Mystory@Manas Manbhav: How I selected my course and college

Mystory@Manas Manbhav

My course selection in class XI-XII wasn’t a planned one. I happen to follow the herd mentality like a sheep as back then I wasn’t aware about a platform like Shiksha to get guidance on college and course selection. I just made my decision based on what I was told by my parents and other people around me.

I’m currently pursuing a two-year PGDM (Post Graduate Diploma in Management) program, about which I came to know from Shiksha. I was very confused at the time of selecting a college. I had doubts around – Which all colleges should I apply to? What will be the admission process? Which entrance tests do I need to take? But finally, with the help of Shiksha I could the choose the best college for myself.

How I prepared for MBA entrance exams

I got admission in my current college through appearing in the MAT test conducted in February 2016. At the same time, I had also applied for Maharashtra CET, which I gave as a formality once my MAT results were out. I didn’t find it making a large difference to my college selection decision

I didn’t take any coaching classes for preparing for either of these exams. I studied all by myself by solving previous years’ question papers and referring to study material which was available online and offline and also watched few tutorials online. I used to dedicate a fixed amount of time from my daily schedule to prepare for the entrance.

My MAT percentile was 98.43%. After giving the exam I started getting interview calls from various MBA colleges accepting MAT score. In all this process of giving entrance tests, shortlisting and comparing colleges, Shiksha was a great help to me as a powerful online tool which played an important role in helping me decide which college I should opt for. The college comparison tool on Shiksha is a very unique feature, which I found very useful. It made it so much easier for me to find the right course and college for myself. Besides using the college comparison tool, I checked college reviews online and also had a telephonic counselling through Shiksha counsellor to clear my doubts and check weather my decision is right or not.

Currently, I’m pursuing a 2 year Full-Time AICTE approved PGDM program from Institute for Future Education, Entrepreneurship & Leadership (iFEEL) at Lonavale, Maharashtra.

How I made the most of my college life

Since 75% attendance in every subject is compulsory at iFEEL, most of my afternoons go in attending lectures of different faculties who are from the industry itself. iFEEL has adopted 'Industry-Integrated Curriculum' combined with leadership and entrepreneurship development.

Apart from academics, I’m active in my extracurricular activities being part of various committees in college. I’m a member of i4Series Committee, CSR Committee, E-cell and organizing committee for INVICTUS 2016-17 (Intra-college Sports Carnival).

I also took part in a national level digital marketing competition where I secured 2nd position along with my teammate. We stood 2nd among 300 colleges and about 1500 teams all across India.

I was also core member of the team of my college’s E-cell team which won the National Entrepreneurship Challenge held at IIT-Bombay in 2016-17.  I have also been writing blogs for promotion of i4Series among students. I participated in the cultural activities of college and organized “Swachh Bharat Abhiyan” at iFEEL.
I won in many intra-college competitions, getting the 1st place in state level debate competition conducted by DMS, KKW;  1st in state level speech competition conducted by MCA Department, MET Institute; Stood 2nd in SFMUN 2016 (Council WHO); and published 2 research papers.

I have also been working on a project titled ‘Finding Business Opportunities in Cooperative Housing Society Management Sector’ with KhelKhazana under the program ‘Global Citizen Leader’ (GCL) conducted by ‘Centre for Creative Leadership’ (CCL)-USA (November 2016), wherein, we have to find opportunity spaces for new business to enter the cooperative housing society arena and form a customer base. Such programs and opportunities at iFEEL give us live industry exposure.

About the Author:

I'm currently pursuing PGDM from iFEEL, Lonavala. I have done my bachelor's from ACBCS Pune University. I have been participating in various intercollegiate events such as debates, extempore, public speaking and quiz competitions. My most recent achievements include being a Runners-up at National Level Digital Marketing Live Project organised by Careers 360 and I also won the National Entrepreneurship Challenge(NEC) 2017 conducted by IIT Bombay.