Where ever you come from, you woudnt have thought they would make the campus so far away from city. Not that there are any distractions in the city to talk of. When you would enter the gates, you wont be too impressed. Your pride shall take a further beating when you would look at the lakes and the hostels. Then, you'll start meeting others and your spirits would begin to soar. People, i say is where the strength of this place lies. Brilliant, achievers, nice - the kind you want to be around. This shall not stop at the students and you would see that those who would teach you in the next two years are equally exceptional if not more. This place has a strong culture, camaraderie - i love to call myself an alumnus and so does everyone else who has been at this place. This was a treasure trove from which everyone found something - knowledge, perspectives, dream jobs, mentors, friends, networks....even life partners :) But it is really up to you, what you take out from here, this place can give you everything you can imagine. Time runs fast here, stakes are high and pressure is omnipresent, almost a ubiquitous part of life.
Unlike its slightly more famed peers, this place allows you to be yourself, whatever that might be. Hence, exercise discretion.
There are few things I would like to speak about and what importance they held, this is entirely my opinion and people may differ. I am certain they would, as I mentioned earlier...perspectives :)
Never hesitate to talk to an alum, they seldom refuse and have a rich experience in their careers which would be of immense use to you. The drawback that there arent many avenues other than the two placement weeks to explore more about careers is amply compensated for by the helpfulness of the alumni. Unless you are borderline obnoxious they would go to unimaginable lengths to help you out. It doesnt matter if you dont know one, if you belong to this place, that is all it takes.
Grades matter. Take this with a pinch of salt. Having them doesnt guarantee you a place with a firm but those at the top of the pecking order of the dream companies, have a palpable soft spot for them. But yes, there is much more to people than numbers and hence sometimes their relevance might be peripheral. What I mean to say is if you find nothing better to do here, it is not a very wise idea to lurk in the bottom of academic ranking.
Summer placements - take them seriously. They arent end of anything, but might give you a great start in the career domain of your inclination. Some firms, especially i-banks would take only at this time. You can get a ppo from there and that is that. A slight amount of preparation is all that is needed, when the 46/16 asks you to prepare for summers, pay heed. They wish you good and arent exaggerating ( for the most part ) The next alternative is to maintain your grades all the while, buildup your profile with competitions and extracurricular activities, have good understanding of what you study over the two years here and hope for the best in the finals. Summers are a smooth sail in comparison to that ordeal in finals when you are under excessive pressure.
Politics - The student elections would be a farce in all probability. The best candidates wont stand in the elections and others would try to get your votes on these lines - iit, nsit, hostel solidarity. It is bull shit. The worst thing would be that you would see your seniors doing this crap and would be inadvertently drawn into it. If you pick the right people, things might change at this place. Dont pick them on basis of what hostels they belong to, what college they have went to and perhaps gender too. How does it matter when you are all now in IIMC. Our institute, its legacy will suffer if you dont get the best people from among you. These posts arent as demanding as people would make them out to be, nobody died or fainted. And conversely these posts hold a much larger scope for change than you would be led to believe. People have maintained institute ranks while being placereps which is undoubtedly the most demanding and thankless job on campus. So I guess you can balance out things if you so wish. Our batch suffered greatly because of the worst placereps in IIMC history, please dont let that happen to you.
Student exchange - if you get a chance you must seriously consider going on an exchange term. Ask any of us who have been there and you would see how people light up recounting that experience. Places, people, leisure. You would not get such a carefree life after you get into jobs and your firms make you burn the midnight oil (literally). I have never heard a half good reason against going on STEP, besides mine.....I was already there for two years and didnot want a whirlwind tour of what i had savored over two years ;)
Projects/Competitions/Assignments - I am not in favor of fretting over them unnecessarily. But, also it is true that I made some great friends over them, I learned because I could never like the usual way of studying and cramming, I also realized my shortcomings and my strengths, I also saw how people behaved with pressure. This would sound 'globe', I cant help it but then this is what i can only say after two years here. I was always the last minute doer and I can always see that the quality of presentation suffers from that. It is rarely the content that sells but the presentation. Competitions - there are a plenty and pretty rewarding too in all respects, you would love them.
Presentations - I mostly hate being forced to attend interactions/presentations, till the time the speaker begins. But I have listened to and met some remarkable people who come down to campus. When they share their experiences with the characteristic humility of great blokes, I always find one thing or the other to take away as a learning. This is one thing which I liked the most about my stay at IIMC that such great guys would be around without my making an effort. You would really learn a lot from them. They have been brilliant in their lives and they have achieved more than you can think of. When people ask me what was the best thing about my stay at IIMC, I never have to think twice.
Life outside IIM - I think it has always been the case that people realize only in second year that there are many great places around calcutta which you can visit :) And as soon as the realization dawns they try visiting as many as possible with varying degree of success. You can really go to a lot of places even on weekends - puri, bhubaneshwar, deegha, darjeeling, sundarbans. They are so close. I only discovered later that my cousin would often go to our summer home in kalimpong on weekends, whenever he got bored of the calcutta life. In addition to them, gangtok, bhutan, arunachal are close by too. They are beautiful places and I loved when I went there, there was no reason I shouldnt have gone there in the first year itself. Almost everyone went there in second year, when they realized they the life at IIMC was drawing to an end and they wouldnt get such a time again. I wish I was a little wise :)
I wish all of you a very best of luck. Hope you make the best out of your stay in the next two years. You would learn a lot here, the least of which would be in classrooms. You would cherish your stay forever and make friends for life. Try to identify your priorities in life, your careers would a very important part of your life and think many times before deciding on this front. If you need me for anything, I'll be glad to be of help.
au revoir!
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