So the long-awaited second round's over (well, at least for IIFT). It must have been a pain waiting for it, huh? We were so glad to host each of you. You guys have all been wonderful performers. Do take a bow. How was the whole experience, besides the actual process? Was everything smooth? Have we been helpful? Tell us all that you think.
As for what you do now, is relax and focus on other shortlists that you may have. The tentative dates for results is the third week of March. Again, remember, TENTATIVE. Meanwhile, you can read more about IIFT, its legacy and follow all its major campus events to know more about them.
As always, you can forward any queries that you might have to me. I'll be glad to help you out.
939 upvotes by Nikhil Aravind, Anshuman Nanda, Kewal Nadgir, (more)
Here's a few from my experience.
Have a realistic view of the current job scenario Today is not the best time to do an MBA. The market is already flooded with thousands of us. Plus, the whole Euro crisis is still lingering and particularly the investment bank scenario doesn't look really good.
Growth is still slow. i-Banks are not hiring currently. And even if the entire economic downturn was to completely go away (for example, by magic), they still wouldn't. The reason being that during the boom and just before the bust, they over-hired.
So, do not expect a really high RoI (at least not on the scale of what people before 2008 got).
Keep a check on expectations It's just another degree. Yes, they do teach you a lot of stuff in 2 years, but that's it. There is nothing magical about the course. It's just that currently the MBA degree is in hype, so you will get he perceived benefit of it. But do not expect that the course will make you the perfect manager or a suave entrepreneur.
The news are crap You know, the ones that your family and relatives rub your nose in once every year? The one that glorify a bunch of young, clueless people for having a 2 cr+ package?
It's all crap. No one gets a 2 cr package. The highest you get in India would be 40-45 lpa. And that too for i-Banks which are not hiring currently. Anything else would be a maximum of 30lpa. And this too would be raked in by the top 5% of the batch.
International salaries seem pretty high in absolute terms, but do remember to also factor in the PPP index to get a more realistic view.
So are most of the campus's own placement reports You might not want to believe it but I have seen many and I have had a good time laughing at their claims of a 18 lpa average package.
Take everything with a pinch of salt.
There are many liberties an institute can take while reporting numbers. And they do. The reality is nowhere as glorious.
If you are average and from the top 3, expect 15. Top 10, expect 10. Below that, expect 6-7.
Be ready to slog it out The MBA will be far more hectic than your undergrad. This is true irrespective of the college. So be ready for sleepless nights, multiple simultaneous deadlines, a few failures and stressful times.
Also, there will be a lot of people far more intelligent, hard-working than you. So be ready to face a really tough competition.
Read up on the Darwinian theory to boost your chances of survival.
If you have time, develop your resume Admission is just the beginning. There's an entire trilogy after that - summer placements, final placements and then finally long-term job satisfaction.
For the 1st two, you will need a stellar CV in order to maximize your chances of landing your dream job.
So, utilize all the time you have now. Pep up your resume. Start reading up about economics and finance. There's literally thousands of resources - free ebooks, blogs, courses, certifications on the internet.
Lastly, about your job post-MBA Just because you have another, seemingly important piece of paper that testifies that you underwent a course like thousands other, do not expect to be a rockstar at your job.
You wouldn't be designing long-term strategies, be involved in multi-billion dollar M&As, making sales of millions/month just after MBA. You wouldn't be seen as a stellar employee. Most people wouldn't care.
Yes, your degree will provide you a good boost at the start, open up a lot of otherwise inaccessible avenues and give you more visibility and credibility, but all that will fade in 3-4 years. After that all that would matter is your actual job performance.
So, ATB for this journey. Keep your heads low and your spirits high!