There are probably a zillion resources at the I.I.M's disposal for information on the U.S Business School Application Process. But I wonder how many of them discuss survival issues, once you get through.
After spending nearly 3 weeks at a U.S Business school, I'll attempt to highlight two Critical Success Factors (CSV's) for the I.I.M.
Before I begin, let me clarify that I.I.M refers to an 'Indian,IT,Male' : yeah, the largest 'race' ( = competing pool ) of applicants. [ It is an unintended sarcasm against my institute in India which positively overflows with members of this species.] And just to be politically correct, everything I say applies to women as well(ya, whatever).
So CSV1 is that you need to completely RE-ORIENT yourself before you reach Bengaluru airport [ All of you are in Bangalore right ? - sorry couldn't resist the cheap shot :) ].For starters, vaccinate yourself against the MUG ITCH. This is a chronic illness peculiar to the Indian sub-continent. It manifests by sending the following brain signal many times during the day : " MUG OR PERISH" , "MUG OR PERISH". [ Mug is slang for 'cram' in Indian English..] anyway, you get the idea.
If you retain the MUG ITCH in a b-school, it can get really lethal. Don't worry to death about your grades. They DON'T MATTER. Back in India, the rule of the game is a Nike slogan : 'JUST MUG' :D Sorry, doesn't work here!
The harder part is developing your social skills. Lets face it, we Indians are kind of sucky at this. I am not referring to English not being our native language. We are great in the 3 R's man : but there should have been a 4th R for conveRsation skills !
That brings me to CSV2. If you want to find a job here, know that you are totally on your own. No hand-holding "placecom"s. Network with people to find out what interests them and you. That's how you get an interview call. Its quite simple - if you don't network, you don't have a hope. This is the culture shock that Indians go through, not tissue paper!
All the best folks !!
[ It is our education system, you know. We are way too focussed on fostering individual brilliance, with little or NO emphasis on group activities. I can't think of any group science project I ever did back in school. And to top that, extrovert kids are dubbed 'talkative' by teachers while the quiet ones are praised for their 'discipline'. Crap ! ]
6 comments:
I didn't quite understand the title until I started reading! My bad!
I remember now that because I'm so bad at mugging up, I've suffered through most of the course of my study life.
I recently saw a youtube video, of a debate in CNBC comparing the Indian and US educational systems. One was glorifying the Indian educational system, and the other arrogant guy was talking as if Americans were the only smart people in the world. But what I felt, is that most of the educational institutions, are worthless (talk about the number of engineering colleges in Karnataka and TN). The students are good, but they simply are not getting the right education.
alla, neeve heeg helbittre, innu nammantouru yellig-hogodu ?
I guess its more of a personal choice..I thought of joining the mugging bandwagon here initially..But then, after getting into students' council, sort of left all that inclination..Now for me acads consists of just the case preps and a few hours reading before the exams..extra currics & group activities are going great here..But there are subjects in which I feel I would have done much better if I had studied a bit more...And yeah, Indian B-schoolers are too much dependent on placecoms :)
@Vinay:
I am making it dramatic only to illustrate my point :-)
ala ashte ashte...
@ajith: I think you'll agree that it has taken a certain number of years for you (and me) to realize that mugging doesn't hold any great virtues and there's no point in cramming your way to glory. The fact that you have made a decision to be different at an IIM and follow your true interests shows that you have matured immensely. But the sad part is (and I think this is the point of Kandy's post), for every one person like you, there are 50 others who get bitten by the mug itch! The worst part is, it happens in business-schools that are supposedly the best we have in our country! I wonder how such a system will ever produce visionary business leaders. Very depressing.
parvagilla swamy..sakath bega realization aagbittide!!
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