“The north-east offers great opportunity for modern businesses” -

…says Vivek Priyadarshi, a student of the Rajiv Gandhi Indian Institute of Management, Shillong. He has a B Tech in Electronics and Communication from Sikkim Manipal Institute of Technology and two years of work behind him as a software developer at TCS. With an MBA, Vivek hopes to make it big in the financial services sector. A native of Ranchi, Jharkhand, Vivek also has strong interests in Indian classical music and has completed his Sangeet Visharad (an equivalent to a bachelor’s degree in music). Here’s Vivek in an interview with Serena Kallian.

Was joining the institute a conscious choice? What were your reasons to pick IIM Shillong?
Yes, it was a conscious choice. I joined IIM S to be a part of the third batch of the institute. I knew some of the seniors in the institute. One of my classmates in school was there in the second batch from whom I got honest feedback on various aspects (which is difficult to gather from information brochures). The institute was just 2 years old at that time and there were not many sources of inputs.

Just after we got a call from IIM-S for the GD/PI round, the Public Relations cell of the institute started an online mentoring programme called Synapse, which addressed all queries from fees to faculty, GD/PI preparation to introduction of the shortlisted candidates to one another. This forum was active till the day we reached campus. The reasons for picking IIM S were plenty – the IIM tag, good faculty and student profile, a young institute and a good faculty-student ratio.

Tell us about some of the benefits of studying here.
The biggest advantage of studying at IIM-S has been the faculty and the students. The first and second batch had around 60 students while the batch strength for the next two batches were around 100 each. The advantage of having a small batch size is that you come to know each and everybody. This is an invaluable asset when it comes to networking in the corporate world. Another advantage of the small batch size has been the closeness with the faculty. The faculty knows each student closely and hence their strengths and weaknesses and hence they are the best mentors and guides.

Another great advantage when compared to other institutes is specialisation. Some institutes divide students into specializations (Finance, Marketing, Human Resource, IT/ Systems and Operations) right from the time of admission. Most of the students don’t even have a prior experience/knowledge of these domains and later want to get out of it. But this is not so in the IIM system. For the first year, all subjects (collection of all the streams above) are common. For the second year you can choose electives (optional subjects). For instance if I choose more number of Finance electives, I am “supposed” to be a Finance major, though the institute never mentions it on the degree. So you can delay the choice of your specialisation to the second year when you have a fair idea from the subjects that you have studied in the first year. Being a new institute IIMs has a lot of scope for setting up a culture that others would follow. Most of the initiatives for the students are student-driven and hence provide a great learning platform apart from academics.

How was your selection process?
After the declaration of CAT results, the shortlisted candidates were asked to fill up a detailed form where they had to answer some questions apart from filling the details of academics. The other areas included extra-curricular activities and some questions related to ethics. This form was supposed to be submitted at the time of the interview.

Next was the GD/PI round. Instead of the regular group discussion we were given a small case . We were supposed to analyse the case and present feasible solutions. Almost all were taken by surprise as group discussions for most of the institutes were based on contemporary issues rather than something analytical.

The last round was an interview. My panel had three members. I was asked questions related to academics (mobile communication and computer networks), music and the responses filled in the detailed form that I mentioned above. The scoring pattern for the GD/PI round was never disclosed.

Do you see yourself working in the same city? Do you think location matters when it comes to pursuing an MBA?
Yes, definitely. The north-east offers great opportunity for modern businesses. This can be inferred from the increasing number of consultancy and marketing research projects that come to the institute from various corporates. The way of doing business is different from any other part of the country. It requires changing and adapting many business practices which would have given brilliant results in other markets.

For most of the students, the biggest thing that an MBA degree has to offer is placements. Being in the vicinity of corporates definitely helps the institute in terms of accessibility. But this is not the sole criterion for companies to come for placements. Corporates consider many other factors such as alumni strength and quality, number of batches passed out till date, the faculty profile (teaching and research experience). Some corporates come down to campus for evaluation and then take a decision on recruitment.

Anything you would like to tell future aspirants (for instance, how they should prepare themselves for the selection rounds)?
The first thing is to find out what you will get after two years of MBA. Many students want to pursue MBA because everybody is doing so. Many people with excellent technical skills are not that successful at management. Money should not be the sole criterion for pursuing an MBA. Even in technical profiles, money will follow you when you gain experience. Other reason people go for an MBA is – career stagnation in their current job profile, very limited decision-making authority and limited opportunities.

Coming to preparation, there are no fixed recipes for preparation. I heard that CAT again changed its pattern (that there would be two sections instead of three), so do not worry much about changing patterns and methods. What you need to focus on is to be ahead of at least 98% of the people taking the particular exam. In the initial days practice the fundamentals as much as you can. Mock tests are the best way to gauge and improve your performance. Do not rely too much on the percentile score of your mock test. Maintain a performance record of each section of your mock tests and practice the areas on which you need to improve.

For GD/PI rounds, you need to prepare from the day you start preparing for CAT. Preparation from the day you are selected for GD/PI will never work. The panelists do not want you to memorise facts. They want your analysis and interpretations, which may be debatable. The Kashmir problem has not been solved for the last 64 years and definitely cannot be solved in a 15 minute GD. For PI, be thorough with whatever you have written in the forms/résumé that you have submitted. Never try to cheat or fool the panelists. They have far more experience than the number of years you have lived. You will never lose marks for honesty.

On a lighter note, as part of the campus life what should one look forward to at IIM-S?
To describe the campus life in a single word – it’s “hectic”. But it is manageable. The work load will pretty much depend on your style of working. It is all about time management. You would have heard stories that people sleep for 2-3 hours a day for months. This is a myth. You can comfortably sleep for 6 hours a day provided you manage your time well. Most of the tasks, assignments and evaluation would be done as a group. This gives a very important lesson in life. You should complement each other’s capabilities so that the output of the group is more than the sum of individuals. These groups will be the place where you would learn the most in an MBA life and not the lecture halls or classrooms.

You need to be good at academics but at the same time you need to take up additional positions of responsibility (various clubs, committees and other student driven initiatives) and be active in extra-curricular activities. It is a tight ropewalk between all the three.

Another important aspect is meeting and interacting with various eminent personalities of national and international standing who come down to campus to interact with the students.

Talking about Shillong, it’s called the Scotland of the East. It would be almost impossible to cover all treks, waterfalls and other places of scenic beauty during your two years of stay. Students travel as much as they can, as they know that they would rarely get time to visit Shillong once they start their professional lives which would be much more hectic than these two years.

Each of the hectic semesters would probably culminate in parties and celebrations. Students try to enjoy every bit of them.