COVID changed all our lives in one way or the other. And for me it led me down the path of MBA.  

At the outset it is the road often taken. But hear me out. I am a chemical engineering graduate who decided to pursue journalism right after college. I ventured into academic publishing eventually working in the domain for over 2 years. Much like in the movies, I did follow my passion. And despite doing so, there was this nagging feeling at the back of my mind. A feeling of not doing enough, a feeling of having to live a life and work in a job which truly did not excite me . This void couldn’t be filled, and the feeling only grew stronger over the two years of the pandemic. 

I finally decided to take the plunge and study further. But there were qualms in my head. Questions such as what my true calling was, am I following the herd, and would it be a worthy investment lingered.  I made my choice and decided that I would do one out of these three things- an MBA, a Master’s in Management, or Industrial engineering.  

However, throughout this dilemma, there was one thing that I felt I shouldn’t compromise on- the quality of education. This might sound like an exaggeration but there were many instances in my workplace where I felt I fell short of practical knowledge and there was a huge gap to be bridged between practical experiences and traditional learning. For my masters, I wanted a program that would address this issue. 

I took the GRE thinking that I would do an MiM (Master’s in Management) from a university abroad. As much as an Indian MBA was attractive, I felt that the curriculum was perhaps mildly outdated. What followed were months filled with anxiety, extensive searches on loan options, university choices and so on. On one such sleepless night, tossing in my bed, my phone screen lit up with a notification from InsideIIM. I came across a 15-minute-long video where a few students spoke about an institute relatively unheard of- BITSoM. 

It piqued my interest! There was little information available on this new B-School. I went through their official website and learnt that BITSoM was backed by the acclaimed BITS Pilani. BITSoM was their effort to transform the management study landscape in India. While going through the website, the immediate impression I had about BITSoM was that it was a ‘mindful’ B-School. Their curriculum was impressive addressing four important areas – core business knowledge, practical learning through live projects, soft skills through Winning at Workplace( WaW) courses and finally 1:1 mentorship with industry leaders. BITSoM had also managed to bring on board stellar faculty from the best institutes around the world. 

While this almost convinced me to apply, BITSoM was still a new business school. The founding batch had not even graduated yet. There was no past data on placements or any other historical data you would look at while choosing a B-school. Nevertheless, I decided to give it a shot.  

The application process was truly one of the smoothest and simplest I’ve encountered till date. The initial questions revolved around your background, academic and extracurricular accomplishments. But the real catch here was the three personal essays which we had to submit along with the application. To me personally, these were simple yet profound, thought-provoking questions. They helped me introspect on my choices, my future aspirations and gave me a fair idea of what I would like to gain out of an MBA. The way I look at it now, it helped me connect the dots in my life, which ultimately led me to BITSoM. Moreover, these essays were a chance to tell the admissions team who I really was. It was my life story beyond my marks, beyond my work experience and beyond conventional parameters of admission. 

I applied in Round 2 and received a shortlist call within 10 days. The shortlists were made on a rolling basis, so we did not have to wait long. I scheduled my interview for the upcoming week. The preparation for the interview revolved around my essays and current affairs mostly. Finally, the big day arrived.  

The panel consisted of two members- a BITSoM faculty member and a BITS Pilani alumnus. I still remember one of my panelist’s first words. He assured me that the interview will be nothing but a free-flowing conversation to know me better. I was genuinely surprised as I had expected a stress interview where my knowledge on a rarely used subject like integral calculus will be tested. But the interview was more of a conversation as promised and focused more on ‘what I know rather than what I did not’- a welcome change from conventional interviews, I must say. 

The decision was rolled out within two weeks. I was elated when I got the acceptance email. 

However, the real dilemma started here. The prospect of being in the second batch of a new B-School was both exciting and frightening in the same measure. With absolutely no reports on placements and just 138 founding batch members to talk to, I would be lying if I said there was no apprehension on my side. After all, this is one of the biggest decisions of your life.  

However, BITSoM organized several post-acceptance sessions which helped us make our decision. To start with, we had the buddy program, wherein we were assigned a buddy from the founding batch.  These interactions gave us an insider perspective into BITSoM.  I remember asking my buddy every question under the sun, ranging from campus food, laundry woes to summer internship experiences. She answered everything patiently. In a way, these interactions gave me a taste of the peer group I would become a part of. Following this, the institute organized a 1:1 welcome address with Mr Narottam Kishore, Head of Admissions and Outreach team, BITSoM. This once again gave us an opportunity to get our apprehensions addressed.  Further to this, we had master classes with Dr. Ranjan Banerjee, Dean, BITSoM, Dr. Leena Chatterjee, Professor, Organizational Behavior, BITSoM and a placement info session with Mr. Uday Virmani, Assistant Dean, External Engagements, BITSoM. Each of these sessions played a huge part in my final decision. From these sessions, I could gauge the quality of education the institute wanted to provide. What was more appealing to me was the fact that they addressed the elephant in the room- the fact that it was a new business school. There were no tall promises of a fat paycheck at the end of the two years, rather they promised to equip us with the best of knowledge to make us future ready employable leaders. To me this was a far cry from the mentality I had been used to- judging a school just by its placement data. I finally decided to drop my decision to pursue a masters in a foreign country, as by this time I was convinced that BITSoM was the best place for me. 

When I made my final decision, it came down to three things- the new-age curriculum, world-class faculty and finally the diverse peer group.   Looking back, perhaps the 270 of us currently studying at BITSoM took a shot in the dark. But this leap of faith changed our lives.  And, for many of us, including me, this must be one of the best decisions of our lives.