IIM Ahmedabad Campus Visit Report with Pictures

Dear Friends,

It was an awesome experience for me to make a campus visit to one
of my dream B School - Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad
and am trying to refurnish the experience to best of my knowldege
for the benefit of the community.

I started in my hometown- Vadodara which is about 100 miles from IIM, A in morning at around 10 am for the event which was scheduled at around 2 pm. I reached Ahmedabad at around 1 pm and boarded a taxi from central bus stand to IIM A , New Campus. Ola and Uber are nice options, and for someone who might prefer auto rickshaws, the new entrant called Jugnoo is not a bad bet either. All three accept bill payment wide Paytm or Mobiqwik too, so one can virtually have a cash-free wallet and enjoy the rides.

I reached sharp 1:30 pm at the campus and then was escorted to the main assembly hall wide security persons. I was greeted politely by the receptionist who also handed me a brochure of PGPX program.

The main program started at about 2:15 pm. The admission officer greeted us warmly and introduced us to a few present PGPX students who then navigated us through the entire B school campus. We (almost 20 candidates) were asked to sub-divide ourselves into approximately three groups and started off from small classrooms wherein these students discussed about case studies presented by professors, followed by dorms where students live, canteen and library.

The one hour trip with existing students was one of most memorable experiences. While walking alongside them, one could sense the vibe and energy in their talks which ranged from GMAT prep to making career transitions to case study pedagogy, how professors and fellow mates from different fields interact with one another to crack a case. The interactions with students from other courses mainly PGP (classic 2 year MBA course for students with 0-4 years of work ex) during the few cultural fests they played recently seemed afresh in their memories.

We returned back to the main hall from where we started for the tour and were greeted by Mr. Arvind Sahay who is one of most distinguished professors among the teaching faculty and has niche expertise in Marketing, with earlier teaching experience at London Business School.
He walked us all through the brief history of the school (Fortunately, the date of campus event was also the date of birth of its founder:
Mr. Vikram Sarabhai who was distinguished Indian scientist in the field
of India's space program) covering below points:
a. The institute spread over 100+ acres has 100 full-time professors, 1200 students
residing on campus for 1 and 2 year MBA programs and 5000 students studying for a shorter duration (3 day to 1-week courses.)
b. The main criteria that adcoms looked for are diversity and individuals with vast quality contributions in the field of management and leadership. As per him, although strong academics and test scores are a strong positive
for any candidate, it could at times be compensated with quality professional experience.
c. During the interview stage, the panel looks for candidates who are not only curious about the outside world,
but are also willing to articulate their thoughts in a proper manner to the interviewer.
d. Although parameters such as average GMAT, 690-100, age (31-32), % of females were almost the same in a batch of 2018-19 vs 2017-18,
they did report a higher increase in students intake from 115 to 138. They also mentioned continuing the same intake
of students in forthcoming years.
e. One important thing worth mentioning is the start of GRE as acceptance score from last year.
Although they did not reveal official numbers, we talked with current students and it seemed too
meagre in a batch of 138.

We then had an amazing open Q& A session in which usual questions about low GMAT acceptance,
career transitions, and motivations to do MBA were beautifully answered by current PGPX students.
One could once again sense the vibe between students as diverse as a scientist, army officer
and usual IT engineer helping to narrow down the choices and goals by focussing on learnings at IIM-A.

Overall, the message was sent beautifully across to all the candidates to have an open mind and share maximum info in apps to ensure that the panel leaves no stone unturned to call them for an interview.
The analogy shared by Mr. Sahay of an interview stage and an arranged marriage situation in which
both parties meet to ensure a close deal with one another shall remain afresh in my mind for a long time.
As per him, the highest time he has been silent is when he has a monologue after class engages in the case study.

Overall, I think the culture is best suited for anyone who is willing to mix up well with his/her peers.
Also the study groups which professors form ensure diversity to enhance peer to peer learning.
The subjects offered as electives are awesome and the coordination between PGPX and other groups and
even with professors was spectacular to watch.

Feel free to post any further questions and I shall be happy to answer them.
Wishing you all the best for your apps!!