The timing for writing this could not have been any better. 12 months exactly before this day, I was an MBA aspirant. My CAT preparation was consuming day and night, but the hardest part was the most unanticipated one. Yes, before your guesses go from exam day jitters to giving CAT in online mode, let me give you the hardest part an MBA aspirant goes through- the choice of college. It is nothing less than a nightmare; your first attempt at CAT, your first brush with the colleges, with every college claiming best education and highest placements. And there’s also the grumpy face of your parents every time filling a college’s form online deducts anything from 1-2k from their bank balance. I had only filled all the IIMs so far, which came free with the CAT form. So I turned to my mentors, friends and tutors. All experienced in their fields themselves, they told me to go for some reputed names, including International management Institute, New Delhi, laying stress on IMI specifically. I had not heard much of the college itself, but applied there.

After CAT scores were out, and I seriously started researching on the colleges I applied and was shortlisted, I realized I had been living under a rock. My last choice, IMI Delhi was ranked in top ten colleges by reputed rating agencies, and the alumni list I found on Linkedin account( that’s right, I made it right on the day CAT scores were out) sent me smiling ear to ear. There were other colleges I got through too, but issues like large batch sizes and negative reviews on PaGaLGuY forums made me unsure about them.

So long story short, I got selected in IMI Delhi. There were three other colleges in the same league I got accepted to too, but I chose IMI because of many reasons. The top three- the awesome faculty list (coming from best institutes themselves, every teacher had a strong industry as well as teaching experience), the placement figures and companies (admit it, this one is high on Maslow’s MBA decision theory), and finally, the facts that seniors did not sugar coat or lie about the college, and I liked the facts. Already high, the excitement was shooting through the roof after the interactions I had with my to-be seniors and alumni on Facebook and PaGaLGuY. I was a part of some other b-school forums too, and there was a serious difference with this college. Every senior answering my query was not sugar coating or lying facts about their college. It was more like talking to the some friends I went to before giving CAT, giving honest advice, and laying it out all.

The college began in July. Choosing IMI has been one of the best decisions and the experience so far one of the best experiences of my life- people from all over the country, from different backgrounds and intellectuals. I being a fresher, share my batch with other freshers, as well as people from work experiences and diverse educations. My best friend here has been a wizard in manufacturing, my best friend from the other section a qualified CA, and I haven’t even started to describe my faculty.

The accounts professor is not just a teacher; he is also doing the serious commerce business at the big bank he is the VC of. The marketing and OB professors are not just classroom lecturers but real experience providers, and the case studies and discussions in every class that elevate my sense of knowledge in class are a clear proof of that. The interesting projects and assignments take up my whiling away time, and now I know ten times more about FMCG sector and stock market than I knew three months before. My new friends here are the most awesome bunch of people I have met. I proudly added “student at IMI Delhi” on my online accounts, and my family, friends and all relatives who know what corporate is are proud of me too. Life has become busier, but the good busier. This short memoir, I am squeezing in the break time I am taking while working on a B School competition my college is organizing. “life@imi” is awesome.

This is an account given by Mr. Rishabh Meta who is a First Year PGDM Student at IMI New Delhi

Note: This is a sponsored article and has NOT been written by the PaGaLGuY Editorial Team. It is intended from an informational perspective only and it is upto the readers to research and verify the claims and judgements in the article before reaching a conclusion.