Life in a B-School

A Close Look at 2 years in a B-School

You’ve made it to the B-School of your
dreams!
So how will your next 2 years look ?
 Settling in & Orientation
• You are assigned a hostel room and possibly
a roommate or you find student
accommodation near campus
• You attend refresher courses one week before
classes start in statistics,accounts and
quantititative methods to ensure your
readiness for the curriculum
• You make new friends and explore the
campus and its facilities
• You establish a sustainable routine
A Day in the Life of a
B-Schooler
 8 AM : You wake up to a noisy alarm
or the frantic knock of your batchmate
telling you you are late for class

 8:15 AM: You stumble into class dazed

only to realise there is a surprise quiz in
Economics
A Day in the Life of a
B-Schooler
 9: 30 AM: You discuss the paper
over coffee and pakoras at your
canteen. You finally wake up!

 9:45 AM: You run back to class in

time to mark your attendance for
the Basics of Marketing course
A Day in the Life of a
B-Schooler
 11: 00 AM: You are asked to debate in
a case on organisational change in a
PSU in a class on Organisational
Behavior. You haven’t read the case
though!
 1 :00 PM: Lunch time and you meet
your group study teammates to
complete the balance sheet exercise
due 2:00 PM
A Day in the Life of a
B-Schooler
• 2:00-4 PM: A visiting faculty comes
with a guest faculty ,an authority on
Indian Financial Reforms
• 4:15 PM: Meeting to discuss
sponsorships for Inter-B-School fest and
resolve event issues
• 5:00-6:00 PM: Football match between
Hostel 2 and Hostel 5
A Day in the Life of a
B-Schooler
• 6:30- 8:00 PM: Complete group
presentation on “Parallel Economy in
India” in your friend’s hostel room
• 8:15 PM: Khichdi and avoidable sabzi in
the mess for dinner
• 9:00 PM: You are taught accounting by
the class finance genius with over 5 years
of experience in India’s largest bank
• 10:30 PM: Preparing for a case study on
“LG’s rural expansion strategy”
A Day in the Life of a
B-Schooler
• 12:00 AM: Shower and listen to
your favorite music on the internet

• 12:30 AM: Sit with a senior and

understand the right way to
approach the summer placement
week
A Day in the Life of a
B-Schooler
• 1:30 AM: You drift off to sleep
reading Kotler

• 8:00 AM next day:You wake up to

a noisy alarm or the frantic knock
of your batchmate telling you you
are late for class
Facets of life in a B-School

• Academics
• Extracurriculars
• Life beyond the classroom
• Summer Internships
• Placements
 Academics

• Many subjects in first year, very little time

– Manage your time wisely
– B-Schools follow a trimester or semester system
• Plenty of new subjects, lots to learn
– Take your acads seriously, good companies will
require good acads
• Realtionships with faculty and seniors
– They will help you on the toughest subjects and
with informal advice on acads and beyond
 Academics

• Gain breadth and depth in

knowledge
– First year courses form the
foundation of management
knowledge
– Pick related subjects you can explore
practically during the summer
internship for depth
 Extracurriculars

• Choices galore
– Theatre to case competitions, NGO
volunteer work to B-School fests,
student council to academic council
– Choose as per interests,CV value,
relevance to year 2 specialisation and
placements
– Pick the few activities to which you can
contribute significantly and perform
well
Life beyond the classroom

• Making lasting connections

– B-School life is intended to be an intense
experience, the people you have these
experiences with can become friends for life
– These can be batchmates ,
seniors,faculty,administration and peers in
other B-Schools
– They will help make and guide your choices
for many years to come regardless of
whether you need advice on career shifts or a
move into academia
 Life beyond the classroom

• The choice-time matrix

– There are too many co-curricular and
extra-curricular choices for you to get
involved in all
– Choose the few that interest you and
excel
– What do you want to take back from B-
School apart from a job?
 Summer internship

• A 6 to 8 week project-based immersion in

industry
– Between Years 1 & 2 of B-School
– Select companies and projects basis interests
and short-term career path
• Live projects that expect you to solve
problems
– Project presentations are a culmination of your
2 month experience
– These provide snapshots for a company to
evaluate your fit
 Summer internship
• Some examples of summer
internships
– Summer Associate with McKinsey
,London on an international banking
project
– Summer Trainee with P&G
,Singapore on a marketing research
projects that aims to help launch a
new project in the Far East
 Final placements
• B-School placements happen across
a specific week
– The companies most in demand are
slotted before the others
– Competition for the highest paying
jobs is keen
– Different companies have different
intake requirements-depending on
function and industry
 In Conclusion

• B-School can be a life-changing

experience depending on what
you make of it
• Be open to new experiences and
learning
• You will enjoy these memorable
two years-work hard,party hard
Thank You