Success in CAT 2016, the gateway to PGP 2017-19 in 20 IIMs may put you on top of the world after scoring 99 or 100 percentile with the admission opportunity in top IIMs namely IIM A, B, C, L. But probably it might have rarely occurred to you, how stressful would be the life after getting into your favourite IIM Ahmedabad, Bangalore or Calcutta, and whether you will be able to survive it continuing in the same spirit of scoring high all the time as you did for CAT 2016.
IIM Drop outs: Increased from 37 to 104
The fact lies in the increasing number of drop outs during last 2 years. There were 37 IIM dropouts earlier. However this number has gone up to 104 during the 2 years period from 2014 to 2016. Most of the dropouts happen in the 1styear itself as students find it difficult to bear the stress at IIMs. IIMs, although take you high on management education and offer the best placement seasons, but before that they stress you to the fullest of your elasticity level and offer no counseling of happiness.
It is not the stress that would limit itself but it is you who will have to limit according to the unlimited stressful times which may encounter you now and then. Most IIM Alumni agree to this fact. Dr Raghuram Rajan, himself an IIMA alumnus, before joining as Governor RBI, and working as Economic Counselor and Director of Research at IMF emphasized it while delivering Convocation Address at IIM Ahmedabad, “If you survived the first term at Ahmedabad, you can survive almost anything.”
Emphasizing how stressful is the 1st year at IIM Ahmedabad than at any other top B-school in the world, Sanjeev Bhikchandani,founder and executive vice chairman of Info Edge (India) that owns Naukri.com shares his experience “Batchmates who subsequently went overseas and did a second MBA and others who did their PhD and are now teaching at business schools overseas tell me that nothing that they experienced or witnessed elsewhere compared with the intensity of competition, the work load, the effort and the sheer terror of the first term at IIM-A.”
In fact, when you get your call converted to IIM A, B, C you are on the top of the world and find yourself as one of the top winners. You arrive at your dream campus full of confidence and ambition. All the 400 of your peers have the same mindset. Think of the competition that is all set to begin. Now you are isolated from your family, friends, relatives and need to face the unanticipated surprises. Sometimes you are a little relaxed and most of the times you are overloaded with work, Case Presentations that come to you at the shortest notice when you are planning to have your evening out or go to movies.
Wharton has, IIMs don’t: The Dean of Student Life
To help its students overcome the stress and pressure of learning in MBA programme, University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School has appointed Dean of Student Life whose job is to keep the students happy and cheerful all through their MBA education and beyond. The result! More contributions and appreciations from happy alumni are received at Wharton.
Why shouldn’t IIMs where so much of stressful life is spent, have such faculty positions to keep the students stress free?
The 2 years PGDM at an IIM rarely gives time to its student to engage in tit bits and some doing-nothing type of activities. On one day till afternoon you may just start feeling relaxed at IIM A, when the message to appear in surprise test, not a single one but in a series of them suddenly arrives. It not only shatters your evening plan but also leaves you scratching your head where to begin with to do well in the test. On the top of it some field type of jobs are to be followed ruining your weekend.
The list of ongoing activities never ends and you start gasping for time to prepare before test but this is the rarest item available with you. How to keep your cool and cheerful attitude alive in stress & pressure in the IIM which was your dream destination is sure a big question. Either your faculty or seniors come to your rescue when you think you are drained. Students at most of the IIMs and other top B schools suffer from this phenomenon, but remain helpless.
If Wharton can, why can’t IIMs?
If University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School can solve this problem by appointing Kembrel Jones as Dean of Happiness (Dean of Student Life), why can’t IIMs do it?
Jones helps students according to their temperament. Probably this is what is needed at IIMs in India. If a student has an exam, or has 5 different interviews on a single day with 5 different consulting firms, these are Champagne problems according to Jones and he specifically points to the bottle to find the solution. One of the many lessons that Dean of Happiness imparts to the almost 1,700 students at Wharton is to lighten things up at the historically serious B school.
According to Jones “At Wharton, when you get up in the morning and you think you’re going to have a bad day, think about why”. Sure the thought could turn the bad day into not such a bad day if not a very good day. The elite business schools like IIMs need ‘a Jones on staff’ and should devote administrative resources to cultivate loyalty among MBAs.
IIMs can drive more benefits with ‘Faculty of Happiness’
Students are the best source who can share what they exactly want from their B school right from the shape of their MBA curriculum to life at the B school. Wharton, Stanford and many more have been successful to cut down on required courses, added several classes on start ups, and beefed up faculty to keep class size down. All changes requested by students while sharing with the dean of students.
Donations and giving always depend upon the learning experience the students have during their MBA course at IIMs. Alumni donations at Wharton, after the appointment of Jones rose from $8.8 million to $12.6 million. IIMs may also get clue out of this. Alumni will sure write a big cheque if they had good experience at IIMs. And to fulfil this, the services of Faculty of student Happiness will be much useful.
IIMs have to find out the appropriate faculty who can become the biggest fan of their MBA students and the Faculty of Student Happiness at IIMs should be capable to create the interactive learning environment conducive for the students and the IIM alike to carve a place in the hearts of the students and a hole in their wallets once they become alumni.
The job of highly paid faculty of student happiness at the IIM is not easy but it is required for all the top B schools to share a good experience for the students after joining the institute and to keep them stress free.
CAT 2016 aspirants no doubt are going to struggle hard to get a seat in their preferred IIM-A,B,C, L or others. Apart from high percentile in CAT 2016 exam and excellent academic profile, aspirants would need good writing skill and an aptitude to ace the PI round.
The legacy, learning and placement at an Indian Institute of Management (IIM) always allure the MBA aspirants to perform at their best to get into the top notch B school.
But on getting to the dream B school, the tough and unpredictable study pattern at the IIMs keeps the MBA aspirants under pressure and on their toes. The stress is sometimes unbearable and the result shows dip in test scores. To keep the IIM students motivated and in high spirits, it is necessary that some arrangement like Wharton is made.
Scores of CAT 2016 exam are mandatory for admission to any of the 20 IIMs. The exam will be conducted on December 4, 2016. Each IIM will shortlist candidates for its second stage of selection independently. It may be different from other IIM. The process may include Written Ability Test (WAT), Group Discussions (GD) and Personal Interviews (PI) or it may have any 2 or all the 3 components.
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