Why I chose to do PGDM in Finance: Omkar Kardile

Institute for Future Education, Entrepreneurship And Leadership (iFEEL)

As a child, while growing up, I had multiple options of a profession I wanted to join. Someday, I wanted to be a pilot, someday a teacher, and some other day, a doctor. But those were all immature decisions made under the influence of movies or cartoons or people around me. The real maturity comes when you face the world, and for me, this phase came a little early as my dad passed away when I was in the 8th standard, leaving lots of loans unpaid. Pretty soon, I came to know that it was very important to make money, and more importantly, multiplying the money you made. That is when I decided to be a banker, which is why I decided to take Commerce post my 10th Boards, and then do my PG in Finance. I’m not a brilliant student who always stood first in the class, but I’m not that dumb either that I stood last.

Exam tips and Admission Journey

Now, when you make your decision as to what you have to become in life and set your career goals, the next step is to finally move in the right direction and choose the right course from dozens of courses offered by the education system. I started searching for the best colleges for PGDM in India and their entrance exam. This is where things get a little complicated, as like any other normal student, I came across this exam called CAT, and I was hoping to crack it and make my way into IIMs. But since I have already mentioned that I was never a brilliant student, you guessed it right; I didn’t make it to IIM. Rather, my marks were so bad I couldn’t even make it to any tier-1 or tier-2 college.

But, PGDM for me was never about which college I get in, it was the passion of being a banker in the end. And with no big and fancy college name, this dream would be delayed but not terminated. Talking about exam tips, I don’t even know if you would take me seriously after I shared my ultimate failure, but let’s give this a shot. If you are any normal student and if you’re sure that you can get at least 80 percentile in CAT, only then take a break of a year to entirely prepare for CAT, and only then appear for it. But if you are someone like me, don’t waste your year. Just appear for CAT with whatever you have got and get admission in a decent college like I did. Give your best in the college to secure good placements.

As to giving tips about getting a good college, I don’t find myself eligible enough to suggest anyone this. But I will give you a small tip I hope you find useful, and that is, a big college name fades away over the course of time, but if you are really talented and good at what you do, your name will stay forever on big companies’ recommendation lists. This is what I learnt from my senior who was also not a bright student, but during the final placements, he took the highest package from the campus recruitment and even today, when that particular company comes for placements, they tell us about him.

My Learning and Insights

I started my PGDM from iFEEL institute in Lonavala which is mentored by Welingkar Institute, Mumbai. This institute is not the best the country has got, but definitely is a place to show your talent and skills, and get rewarded for the same. Getting into iFEEL was also my first experience of living away from my home in a hostel, which itself has taught me so many things. Being punctual and self-disciplined are two of the most important things I learnt. iFEEL offers 2-year, full-time PGDM and the course is very practical and something which you will never forget, because everything I am taught over here has a direct connection to the corporate world, unlike schools where most of the things taught are pointless. Till today, when I am 5 months away from my job placements, I have not regretted my decision of being a banker, choosing this course and this college. And I hope I will never regret this even in the future.

About the Author:

I am Omkar Kardile, a student of PGDM in Finance from Institute for Future Education, Entrepreneurship And Leadership (iFEEL). Talking about my hobbies, I literally have very few hobbies which include writing occasionally and watching movies.