“To succeed in an entrance examination a right mix of hard work and self discipline are required” -

…says Manas Singhal, a B Tech from Vellore Institute of Technology(VIT) who always dreamed of pursuing an MBA ater graduation. A diligent and academically sound student  hailing from Kanpur, Manas is currently doing an MBA at the Department of Management Studies(DoMS) IIT Madras. Here's Manas Singhal in an e-interview with Serena Kallian

The selection process…
The Selection process at DoMS IIT M was one of the smoothest processes I had witnessed among all the MBA Colleges from where I had received  calls. The faculty and students were courteous and helpful. The process usually comprises of two rounds namely the Group Task and the Personal Interview. The group task is a short case study based discussion with the primary motive of getting the  group to reach a common consensus. The GT was pretty well synchronised everybody got a chance to put forward his or her views. The GT is followed by Personal Interview which is conducted by different panels comprising of members of the faculty and persons from the Industry. My personal Interview was an informal one; the questions asked were mainly from my final year project a part of which coincidentally matched with the subject taught in the final year  at DoMS IIT M. Other questions were mainly for the judgement of personality as in regular HR based questions. Not much was asked from me related to technical side of my engineering but such kind of questions are always expected and as I was a fresher so they focused on my academics. A person who has work experience should be well versed  and also be prepared to be quizzed on it.

Why DoMS IIT M…
DoMS IIT M was suggested to me by friends at VIT. I was also highly impressed with the atmosphere and faculty here during my interview process. One more advantage which this institute has over others is the affordable fees. All these factors collectively influenced my decision while I was selecting the college for MBA among my converts.

The MBA decision…
I always wanted to do MBA right from my school days; I was highly influenced by my father who works as a  senior manager for a company. Although he does not hold a B School degree,  he always wanted me to do an MBA.

Expectations from the MBA and the journey so far. How has the internship helped?
My expectations from  the MBA course here is to enhance my skills, develop the right attitude and personality and gain knowledge so that I can be ready to face the challenges of the corporate world and also make my name among the top echelons of the industry.

So far my journey with the  MBA has been like a dream run; I have great classmates, a charismatic faculty, well thought of curriculum, good infrastructure, and helpful seniors and nicely blended extracurricular activities. I always enjoyed the subjects here and I have maintained a good academic graph here.  I am  involved with the Finance club of my institute and am also one of the fund managers of the class mutual fund known as Moolyankan.

My Internship was in Henkel and I was given a profile in sales & marketing there. My project required both desk and field work so the on the job learning was quite amazing. I expected to  improve the efficiency of promoters in  modern trade outlets by applying my knowledge of operations, marketing and finance.

Parting words for aspirants…
Self study is the most important thing while preparing for MBA. I did not take any assistance from  coaching institutes for my MBA entrance although I do feel that they can make your preparation a better guided one. To succeed in an entrance examination a right mix of hard work, self discipline and other resources are required.