Some of you had asked me to keep writing about my time in ISB. I'm not sure how much I'll be able to do that, but whenever I can squeeze it in, I surely will, as I've done now. I know some of you are MBA aspirants, so I'll keep that in my mind while I write.
First things first, ISB is indeed a great school with almost everything you could expect from a top educational institution - a truly world class curriculum, a strong faculty and state-of-the-art facilities. You've a wi-fi campus, e-enabled course delivery structure, classrooms with tablet PCs, air-conditioned "student villages", huge lawns, the list can go on. The visiting professors in ISB otherwise teach at the top B-schools of the world. The resident faculty is doing good amount of research work, else ISB couldn't have figured in the global FT rankings.
But if you join ISB instead of Kellogg just because FT puts ISB ahead, I would ask you to reassess. You must understand that "India is held back by a financial system that is reluctant to invest in unproven ideas, an education system that emphasizes rote learning over problem solving, and a culture that looks down on failure and unconventional career choices." How much ever globalized it be, a B-school in India is cuffed by these truths. Sure, you're going to meet smart people but you need to set your expectations right, if you're evaluating ISB for yourself.
Let us get back to discussing about the school. When a two-year program is wrung to eleven months, you obviously got to be prepared for a fully packed schedule right from day one. First week is the orientation week when you get all the gyan about what all ISB can do to you and what all you can do to ISB. The O-week as it's called, is the hand off week from the previous batch. Don't be surprised if you get an 11:00 pm meeting invite on a Sunday from the Business & Technology Club.
The second week is the week of pre-terms that covers some of the basic concepts you'll require during the marathon. But from the week after that when your regular courses start, you don't have time to even realize what you've gotten into. There're only two 2-hour classes everyday, but the system ensures that you will not know when it's day and when it's night. There're no classes on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, but the system will again ensure that you really don't know when it's a weekday and when it's the weekend.
You've pre-reads for every class. Most profs will assume that you've done the pre-read and will just rush through the content during the class. If you don't follow in the class, you're going to be having a tough time. Because when you come home, you need to prepare for the next day's class. It's almost impossible to catch up during the weekend because you'll have a couple of assignments to submit before Monday 8 am, you might have a case submission, you'll have a quiz in at least one of the classes - and these are just the few possible things.
This goes on for two weeks and you suddenly see Mid-Term exams in your calendar. What? Yes, every term is only for five weeks and there're eight such terms. So there're mid-terms after two weeks and end-terms after five weeks. You'll have to master four courses during this time. There's a 5-day break between terms (including the weekend), but you've a footnote that says workshops, projects and leadership trainings will be scheduled during this time. Wow! Now the big question - how many hours of sleep do you get everyday? Well, I leave that to your imagination. But then amidst all of this, you find one thing that never misses in ISB - fun. You've parties every week, you can see people chilling out in the pool, playing in the recreation centre, going out for dinner.
Life is always about dancing, to different music, isn't it? One such music has begun a few weeks back for the 580 of us and we've all started to enjoy dancing for it.
First things first, ISB is indeed a great school with almost everything you could expect from a top educational institution - a truly world class curriculum, a strong faculty and state-of-the-art facilities. You've a wi-fi campus, e-enabled course delivery structure, classrooms with tablet PCs, air-conditioned "student villages", huge lawns, the list can go on. The visiting professors in ISB otherwise teach at the top B-schools of the world. The resident faculty is doing good amount of research work, else ISB couldn't have figured in the global FT rankings.
But if you join ISB instead of Kellogg just because FT puts ISB ahead, I would ask you to reassess. You must understand that "India is held back by a financial system that is reluctant to invest in unproven ideas, an education system that emphasizes rote learning over problem solving, and a culture that looks down on failure and unconventional career choices." How much ever globalized it be, a B-school in India is cuffed by these truths. Sure, you're going to meet smart people but you need to set your expectations right, if you're evaluating ISB for yourself.
Let us get back to discussing about the school. When a two-year program is wrung to eleven months, you obviously got to be prepared for a fully packed schedule right from day one. First week is the orientation week when you get all the gyan about what all ISB can do to you and what all you can do to ISB. The O-week as it's called, is the hand off week from the previous batch. Don't be surprised if you get an 11:00 pm meeting invite on a Sunday from the Business & Technology Club.
The second week is the week of pre-terms that covers some of the basic concepts you'll require during the marathon. But from the week after that when your regular courses start, you don't have time to even realize what you've gotten into. There're only two 2-hour classes everyday, but the system ensures that you will not know when it's day and when it's night. There're no classes on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, but the system will again ensure that you really don't know when it's a weekday and when it's the weekend.
You've pre-reads for every class. Most profs will assume that you've done the pre-read and will just rush through the content during the class. If you don't follow in the class, you're going to be having a tough time. Because when you come home, you need to prepare for the next day's class. It's almost impossible to catch up during the weekend because you'll have a couple of assignments to submit before Monday 8 am, you might have a case submission, you'll have a quiz in at least one of the classes - and these are just the few possible things.
This goes on for two weeks and you suddenly see Mid-Term exams in your calendar. What? Yes, every term is only for five weeks and there're eight such terms. So there're mid-terms after two weeks and end-terms after five weeks. You'll have to master four courses during this time. There's a 5-day break between terms (including the weekend), but you've a footnote that says workshops, projects and leadership trainings will be scheduled during this time. Wow! Now the big question - how many hours of sleep do you get everyday? Well, I leave that to your imagination. But then amidst all of this, you find one thing that never misses in ISB - fun. You've parties every week, you can see people chilling out in the pool, playing in the recreation centre, going out for dinner.
Life is always about dancing, to different music, isn't it? One such music has begun a few weeks back for the 580 of us and we've all started to enjoy dancing for it.
