role in adding a parallel track to the academic work.

Aayush Aggarwal

Aayush is pursuing his MBA at IIM Kashipur, one of the most prestigious B-Schools in the country. He earned a bachelor of management studies with a major in finance from Ramanujan College, Delhi University. He is a motivated management student who is eager to work in a fast-paced, difficult workplace and continue to give impact to the organization he represents and serves. Aayush is a diligent, conscientious individual with excellent analytical skills who loves Finance. You can connect with him on LinkedIn.

The Power of Storytelling

“Storytelling offers the opportunity to talk with your audience, not at them.”Laura Holloway

The vivid portrayal of ideas, beliefs, personal experiences, and life lessons through stories or narratives that provoke powerful human emotions and insights is termed storytelling.

When I think about the most well-known cinematic experience that made storytelling more than just a pastime, I revisit the scenes of “Tamasha.” The protagonist, who was inspired by storytelling from his childhood days and went on to become a renowned storyteller and stage performer, was the plot of the movie. Is story-telling, however, limited to the artists, performers, or an individual from a certain artistic domain? The answer is a conclusive ‘No.’ The world’s most successful people have always been the best storytellers.

Art, poetry, writing, and stage performance are not the only forms of storytelling. In any aspect of life, whether it’s business, sports, politics, or a classroom lecture, storytelling is always useful for conveying our emotions, ideas, solidifying complicated notions, and simplifying complex messages.

What are some real-life examples of how storytelling has led the way to success? Consider how Steve Jobs explained the world when he debuted the Macintosh, and how Apple envisions changing the world after this product, and the result is right in front of us. Apple Inc. is now one of the most successful innovative companies in human history. Whether you’re talking about Richard Branson, Steve Jobs, Sheryl Sandberg, MS Dhoni, or Oprah Winfrey, one thing they all have in common is that they’re all fantastic storytellers.

A great storyteller is the essence of a successful marketer, the one who understands the connection between the brand and the users when we talk about a successful marketing strategy. One of the most important aspects of successful branding is how you treat clients as the primary players of the story, with the brand acting as a supporting character in order to establish a long-term relationship. We don’t sell stuff; we sell experiences, as the saying goes.

For example, if you’re launching a campaign to sell the new sports equipment for the athlete community, a great storyteller will emphasize why the equipment is needed and what long-term influence it will have on the athletes’ community and their performance.

National Geographic is one of the best examples of using storytelling to build brand recognition. They perform a fantastic job with their social media branding approach by incorporating storytelling. National Geographic uses bright, exciting, and wild photos to attract the user’s attention, but it is when they combine those stunning sights with the fascinating narratives that a user is compelled to return again and again to relive those human emotions and connections.

Therefore, what does it take to be an effective storyteller, and how can you communicate your stories effectively? It’s very crucial to recognize who your target audience is. Who wants to hear your story? Imagine how you’d be able to make the story more personal for each of them. As a result, before you put ink on the page, make sure you know who will be reading or listening to you. For example, if you’re telling an intriguing story, attempt to build dramatic tension and suspense up to the conclusion of your story. Personalization of experiences has a bigger influence on the audience, and as a speaker, you may always draw inspiration from your own life while creating fresh stories. It is always good to narrate your words using a personal experience, whether or not you are delivering a true story directly based on a personal event.

What is the significance of this entire process? Because you, as a company, a brand, or an individual, are likely to have numerous facts, figures, and messages, the delivery of your message is critical to avoid monotony and bored faces. Engagement with the audience, studying other storytellers, and how you narrow down the spectrum of interpretation by the audience, particularly when relaying your real-life experiences, are all important parts of successful storytelling. Great storytelling necessitates maintaining eye contact with your audience, engaging them, asking them questions, and inviting them to be part of the ongoing conversation. Is it possible that you’re unfolding too much? Is it overly detailed and focused on figures? As a great storyteller, it’s your job to keep your words short and crisp, with fewer details, and to focus on the elements that make your audience want to listen more. Trusting that your audience will be able to follow your story and not overwhelming them with superfluous backstory or digressive plot pieces will keep them wanting more.

Storytelling is an art form, yet it is not limited to artists. It’s just a technique to learn an effective way to communicate with your audience now, whether it’s a group of friends, a gala, an investors summit, or thousands of sports fans waiting to hear you after a heartbreaking loss, your story determines how well you’ll be remembered when they return home.

Next time, when you experience a great story, imagine yourself in the speaker’s shoes and think about how it is a pure form of art, not limited to artists. It’s just a technique where you learn a way of using your imagination to effectively communicate with your audience, whether it’s a group of friends, a gala, an investors summit, or thousands of sports fans waiting to hear you after a heartbreaking loss. Your story determines how well you’ll be remembered when they return home.

About the author

Shubham Kumar is a first-year MBA student at IIM Kashipur from batch 2021-23. He is a commerce graduate from the University of Delhi. He has actively engaged in the Media and Public Relations Committee at IIM Kashipur. He is a creative content creator and loves watching Football during the weekend. You can find him on LinkedIn.

Journey of the Best-All Rounder – MBA 2019-21

IIM Kashipur is not just an alma mater but a memorable transition phase in my life. My journey can be described as an enchanting process where an undergraduate introvert walking into IIM Kashipur sans experience of the corporate world and the fear of competition in some corner of the heart. Eventually, I became an enthusiastic extrovert MBA Graduate walking out of the campus full of confidence, zeal, and the ardour of competing with anyone, anywhere. I would consider IIM Kashipur as a platform that teaches cogitative knowledge, discipline, pragmatic solutions for complex problems which helped to prepare culturally sensitive, tolerant, ethically, and socially responsible manager in me and changes the view to look at real-life business problems and associates yourself with the society. The stimulus culture teaches you the concept of “self-development” through case studies, group discussions and peer learning sessions, B-school competitions, POR, group projects, sports, clubs, presentation, fun with friends, constant race against time and comfort prepared me for the real fight-the so-called Corporate Life. Indubitably extracurricular activities including clubs and sports were tranquilizers for me. It imparted team building and never give up attitude in me unknowingly. Discussion and tête-à-tête at mess or canteen with your peers not only increases your network (net worth) instead of gets you to introduce a variety of prospects, people, and stories. I am grateful to develop a network with world-class faculty and learning from them. IIM Kashipur also taught me learning is not just from doing but observation can also be a big friend. The talented seniors acted like the best mentor and guide anyone dreamed of. Every team be it a competition, fest, club was one of the best teams I have worked in ever before. This conversation cannot be finished without talking about the lush green campus life of IIM Kashipur in the womb of nature which makes it the best place to live.

About the Author

Hemraj Bairwa is alumnus of IIM Kashipur. He is the best all rounder of MBA 2019-21 Batch. He is currently working as Management Trainee – Logistics and Supply Chain at Tata Steel BSL. He was one of Dare2Compete Top 10 College Champions 2020 from IIM Kashipur and has aced a number of coveted corporate and b-school case study competitions.

You can connect with him on LinkedIn

( We thank the Alumni Relations Committee of IIM Kashipur for serving as a bridge to beget  valuable insights about the journey of becoming a gold medalist from our erudite alumnus. )

Journey of Bronze Medalist – MBA 2019-21

Indeed, I still remember the first sight of the entrance of IIM Kashipur, the glimpses of lush green campus and being lost in the similar-looking hostel blocks on the first day. The thought that I would be an MBA graduate from an IIM was exciting and I was looking forward to it. One month into the program I had realized that this journey is not going to be easy. A lot of lectures, assignments, projects, nights out and networking were involved. Ultimately, the continuous and consistent efforts paid off and helped me achieve the Bronze medal. I am overwhelmed by receiving the medal, but a medal was never the aim. I believe that focusing on the process is more important than expecting the results. I would like to express my gratitude to the professors for helping me in the process. A special thanks to my friends who definitely had a major role to play in the process. Now, I can say with confidence that through various experiences over the past two years I have gained good skills and improved my personality. Finally, one simple piece of advice for the future batches – ‘Focus on what you want in the long term rather than what seems good in the short term’. Wish you all great careers ahead.

About the Author

Kaipa Guru Charan Reddy is alumnus of IIM Kashipur. He is the bronze medalist of MBA 2019-21 Batch. He is currently working as the Senior Analyst at EY-Parthenon. He has also been a business consultant at Decimal Point Analytics and has interned with Larsen and Toubro on a project to evaluate hedging decision of MGO, required for operations of L&T subsidiary. He has also worked as a senior manager at Tata Motors in Sales & Marketing department.

You can connect with him on LinkedIn

( We thank the Alumni Relations Committee of IIM Kashipur for serving as a bridge to beget  valuable insights about the journey of becoming a gold medalist from our erudite alumnus. )

Journey of Gold Medalist – MBA-WX 2018-20

While I was posted at a small village in West Bengal, on a fine evening, my husband called me and said- “I want to do MBA from IIM Kashipur and classes are held at Dehradun, will fly down to Dehradun, will enjoy the chilled weather away from city hustle bustle”. I was taken aback and reaction was like- “Are you insane!! you will fly from Mumbai to Dehradun for enjoying chilled weather, you can do your MBA from Mumbai also”. But he has his own logical reasons and somehow he convinced me to join him in this journey to fulfill my dream to have an MBA from IIM. In the process, my transfer took place from rural village to Mumbai, the city of dreams. Then the journey from Mumbai to Dehradun started. The airports became my second home where I took some rest after office, and airplanes became my study room on weekends especially during exam, the backseat of the car became my bedroom while travelling from Delhi to Dehradun, no matter how hostile the weather is. The travelling in shivering chilling weather and sleepless nights became part of our life on weekends. Then, at Dehradun, green blanket at FRI was so soothing to our tired exhaustive sleepless eyes. During the course, we learnt management and was practically implementing management as well, that credit goes to my husband, Nitesh. I believe “where there is Will, there is Way”. It was the determination and focus that made this exhaustive journey thrilling. Every success has its own recipe, the recipe of my success of becoming Gold Medalist is my late father’s blessings, mother’s support, professors’ guidance and above all my husband, who is my strongest motivation, inspiration and his belief on me make this challenging journey complete with a gold medal.

About the Author

Bithika Karmakar is alumnus of IIM Kashipur. She is the gold medalist of MBA-WX 2018-20 Batch. She is currently working as the Assistant Manager at Punjab National Bank. She is Skilled in Management, Banking, Financial Analysis, Team Management, and Retail Banking. Earlier at Union Bank of India,she has handled operations in the branch, looking after the loan department domain and other regulatory banking affair relating to payment remittance, handling and resolving customer

You can connect with her on LinkedIn

( We thank the Alumni Relations Committee of IIM Kashipur for serving as a bridge to beget  valuable insights about the journey of becoming a gold medalist from our erudite alumnus. )

Journey of the Best All Rounder – PGP 2018-20 batch

Keeping a balance of Academics, Committee work and fun activities is not just something that helps you learn and grow, but it also keeps your rhythm going. When I joined the Placement Committee, a lot of people asked me whether I’ll be able to find time for my academics or other activities. But one of the most important aspects of MBA is probably Time Management and once you do this well, you can do a lot more than just sail through. Enhancing my classroom learnings with active discussions with professors and peers, supplementing it with corporate competitions to utilize the classroom learnings in real world corporate case studies, and networking with corporates in order to foster institute relations with corporates – this is what I found myself doing for majority of my time at IIM Kashipur. But along with all this, spending time with a bunch of my peers – some of whom have turned into my extended family – was also something that got me through these two years and learning from each one of them made me a better person.
While I think each person has to carve their own journey, a suggestion would be to try and explore as much possible – sign up for a subject you think you find challenging but also interesting, take part in as many corporate competitions possible, do your committee work diligently and be a part of at least one to help a little in running the institute. You will always find the support from management and our beloved faculties!
All the best!

About the Author

Chirag Dixit is alumnus of IIM Kashipur. He is the best All-Rounder of PGP Batch 2018-20. He is currently working as Equity Specialist at Bloomberg LP. He specializes in Equity Analytics – client workflows and also has a focus on – BQL (Bloomberg Query Language), Launchpad, Bloomberg for Education (BMC) and MYBB transfers.

You can connect with him on LinkedIn

( We thank the Alumni Relations Committee of IIM Kashipur for serving as a bridge to beget  valuable insights about the journey of becoming a gold medalist from our erudite alumnus. )