A glance at life at IIM Bangalore

I chose this course at IIM Bangalore for a couple of reasons including the brand image of the institute, the renowned pedagogy of esteemed professors, the diverse cohort and amazing out-of-classroom peer-to-peer learning. There are many worldwide renowned professors teaching at the institute with an amazing overall ratio of 1 professor for every 11 students. Every professor at the institute holds some of the most prestigious degrees from esteemed colleges across the nation and some of the faculties even hold degrees and experience from foreign institutes. Most professors are published researchers and consultants or advisors for big companies. The teaching method at IIM Bangalore is very interactive as it includes active class participation, case studies from the world's top universities such as Harvard and a trimester format of examination for better evaluation of students' knowledge. Term examinations conducted at IIM Bangalore have strict conduction but easy to crack.

There are more than 170 companies that visit the campus for internship opportunities every year with different roles in different sectors with great stipends. There are leadership roles and roles in different sectors such as Product management, Marketing, Consulting, Operations etc. And many big names such as Microsoft, Aditya Birla Group, P&G, HUL etc. comes to visit the campus.

IIM B has a record of 100 per cent placements both during summer internship placements and final placements. Other than these two there are also lateral placements. Summer internship placements happen in the second semester, and laterals and finals happen in the sixth semester.

The fee for the course at IIM Bangalore is 2700000 INR currently and if you decide to go for foreign exchange, an additional 800000 INR as the base and then the personal expenses. The ROI of the course is greater than 1 as the average package after final placements is more than 3500000 INR. There are also various merit-based scholarships including the IIM Bangalore Alumni FIrst Batch Scholarship, Aditya Birla Scholarship, OPJEMS Scholarship and EGP merit scholarships. There are also many financial assistance available at the Institute such as IIM B financial aid policy, other need-based scholarships, loans, FPM stipends and grants.

There are many fests conducted at the college throughout the year including VIsta, Eximius, Unmaad, Sangram, and Sangharsh. They are conducted in different months of the year. IIM B Library is one of the biggest libraries among all B-Schools having books ranging from fiction to course books. Classrooms are equipped with proper wooden benches, vents and ACs, projectors and speakers and a biometric attendance system. IIM B has many sports grounds like cricket, football, tennis, volleyball, basketball, snooker, swimming pool, TT tables, etc. Social groups like Vikashana and Clubs like Analytics club, MaSH, Sigma etc are all run by students.

In the first year, it is compulsory to take hostels, and in the second year, it is optional. The second-year hostel rooms are allotted by a bidding process. The hostels are divided into old and new blocks, old blocks include the original architecture of the college but new rooms are more spacious. Every hostel includes clean washrooms, bathrooms and dustbin cans. There are two messes, an old mess and a new mess. Both serve good food 4 times a day.

The admission process at IIM Bangalore is one of the smoothest out of all B-Schools nationwide. Eligibility for the course includes a bachelor's degree in any discipline from a recognized university, a minimum academic score of 60% or an equivalent CGPA throughout graduation and work experience which is not mandatory but highly favourable. There is no separate application form, fees or dates but when you register for CAT or GMAT, you can fill up the option for the IIM Bangalore. IIM B reserves seats for various categories including SC, ST, OBC, EWS and PwD. The admission process starts after you get shortlisted for a PI with the college, the call is based on different criteria including CAT scores, academic scores, work experience, academic and gender diversity. The CAT scores range from 80 to 100 percentile depending on the candidate's category. You can find more details about the college, course and selection criteria at the college's official website.

There was no GD, only SOP submission, WAT and Interview. SOP submission includes an SOP of 600 words and two referral letters from your employers or professors. Then you are asked to take a WAT exam which can be online or offline depending upon the college. PI are conducted in offline mode and the questions are mostly based on the SOP you have submitted. The selection criteria include many factors such as CAT scores, academic scores, work experience, academic diversity, reservation and gender diversity. I prepared for the process on my own, mostly with the buddy allotted by the college itself.