Mystory@Shantanu Paul: How I chose my course and college

Mystory@Shantanu Paul

Choosing a course stream in Class 11 and 12 was easy as I was always interested in Science subjects. I chose Statistics as my additional subject as I enjoyed Mathematics. After school, I pursued B-Tech which was a more like following the herd than a pre-planned career move. After B Tech, it was time for Post-Graduation. For PG, Human Resource Management was one of the streams of my choice as I am good at inter-personal skills. Xavier Institute of Management, Bangalore, of course, was one of the colleges I was aiming for as it is among the premier B-Schools of India.

How I cracked college admission

For MBA admission I took coaching classes from Career Launcher for 1 year. Thereafter I appeared for CAT and XAT. I was shortlisted at XIMB on the basis of my CAT and XAT scores. Selection process of XIMB consisted of WAT and PI, in which I performed satisfactorily. Along with XIMB, I was also aiming for other top B-Schools in India like IIMs, MDI, FMS, SPJIMR, and NITIE and so on.

All about college life

Life in college is all about classes, studies and fun with friends. At times the schedule is extremely taxing and at other times we relax and hang out with friends. We have a beautiful campus which is always buzzing with activities. We have continuous evaluation processes throughout the year which includes quizzes, assignment projects, class evaluations, mid-term examinations and end-term examinations.

I like the core HR subjects as well as subjects which require analytical skills. My favorite subjects are Employee Relations, Performance Management, Competency Mapping, and Social Research Methods, etc. Over the course of two years I have met a few faculties who are extremely good both in their subject knowledge and teaching methods.

I play football regularly and was also a shadow member of the Sports Committee. Other than being a sports-enthusiast I am a part of the Alumni Committee of XIMB. It is an integral part of my college life as committee work gives practical experience of managing people. Alumni Committee is one of the most important committees of a B-school as it helps to maintain and update Alumni Database and also to nurture the alumni-college relationship. I, being the deputy coordinator of the committee, have to handle elaborate responsibilities in order to ensure the same.

My college life has helped me understand myself better. It has given me practical exposure to working with people who of different age groups and different parts of the country. It has been an enriching experience for me both in terms of industry knowledge and personality development; an experience of living life to its fullest and cherishing every moment of it. I have often faced the need to take up situational responsibilities, which I tried to do justice to and in turn was successful most of the times.

About the Author:

I am Shantanu Paul, an Engineering graduate with 1-year work experience in IT sector. I am currently studying Human Resource Management at XIMB. I love music, football and rain.