Now is the time, the unrestricted, halcyon time before joining a B-school that has many a student worried. Ironical but true, if the numerous queries posted on various threads in this forum are to be believed.

A question that often comes to mind is: How best do I utilize these days to equip myself better for the battles of the next two years? As an ardent advocate in the virtues of procrastination you just don’t want to be caught up in the vicissitudes of ever increasing RGs and ever decreasing CGPIs. Your seniors have warned you about the mind numbing and fanatical efforts required to get your rank up there for the I-banks to be philanthropic enough to cast a sight on your CV. Also, you are aware of the fiercely motivated and rabidly competitive batch your peers are going to be. You can bet that they are working the extra hours dotting their i’s and crossing their t’s. If you are not willing to make the same commitment honing your skills before the rigmarole of the classes commence, as they say in the US – your ass is grass (read as ‘anyone and everyone will trample over your posterior’)

The truth, on the contrary, is that the admit letter lying in your document folder has just given you the space and time to focus on whatever you want to do, without palpitating about PPOs, mid-terms, submissions and quizzes. Now is the time to focus on your passions – reading the latest thriller from your favorite author to watching the latest Bollywood movies which are supposed to have some ‘hot’ scenes of your desired actress. For the less visually inclined, there is always sport and music. Try working on your probability theory by betting on the India-Pak series or practice harder on the guitar to get rid of your tag of being ‘acoustically-challenged’. Whatever be it, let these ‘last days’ of freedom be as less immaculate as possible, and give into the indulgences that you might not be privileged in the next two years.

Having said that, there is also an innocuous distort to the above prescribed maneuver. Just as you have let go of the failures of the past and are still savoring the success of having made it through your dream (or less-than-envisaged-but-will-do) school, it is good to be circumspect of the possible pitfalls that you might encounter in your journey ahead. Here are three things, which could possibly do only more good than harm.

Firstly, get in touch with the current students and pull out all the stops in getting your doubts cleared. If it helps, a IInd class sleeper return ticket to your intended destination wouldn’t harm either. Secondly, if you feel you suck at some of the mandatory first-term courses like statistics, accounts, math, you could do well to browse through some of the prescribed texts on these topics. A caveat here is, not to get too paranoid by trying to solve any of the mid-term papers. Thirdly, it would do good to take a step back and try figuring out how to improve some of your soft-skills, inclusive of (but not expansive):

# Networking – numero uno in most lists to help you land your dream job

# Public speaking – making a defense for your case in front of 100+ equally articulate classmates is not stress-free

# Making effective presentations – late night revelations like “Darn it was a ctrl+B which blanked out my PPT screen” are not unheard of in B-schools

# More importantly improving your ability to think out-of-the-box – It is hard to have a winning essay when the entire class uses the same phrases like ‘business process re-engineering’ to augment their case to reach the 1000-word limit.

It is your time and I wish everyone a wonderful time for the next two years at their B-schools!!

Arun ‘Psychodementia’ Jagannathan

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