It was the month of August 2020, when I finally decided to pursue an MBA. Before going further, allow me to tell you a bit about myself. I am an architect who is passionate about design and I have worked as an academic in an architecture school. I loved my job as I had the freedom to execute new ideas, but I was not happy with its progression financially. Pursuing higher education in business after having been actively involved in architecture for 7 years was definitely a tough decision. I was convinced by the idea that pursuing an MBA will give me better opportunities for financial growth and well-being.

But who would have believed then that I will enrol in a college that had no placement records?

My journey with BITSoM began with a leap of faith and a lot of trust — trust in people backing the institute, trust in the vision and goal of the institute, trust in the close friend who had joined before me and had recommended the school to me, and lastly, trust in myself of being capable of making the best of this golden opportunity.

In my school, my teacher told everyone – 

Winners don’t do different things; they do things differently.

I have always enjoyed doing my work differently. Experimenting to do something new and different has always given me an adrenaline rush.

And you know what?

With BITSoM, I could sense the same willingness in the institute — to be different, to challenge the previously set norms, to experiment and find new ways of teaching and learning business. What more could you want? The beliefs of the institute aligned with my core beliefs and that led me to choose BITSoM over the other colleges. 

I would be lying if I said that I was not worried about placements after joining BITSoM. Summer Internship Placements took place in the first week of October. Those 2 to 3 weeks were scary and tense for me. I was observing the placements scenario for the first time in my life. Now as the first year comes to an end, I feel summer placements were an important, albeit a small part of the entire story.

Most of the time, we are in a hurry to prepare for the next stage of our life. As soon as one joins a B-School, he or she is expected to start preparing for the summer internship interviews. I did it and many of you might have done it too. Didn’t you? Everyone was in a race to figure out ‘What should I do?’ But somewhere my college asked me to pause and introspect. The Personal Development Program (PDP) conducted by Prof. Leena Chatterjee forced me to ask myself, ‘Who am I?’ It led to a series of other questions like:

‘What is my lifelong enquiry?’

‘What is my role in this society?’

‘What are my core values?’

Thus, for me, this year was about getting to know myself better. It was about becoming better aware of my beliefs, values, and socio-emotional needs. It was about figuring out synergies between my values and my professional aspirations.

I have lived in the same city since childhood and was part of the same institute for the last 7 years (5 years as a student and 2 years as an academic). My social circle was thus limited to a homogenous group of like-minded people. Joining BITSoM gave me a chance to interact and learn with people from diverse academic, professional, and demographic backgrounds. It was not easy. I had numerous arguments. I felt disappointed with myself. But with time, I learned to handle the situation better.

My B-School journey had started with the vision to get a better job and more financial security. But in this one year, the course has changed altogether. Now my journey is marked by moments of becoming more self-aware, more experimentative, and learning and growing with the people around me.