You must make the most out of college: Shruti Dalmia
IILM Institute of Business and Management
Like all other stories, mine was not planned either but I am sure it does follow a logical sequence which I thought through. Let me tell you how. I was in standard 9th when CBSE introduced Economics as a separate subject. I used to read NCERT repeatedly and loved to know how banks earned profit and who printed currency notes. I went on to know why we can’t print unlimited notes and remove poverty from its roots. My interest kept on increasing as I read the subject more and more and in no time, I fell in love with it. Hence, I chose Commerce as my stream because it had a lot of interesting subjects, especially Economics. Even though I was okay with all the subjects, I always felt some sort of a connection with Economics. I finally found my favorite subject, and I finally had an answer to the question that was asked to me in the past. I was sure of taking it as my major in graduation. I followed a simple rule I made for myself while deciding upon my graduation college, ‘You decide your institute on the basis of your major; you do not decide your major on the basis of any institute’. I moved in the right direction and avoided the fascination of getting into the most popular college of the city. By the mercy of God, I got admission in the best college in the city for Economics, Lady Brabourne College.
But you know, in life, somewhere in the middle of something, you have to decide what is next. Knowing my personality well by then, I decided to do MBA. I wanted to become a manager, learn managerial skills and get into the corporate world. I knew I had some of the skills already, like being able to express myself well, coordinating, managing my team, taking the lead, accountability and responsibility. Hence, I started MBA. I took coaching from Career Launcher for the same.. They taught us the corporate culture and professionalism along with the exam preparation. I scored around 97 percentile in MAT but my father always taught me to focus on learning and experiences, and that the results will follow. By then, I was in a position to advise my peers on how to prepare for these exams.
Here are a few tips:
1. Practice daily. You cannot afford to skip it for even a day.
2. Give one mock test daily, spend the rest of the day analyzing your mistakes and work on your weak concepts. Remember, you do not have to know the whole syllabus to give mock tests; it is the other way around.
3. You will not learn anything completely new to you. It will be all known and logical. You do not have to practice the syllabus, you have to practice the art of writing these exams.
Let me tell you why I chose IILM Institute of Business and Management. I got admission here before MAT results because I had a decent score in CAT as well. I appeared for an interview round in which I was asked the usual questions of interviews. I was asked about my focus towards my career, general awareness and self-awareness. I was lucky enough to not only get selected, but was also awarded with a big scholarship because I had good numbers on my mark sheets throughout. Having been in the institute for a year now, I think I made the right decision back then. Usually, you will find MBA aspirants choosing a B-school for them on one single parameter, ‘average placement package’. Well, I think it is quite overrated. I must share other parameters to consider:
1. What all companies come to hire for the domain you are going to select and what kind of profiles they offer? You must go through some of the job descriptions, especially those which are offered to a majority of students. For these details, you can contact some current or ex-students (but the ex-students should be last 2-3 years pass outs, as the job market changes every year).
2. Look into the detailed profile of the faculty. The more they are experienced, the more they will guide you on diverse matters.
3. Find about the companies on the campus for summer internships because in institutes, not all companies that come for final placements also recruit for summer internships. It is important mostly for freshers because internships are the first step towards corporate experience. Some good experiences on the resume help in final placements.
Now, after getting into the college, you must make the most out of it. I suggest you be the best version of yourself. Everybody can become a leader and be active in the college if they take the first step towards it. This will help you in personality development and confidence enhancement. Believe me, you only need two things in life, knowing what you want to do and having faith in yourself. Following are some DOs and DON’Ts:
DOs:
1. Join clubs of your choice, at least 2-3 of them, and initiate activities in these clubs.
2. Always be ready to take responsibilities, even if you are not confident.
3. Co-ordinate in events of the college.
4. Be proactive in everything.
5. Attend all the guest lectures and seminars that are organized by the institute.
6. Interact with the faculty and guests of seminars.
7. Always deliver what you promise.
DON’Ts:
1. Copy your academic projects.
2. Miss the deadline of assignment submissions.
3. Be lazy.
4. Wait for someone else to take the initiative.
Apart from this, always enjoy your life. Enjoy work as well, and enjoy your hectic schedule. Most importantly, don’t forget to party on weekends.
About the Author:
My name is Shruti Dalmia. I am pursuing MBA at IILM Institute of Business and Management, I am an Economics graduate and I want to make my career in Non-Banking Financial Companies sector. I love Economics, financial markets and content writing and have recently started a personal blog.
