IIM-B revelation dissected

A top secret, highly classified document has just been released. Not by the CIA, but IIM Bangalore. The cloaked in mystery, super secret selection procedure to one of the most elite management institutes in the country is now a matter of public record. A 5 page document outlining exactly how IIM B admits candidates into its flagship 2 year PGP program is now available on the institute website.All those of you giving CAT this year will no doubt be excited by the contents of the release. Like the CAT RC section, it's a bit of a daze to read so let me sum up what it says:
PHASE 1
a) Stage 1 shortlist: This is prepared solely on the basis of performance in CAT. You need to achieve certain minimum cut offs in each section. Of course these cut offs vary from year to year, depending on how test takers have performed as a whole.No big surprise here, we've kind of known this.
b) Stage 2 shortlist: Here is the real bombshell.For all candidates in the first shortlist as stated in Table 1, the weighted total of the five components namely (a) work experience or professional course, (b) CAT, (c) 10th board, (d) 12th board, (e) bachelor’s as stated above was used to prepare a pre-GDPI rank list for calling candidates for the GDPI.
This means having a high CAT score is not enough to get an interview call to IIM B. Your past academic performance matters a hell of a lot.
How much? Well, the weightage is as follows:
CAT = 20
10th board=15
12th board=10
Bachelors= 15.
(If you have not completed Bachelor's your marks in undergrad years will be considered instead).
Weightage for work experience and/ or professional course was assigned as 10. Interestingly, CA is the ONLY professional course eligible for weight under the criteria 'professional course'.
And the formula for work ex gives the highest score to candidates with an experience of 36 months duration.
Thus the profile of the candidate most likely to get a call from IIM B is as follows:
* High CAT score, cleared all sectional cut offs
* Consistent academic performance across 10th, 12th and graduation.
* 1-3 years work experience.
* A CA with good CAT scores and impressive academic record could have a small advantage.

PHASE 2
For each of the three elements of evaluation during the GDPI process – Group Discussion, Group Discussion Summary, Personal Interview - the average of the scores given by the two interviewing faculty was considered.
Weights as follows:
GD score - 7.5
G D summary - 7.5
Personal Interview - 20

Frankly, I never knew 'G D Summary' was important! During the interview 'work experience quality' is evaluated on a 5 point scale (0 – 0.5 – 1 – 1.5 – 2) by each member of the panel. The average quality of work experience score was multiplied by the pre-GDPI work experience score and accordingly revised in Phase 2.The Group Discussion score, Group Discussion Summary score, Personal Interview score, after standardization within interview panels, were added to the pre-GDPI total (with revisions in Work Ex Score, if any) to arrive at the final aggregate score.And that is the basis of the final ranks. The 'total' scores were out of 105.

My observations:
The subject of deepest debate is- the amount of importance it gives to 'consistent and high performance in past academics'. This makes your class 10 boards one of the most crucial milestones in life!
The coaching class guys will have a lot of explaining to do. No matter how well you do in the present ie in clearing CAT, your past can and will will drag you down!
In the final analysis I would say IIMs are designed to attract well rounded geeks. But emphasis on the geek aspect is higher, the well rounded bit a happy coincidence.
There are a lot of 'been a topper throughout my life' on these campuses. The exam and subsequent process is designed to admit this profile.The IIMs and the CAT were always considered to be the best filter that separates out the true gems from the book worms. The emphasis was always on the aptitude and the presence of mind of the student rather than the amount of hours he’s put in throughout his school and college life. On one hand we are talking of providing the ‘real’ education and not just bookish learning. And on the other we are motivating students to become bigger book worms.
I may be sounding a bit critical of the toppers. But it’s actually a voice for the underperformers who just do not know the art of scoring in exam papers like all the toppers do but have nonetheless the same or may be more mettle to be in the IIMs.
And on a more philosophical note, I wonder when we will be freed of past patterns of thinking. Yes, the past can predict the future but it can also constrain it. The 'yesterday predicts tomorrow' line of thinking discounts the power of the human spirit to achieve and overcome, to rise to new challenges.

Regardless of what IIM B might say, you gotta shed the baggage of the past, live in the present and dream for the future!

Why MBA?

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Why MBA?...Interesting question.....here are some possible answers :

1) My dad told me to do so (papa ne kaha tha)
2) Had spare 1100 bucks
3) I am not good at tech
4) ROI(return of investment) after MBA is good
5) Everyone seems to be doing mba ....so i also joined the race
6) You ask me why ....and I ask you why not?


Ok. So let me answer each one of you separately.


1. "My dad told me to do so (papa ne kaha tha)"
: But then Dad also asks you to marry his friend’s daughter Roopa who’s in Champaner!

2. "Had spare 1100 bucks"
: good one, Even my friend last year felt the same, but then realized that a lot of chocolates (even vodka) can be bought with 1100 bucks.


3 "I am not good at tech"
: so what makes you think that not being good at tech, naturally
qualifies you to be good at management?

4. "ROI(return of investment) after MBA is good"
The avg salary in best of IIMs is 12 lacs CTC, which isn’t that great coz after 2 yrs in a good company (and a switch), your salary can be 10 lacs (obviously you have to excel in your work for that, but dont expect MBA and
thereafter to be a cakewalk) . And the cool 4-5 lakhs you spent on the studies.

ROI in the share market, and in any business is much higher. Actually if ROI is all you care about, start a garbage collection and disposal company. You ll break even in 2 yrs, then add a garbage recycling
unit. You ll be a crorepati in 5 years. I am not joking, I know someone who did the above in 4 years total, I am sure all of you can do it definitely.

5. "everyone seems to be doing mba ....so i also joined the race"
: What would you call this - peer pressure, or crab mentality? But before you snicker and laugh at the rest of the world who does this (and you dont), just pause to remember your admission into college.
Why did you put Computers as your no. 1 choice? Did you actually like the field? How much experience did you have in the field? How many of you chose it, even though you didnt have any real affection towards
it? So you want to repeat that all again?

6. "You ask me why ....and i ask u why not"
: You ask me why I should I go to hunoolooloo for vacation, and I ask
you....... why not? Basically there’s no end to counter questioning.


On a more serious note, see it’s all a question of where you see yourself
say 5-10 years from now (although very few of us think that long
term). If you are a 'techie' at heart you would probably be quite happy to
be working on the tech side of things and you can make a great career that
way as well, but if you want any of the following things then an MBA
probably makes sense -

(1) A career move to an entirely different domain say finance or consulting.....it could be done the without an MBA as well but then the struggle is a lot harder

(2) A fast forward button for your career.....in the corporate world degree holders from top b-schools are given positions of responsibility and authority very quickly considered to those without an MBA irrespective of
any amount of 'managerial' acumen you may show.

(3) Money.....lots of it ...at the end of the day there's no denying the fact that this plays a very important role besides your work...Infact for many it's the sole reason for many who pursue an MBA.....the hard fact is
that those who do the actual work get paid far less than those who 'manage'them.

But then consider these hard-hitting facts.
The highest paying job (after an MBA, and maybe after anything else as well) is in the field of Investment Banking. You work 20hrs a day, 7 days a week, sleep during flights, and earn crazy amounts of money.
And get burnt out in 6 years max. That’s what a high up guy in Lehmann Brothers told me. The guy said that he has worked for 6 years, hasn’t met his wife for a while even though they live together, and is planning to quit soon. So if it’s money that drives you, remember to be in the top 5 in IIM-A,B,C and also be prepared for the above.

Dudes don’t be duds. Realize that the only thing that matters in life is to achieve something that you actually desire (that sounds sooooooooooo cliché). So try and be honest with yourself. Ask yourself whether you enjoyed solving technical challenges (the linked lists, the trees…. sorry tech folks, I couldn’t remember any other subjects) Ask yourself whether your dreams and hopes about engineering (before you joined it) had anything to do with science (and not about engineers getting good jobs). Most of you might not be technically inclined, and that’s absolutely fine (it reduces competition for many).

Now ask yourself whether the MBA is what you really want. Does finance, economics, accounts, HR excite you? Do you feel positive thinking about them? Or do you have a plan for yourself in which an IIM degree might help.

Next, review your own personality and inclinations. Do you prefer being the workman as long as you have the freedom to choose your tools and your work, or do you love playing supervisor?

If you feel inclined or biased towards any of the above two sides,congratulations. You will do well in life, skip the rest of this article. For the rest, you better start exploring yourself. Life's too short anyways. By the time you realize what you want from it, it might have slipped away.If you want to do an MBA, best of luck, I sincerely wish you to do well. Prepare hard (You know that already… why doesnt anyone ask me to shut up?). Prepare smart (now whats that?) Critically review yourself, and water the roots. Work on improving speaking, reading and writing
skills if that’s where you lack. blah blah blah.... I think most good institutes would be doing this so for purposes of brevity, I’ll leave it for them to continue). Also keep in touch, I’ll like to offer you
to join me when I start my own company.

If you are technically inclined, read the following very carefully.(You can even try printing out the next paragraph in bold, large font size and stick it all over your walls, but I wont really insist on that)

You might be working in a company in which you may not be getting a chance to enhance (or even use) your talents. DON’T lose heart. It’s only a while before your projects will become better. The initial year can be a very big disappointment, coz that’s when you go through bench rotations, maintenance work etc. But things become dramatically better afterwards. Use your extra time to prepare your technical skills outside of your current work area, and after a year you will be able to leverage that knowledge to join a better company. There are a lot
of good companies who do really high-quality work, and a little sustained effort will get you there. One of the most amazing things about the technical field is that it’s a pure meritocracy, atleast in good companies. Many companies (I know for Trilogy atleast) have a technical career ladder as well in which you can reach the very top
and still stay tech. Your job takes on architectural, not managerial roles. You lead the company in its technical innovation endeavours.
What more do u want? (You also earn a lot of money, but I won’t dwell on that, coz money matters much less than impact and power to pure tech lovers. I know some of my friends..). And you can do stuff like SRK in Swades.

To end with, I’ll simply repeat a very cliché statement:

"Just follow your heart"
Whether it’s a tech field or an MBA.
The rat race for money won’t ever end, even when you become Bill Gates.
The only things that will make you feel satisfied and happy are your family, and the sense of achievement that your work gives you.