5 saal baad---

Its been 5 years since I graduated from IIM Bangalore. It was exactly on 1^st April 2013 that I was convocated and 2 weeks back I could see a flood of picture posts on my facebook timeline depicting convocation pictures. It was a throwback in time. I remembered the CAT prep, the congratulatory letter from IIM Bangalore, the first day, the 2 years that went by and the convocation. It felt like everything went by so fast. Lot of people ask me, is the IIM MBA worth it? Is there a return on investment? To this, I have no direct answer. Let me tell you what this MBA taught me or meant to me. I made/met some really amazing friends in IIM Bangalore. People who were not only brilliant in academics, but also excelled in sports, arts or the likes. People who despite all this were humble.  Let me tell you, I am yet to find one dumb student in IIM Bangalore. People who had to repeat a year just had to because the system of relative grading means bottom 5% in  x number of subjects qualifies as fail. But they had some amazing ideas too.

I met people who came from remote villages of India, whose parents were not as economically well off, who came due to their persistence and merit. People who studied in vernacular medium till class 10 but who did extremely well. People who had hardly ventured outside their hometown and college town, but had amazing ideas. IIM brought all these diverse bunch of people together. It made  the world flat for the rich guy and the poor guy, for a city bred guy and a remote village guy  , it gave them an equal chance. It showed merit matters, it is a living example of making it big despite all odds. If anyone feels today whether putting their kid in a smaller school deters their chances for a good degree, I can show you many examples of IIM grads coming from small places.

The faculty was equally amazing. Faculty who despite their global degrees would talk so nicely and mostly devoid of ego. Some of them being on boards of banks etc but will talk to you as a friend when you meet them even now. Extremely well read people who you can have a sensible conversation about almost any topic.

In terms of monetary return of investment, I have no right answer whether IIM gives ROI or not. Because again this answer is time and person dependent. But I am sure , IIM gives a worth to remember experience to everybody. Of meeting and studying with some of the best people in the country who come from varied socio economic backgrounds. This is something to cherish and worth to remember for a lifetime.

And hence I feel , IIM fee increase should be rationalized at some point. It should not deter any meritorious student from pursuing the IIM dream. Because if that happens, IIM would remain a rich man’s dream which would defeat the main purpose of this diverse experience.

With this I end the post..

Cheers to IIM B times!

-Dhanashree