Compiled Data for New and Baby IIM's
100%025dGeneral
u/romeo
17 karma · joined 8/6/2026
Coming into my MBA at IMI Kolkata, I honestly thought that if I could solve quant questions, speak decent English, and had a basic understanding of business news, I'd be fine. A month in, I realised the MBA isn't difficult because of the syllabus. It's difficult because of the pace and the expectations. Nobody tells you this beforehand. One of the biggest things I underestimated was Excel. I had opened spreadsheets before, but functions like XLOOKUP, Pivot Tables, IF statements, SUMIFS, and even basic formatting suddenly became part of everyday life. Whether it's assignments, case competitions, committee work, or presentations, Excel shows up everywhere. I wish I had spent a couple of weeks learning it before joining. The second thing is PowerPoint storytelling. It's not about making colourful slides. It's about presenting a clear thought process. I quickly realised that good slides are concise, data-backed, and visually clean. Watching classmates who had consulting or corporate exposure made me realise how much difference this one skill makes. Another surprise was how important reading speed is. There are days when you're expected to go through multiple case studies, articles, reports, and class notes before the next lecture. You don't always have the luxury of reading every line. Learning how to skim, identify key information, and structure your thoughts becomes a survival skill. I also underestimated business communication. Writing professional emails, giving updates in committee groups, presenting ideas without rambling, and speaking confidently in class all become part of your daily routine. Nobody expects perfection, but being able to communicate clearly saves a lot of time. One skill I never thought would matter so much was working in teams. During the first few weeks itself, I found myself collaborating with people from engineering, commerce, economics, law, and even medicine. Everyone approaches problems differently. Learning when to lead, when to listen, and when to compromise is probably as valuable as anything taught in class. Another thing that caught me off guard was time management. On paper, your schedule might look manageable. In reality, assignments, quizzes, committee responsibilities, networking events, guest lectures, and spontaneous group meetings somehow land on the same day. Using a calendar or even a simple to-do list suddenly becomes essential. Finally, I'd say being comfortable with uncertainty is a skill in itself. There isn't always one correct answer in an MBA. Most discussions revolve around making the best decision with incomplete information. That shift in mindset took me longer than I expected. I'm still very early into my MBA journey at IMI Kolkata, so I'm learning something new almost every week. But if I could go back and prepare again, I'd spend a month brushing up on Excel, PowerPoint, business communication, and reading business cases instead of worrying about buying formal clothes or stationery. For anyone joining an MBA this year, don't stress if you don't know everything. Most of us didn't. Just be willing to learn fast, ask questions, and adapt. That seems to matter far more than walking in with the perfect resume.
Using a throwaway account since I don't want to give the batch and college away! Reddit keeps recommending this sub to me, and I am filled with nostalgia seeing many of the posts - seems like a few days back when I got into an IIM 10+ years back after the gruelling mockups, exams, GD and PI. Reading some of these posts is sometimes funny, sometimes sad, sometimes wants me to put down some unsolicited free wisdom, so here goes : 1. Life is not over if you don't get into an elite IIM. One of my batchmates was so obsessed with one of the IIMs that they decided to give CAT again, and then shifted to one of ABC. Got into an amazing consulting gig, travelled the world, and few years down the line, was diagnosed for depression and is now recuperating. Another grad college friend, who always wanted to get into IIM or XLRI, but never could crack CAT or XAT ended up in the same IT firm that he got through post grad school and is now having the time of his life living in a Scandinavian country with his family and kids, and already bought a house there. So - IIM is not the end of it all! 2. It can be a rat race even after you enter the college. You are in a room with similar folks, and you have to fight it out for placements, cracking academics, extra curricular and what not. Are you one of those who excels in pressure and competition? Then go for it! Are you one of those that doesn't like stress - then nothing dire will happen if you stay out of the rat race (even after getting into college) and take a chill pill and see what works for you - it could be enjoying the company of like minded folks, it could be the actual MBA academics which interests you and puts you in a path to a doctorate(which, actually, very few MBAs care about!), or it could even be a completely non-MBA related passion like movie making which you decide to pursue after the MBA. Bottom line - You do you! 3. Be prepared for life to give you surprises even after the MBA. Coming back to my batch, two folks died during Covid leaving behind young kids, one guy lost his wife, and another had a stroke due to work stress. Sometimes, the top percentiles and all those high salaries can be meaningless if life decides to give you a whack on your head. 4. I saw some posts saying 18 lpa, 20 lpa as averages are not good salaries. Firstly, it is a lot, considering the current macroeconomic situation and economy. Secondly, if they say 18 lpa, it is never 18 lpa, it could be 12 fixed + 2 bonus + 4 one-time cash/stock options - be ready for that reality. Having said that, even this salary shouldn't be taken for granted in the current situation - I'm part of many IIM groups where internships and even final placements are getting difficult and help from alumni is sought continuously for placements (many of these never make the news), forget about average salary. So, when you read even 'audited' placement reports, take it with a pinch of salt. 5. The world is changing much more rapidly than ever before - in my organisation which is a global software behemoth, roles are getting redundant due to investments in AI and folks who have been in the system without up-skilling are being let go. So when you do the MBA or even if you don't, focus on these evolving trends and develop your skills in these areas - they will help in the long run. 6. And lastly, life doesn't end even if you don't do an MBA - can't stress this enough!
Please note that this is from my personal experience in B-School. Objectively speaking according to roles: 1. Product management: communication, case practice, previous workex in product/consulting, overall good profile 2. Consulting: communication, case practice, cfa (even level 1 helps), overall good profile 3: ops: some good certifications (six sigma, etc), ops style cases, communication 4. Fin: good past acads, relevant workex in fin/consulting, communication, cfa (more levels the better)/ca 5: sales/marketing: communication, good past acads So the most common criteria is communication and if you already have a good profile (pors/workex/good acads/etc), whatever you do in b school wouldn’t actually matter much. But what if you have a bad profile? Objectively for shortlisting purpose in sip, you won’t be able to do anything now other than improving your communication skills for shortlists you are already going to get. For finals, few things can land you more shortlists than others: 1. Cfa/frm/six sigma/etc: in this list six sigma is mostly overrated but it helps sometimes. Cfa and frm will definitely give you few shortlists that you otherwise might not get. 2. Finals for freshers can be effected by their sip as well as live projects that they do. For folks with workex, you’ll get different domain opportunities, but it’ll be because of your already made profile. Things that people are mentioning: clubs, communities, pors, case competitions: sure! They’ll help qualitatively AFTER you get a shortlist. These won’t help you getting a shortlist. My cv was like: bad acads, winner of 6 case competitions, good pors, good live projects and sip, civil engineering workex. In interviews, I was mostly asked case studies, about my workex, maybe some live project (if relevant), and general hr questions.
I scored 99.1x in CAT 23. I have jotted down 10 points that I learnt very late in my own prep journey. Hope this helps you. 1) CAT is an elimination test, not a selection test. Actual test for selection is GDPI. 2) Check your composite score for your target colleges. Set your expectations accordingly. 3) Quality > Quantity. Don’t try to solve too many questions just for the sake of it. Quality of questions is really important. Find good quality sources for practice. (I used Unacademy’s book for QA) 4) Don’t use Arun Sharma. The questions are irrelevant and repetitive. 5) Don’t try to save money on your prep. Go for good quality materials instead of trying to save money here and there. I made the mistake of buying MBA Wallah’s course. 6) Please start giving mocks even if your portion is remaining. There’s no such thing as “portion completion “. CAT is an aptitude test, not your school test. 7) Don’t take a gap solely to prepare for CAT. It will become difficult to clear your interviews. 8) Try to give mocks at centre if possible. IMS provides this option. 9) Identify your weaknesses and work extra for that. You have equal time to solve each section, so try to maximise your scores in your weak areas. 10) Avoid listening to any youtube channels having “king” in their name.
UPDATE: **The intention of my post is never to discourage people from pursuing government jobs. I simply wanted to highlight that these jobs might not always align with the expectations set by social media or YouTube narratives. While this may seem obvious to some, it’s often overlooked in practice. Also, through my post, I hoped to connect with people in similar situations and learn from their experiences—whether they made a bold career switch and found it worthwhile or still grapple with regret and 'what if' questions.** Warning: Long post ahead. Disclaimer: The views shared here are purely personal. My intent is not to demean or glorify any job or organization but to share my experiences and seek opinions to help in my decision-making. I also hope this post might help others in similar situations, particularly those working in IT, preparing for SSC CGL, or contemplating a career switch. A Bit About My Background I’ve had an average academic journey—consistently doing okay but never excelling. My school years saw me among the top students, but my college performance settled around a 7 CGPA. I graduated with a B.Tech from a Tier 3 college in a non-IT discipline. After college, I got placed in a service-based IT company (TCS/Wipro/CTS). Unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy my job. My role, labeled as “developer,” barely involved meaningful development work. The technologies we used were outdated, and the work felt monotonous. One day, I discovered a college friend was preparing for SSC CGL. Inspired, I took a mock test, found it manageable, and decided to prepare alongside my job. I eventually cleared the 2017 CGL exam, securing a Group B post with a 4600 GP. Before my final SSC CGL result, I switched to another service-based IT company after 3.5 years in my first job. To my surprise, this new organization offered an entirely different experience. I got the opportunity to work on modern technologies and real development tasks, which rekindled my interest in coding. My experience varied across projects. One had flexible hours, requiring just 4-5 hours of work during some sprints. Another, for a Middle Eastern client, was more demanding, with long hours and tighter deadlines. Still, I enjoyed the work because I genuinely loved coding—though I hated the office meetings and had occasional burnouts. By the time I received my government job appointment letter, I had two visa offers: one for the Middle East and another for an H1B in the USA (pending the lottery system). Despite these opportunities, I chose the government job, where I’ve now been working for three years. Reflecting on My Government Job While I don’t regret my decision, I often wonder if it was the right choice. Here are some of my observations about working in a government department, which might be helpful for others deciding between IT and government jobs: 1. Perks Aren’t Always as Expected Many perks you hear about—like vehicles, luxurious quarters, and staff assistance—are reserved for Group A officers. For Group B officers, quarters (if available) are often mediocre, and the HRA isn’t sufficient in most cities. For example, in non-Tier 1 cities, you can find better housing for ₹12-15k than what’s offered as quarters. 2. Work Profile Varies Significantly The responsibilities of Group A and Group B officers differ greatly. While this might not seem important initially, the gap becomes evident as you gain experience. 3. Slow Promotions Promotions in many CGL-based roles are slow. It can take 15-20 years to reach a Group A position, and even then, differences between direct recruits and promotees may persist. 4. Work Pressure Is Real The idea of “no work pressure” in government jobs is often a myth. If you’re sincere and value respect from your seniors, you’ll likely find yourself with plenty of work. Workload can vary by section, and some roles might even require weekend work. 5. Additional Responsibilities Due to infrequent hiring, vacancies often lead to additional responsibilities falling on existing employees. 6. False Sense of Urgency Reports and tasks are sometimes marked as urgent, only for you to later discover they weren’t even reviewed. 7. Leaves Aren’t Always Easy While the leave policy is generous (30 ELs and 10 CLs annually), availing them depends largely on your senior’s approval, which can sometimes be unpredictable. Advice for Aspirants If you’re preparing for SSC CGL or any other competitive exam, I strongly recommend connecting with someone already in the job. Honest, firsthand feedback can help set realistic expectations and guide your decision-making. Am I overly focused on the negatives, or should I seriously consider a career switch? I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences to help me gain perspective. Is there someone who has made the switch from Government to Private and don’t regret the decision.
I just got my degree. The convocation gown, the photos, the certificate – all of it should have felt like closure. But the thing is, you don’t really "graduate" from an IIM. You survive it. You process it in fragments. You carry parts of it with you, for better or worse. And maybe that’s what this post is – my way of processing the last two years at IIM BLACKI. The Arrival I didn’t come from an IIT or a top-tier college. I came in wide-eyed, from a basic Tier-3 engineering background, with nothing but hope and hustle. Some came from corporate jobs, some straight from SRCC and Stephen’s, some with 2 years of UPSC prep behind them. The diversity hits you fast, and so does the hierarchy. You think it won’t matter. That your story is unique. But it does. Your undergrad, your work-ex, your PORs, your undergrad CGPA, even your grooming – everything is currency. And your worth on campus is constantly recalculated based on it. The Hustle Begins Term 1? Chaos. CV reviews start before you've figured out where the mess is. You beg seniors to look at your CV – some do, some don’t. Some choose people who "look the part." Others become your lifelines. You meet all kinds. You walk around in the same formal shirt for three days straight, editing your resume down to a single line, obsessing over font size and bullet structure. You wonder how this is what you left your job (or city or home) for. Then comes the Summer Placement Week. You think it’s a game of strategy. It's actually a game of chance disguised as one. You hear "Day 0," "Day minus 1," and you scramble to get shortlisted, only to realize that your fancy work ex doesn't matter half as much as someone else's undergrad tag. Finance? Forget it unless you’re CFA+SRCC/St. Stephen’s+Excel wizard. You pivot to consulting. Everyone does. Not because they love it, but because it’s Day 0. And everyone wants to survive Day 0. The Great Unlearning By the end of Term 2, you’ve forgotten who you were before BLACKI. You don’t romanticize the campus anymore. You don’t post about “grateful to be here” unless you just got a shortlist. You realize that placement committees, CV points, and professor perceptions carry more weight than you ever imagined. And even if you’re good – smart, driven, well-spoken – it might not be enough. This place doesn’t just humble you. It rewires you. People you thought were brilliant don’t get placed. People you didn’t expect to shine – do. Some firms show up, some vanish. Some people get PPIed, others get ghosted. You watch it all unfold like a simulation with a dicey algorithm. And that’s when anxiety kicks in. Not the kind that you can write off with a few deep breaths. The kind that makes you wonder if your loan was worth it. If leaving your job was worth it. If you’re worth it. The Mid-MBA Crisis Third term? The intern wait begins. You like the company, you want the PPO. You don’t like the company, you still fear getting a PPO and being forced to accept it. You hate the job? Too bad, you might have to take it. You love the job? Good luck getting that offer. And then comes the exchange dilemma. You need to choose to opt for it in this term. Another 7-8 lakhs. More debt. More guilt. You're from a middle-class family that has never spent ₹100 on themselves without thinking. Now you’re planning three months in Europe? With people you barely know, hoping the trip isn’t just an expensive photoshoot? You’ll feel like a product on an assembly line. Companies negotiate. Profiles shrink. Expectations lower. And yet, you play along. You see friends cry in their rooms after getting rejected. You see brilliant folks not getting placed till the very last day. You cheer for them when they finally do – or stay silent because you got placed earlier and don’t know how to be happy without guilt. This is when your real friends emerge. The ones who didn’t just drink coffee with you in Term 1 but sat with you in silence during summers. What They Don’t Tell You Your GPA matters way more than you think. The brand on your undergrad still follows you. Some seniors will ignore you; some will become family. No one’s journey here is the same. But the pressure? That’s equal-opportunity. And you never really get used to it – you just learn how to carry it better. TL;DR Prestige doesn’t guarantee respect. You fight for it every day. Summers, PPOs, finals—nothing is predictable, except that it’ll be hard. The best part of this journey? The resilience you build. And the people who help you build it. If this resonates, I’ll write Part 2. But for now – this was the first year condensed into a few thousand words.
So i've seen people asking this question after seeing the advertisements like "Avg CTC: 15LPA, Top 25% CTC: 25LPA". Let's debunk this. So you cannot be in the top 25% with a strong or weak profile. Suppose a batch has 10 students, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J. The average package is suppose 20lpa, with CTCs in Arithmetic progression, from 4lpa to 40lpa. Then the top 20% (top 2 students) will have an average of 38lpa. It's mere luck that they got into that company with 36/40 lpa ctc. It can be either A and B, C and D, B and C. Even they don't know themself. It's just the average of the top 2 companies. Not the top 2 hardworking students. No one can determine if your skills/profile/hardwork could take you there. I'm from a tier 1 engineering college (Top NIT) and the highest placement guy of my branch had a really low CGPA. The topper of my class didn't even get placed. The 9+ CGPA holders had a lesser CTC than me, and people even with lesser CGPA than me had a higher CTC. You never know you're in the top 20% or not. That's something your luck will decide. I might get heavily downvoted for this but that's fine. Any doubts welcomed in the comments. Spread love!
There seems to be this belief in the CAT taking junta that better "brand" helps in the medium term. I hate to bust the myth but it doesn't. So I am going to condense what I have experienced into three parts - 1. Which are the brands that matter? 2. How do they matter in the long term? 3. How should you choose from your options. **"IIM" is not a brand name.** If it was all new and baby IIMs would be killing it in placements. Your parents care more about the "IIM" brand name than the recruiters because they get to flex in front of Sharma uncle in family functions. The brand names in Indian MBA are IIMA,B,C are. Followed by ISB, FMS, NITIE and XL to some extent. I would have put IIM L as a brand a couple of years back but it is declining in equity over time. **Does this mean that these brand names can carry you through life?** The short answer is No. Think of them like a "Get Out of Jail Card" in Monopoly. Rule of thumb is that you are as good as your last job. However, if you have had a bad stint or a short one, these brand names will help you get out of that situation and give you a second chance. The recruiter is likely to give you the benefit of doubt and shortlist you with an assumption that your reason might have been genuine. 5-7 years in, this will also rub off and you will only be known for where you worked, what you achieved and what others have to say about you. The biggest use case after 5-7 years is the reaction that you might get when you tell someone where you studied. It will elicit a certain respect which will reflect in an immediate sweetening of demeanour. Outside of these colleges, nobody cares enough. **So how should you choose?** Choose basis placements. Evaluate placements for quality of companies, quality of roles offered, the level you will get hired and the compensation offered, in this order. I would choose company and role over the comp any day. With the right work-ex, you can catch up on comp any time. Speak to as many alumni and current students you can speak with to assess how inflated the placement report is. An IPRS audited placement report is the most pristine, an audited one shows some intention of being clean but a self reported one should be taken with a pinch of salt and an automatic discounting of 10-20% depending on what tier of college it is (top ones don't lie too much because they care about their reputation). The no 1 thing you get from a MBA is the job followed by a network for life. If you apply to the same company off campus, your CV will be one among 100s of applications and chances are you won't even be shortlisted. So don't make a career choice basis a brand name that is perceived to be prestigious by your coaching or friends.
One of the major questions people have about MBA is whether it is a good idea to get an education loan and how it effects your life post MBA. Here's my perspective after doing my MBA from XLRI Jamshedpur BM in 2023. 1. Is it worth it? My math for joining XL was simple. I was earning 10LPA (9L fixed) at that time. MBA Fees was 25L (assumed 27L with living expenses of 2 years). Plus, I wouldn't be earning for 2 years, so add another 20L to that. Total cost - 47L. At that time, the average CTC was ~27L. Let's assume that average would be 22L fixed. Worst case, I was confident of getting maybe 25L total with 20L fixed. Compared to 9L, I'll get 11L extra. Remove 3L tax & 2L loan interest approx. Now delta is 6L. So worst case scenario, after 7-8 years I'll break even (considering the increment, maybe 5-6 years). 30 years of career ahead of me. So in the long run, it is totally worth it. 2. The psychological aspects. The major issue here is the psychological impact this 27L loan has on you. You need a larger emergency corpus. Everytime there is an economic downturn, you're worried about losing your job. How will I pay my loan then? Entrepreneurship is out of question. Taking a career break is out of question. So you need to be prepared to keep doing your job for 7-8 years even if you don't like it. But here's the thing. You'll also be taking a car loan, maybe even a huge home loan in the future. This anxiety is now a part of your life. You can't build assets without leverage. If you're fine with living a decent life but don't want this psychological strain for a decade, either don't do an MBA, or try getting into FMS, JBIMS. If youbask me, I have enough corpus now to sustain a year of unemployment and have also built a decent equity portfolio of ~10L in 2 years. In my opinion, it looks like I made the right choice for now. Hope it helps!
This is for folks who have a non-engineering background—those who come from fields other than engineering or sciences, and haven't had as much exposure to mathematics as they ideally should have. Perhaps you only touched upon it while preparing for CAT, and that too, not very deeply. This is for you. Guys, take a month or two to onboard yourself onto the journey that awaits—a beautiful one indeed. But before that, just a few things. If you can, and if you’re good with productivity and can make use of the time at your disposal—which I’m pretty sure you have right now—go through a lot of Excel. Study Excel using YouTube, preferably in your regional language. You can, for example, use Hindi YouTube channels to learn Excel, or English ones. Python would be very interesting—there are a lot of beginner-level courses, and then some secondary ones as well. When it comes to finance and analytics, Python is heavily used. In fact, some coding within integrated tools of Excel also requires Python or the R language. So, these two things—Python and R—can be quite useful. Also, it would really help if you brushed up on solving equations with multiple variables—especially those that are useful in operations management. For example, in transportation problems or network diagram-based questions, these kinds of equations come up quite a lot. I know, I know you’ll do that there too but I’ve seen cases where people have suffered. Some have made *unholy* alliances just for survival and I wouldn’t wish them upon you lol ;) So what happens is—and I can only speak for the top five, top six colleges, let’s say BLACKI—the intensity of the competition actually takes a toll on you. I just want you to be prepared. Nonetheless, this kind of preparation would be useful across all MBA colleges.
If you're taking admission into a bschool and eagerly waiting to join or for the waitlist to move, here's my two cents based on my experience at XLRI Jamshedpur. 1. Pick your domains wisely When you enter the B-school, you'll have to choose a couple of domains that you'll prepare for. Even though you can get placed anywhere, it is impossible to prep for all domains, especially for internship placements. The domain should match your profile and your interests. And, one of the domains should be the 'default' domain of your college - ie the domain that gets the highest number of placements. As a XLRI BM student, the 'default' domains are consulting & marketing. I wasn't interested in consulting, so my backup domain was marketing. ProdMan matched my interests & my profile but the tech industry was (still is) in a rough patch & very few companies come to XL for PM roles. Thankfully, I bagged a PM role from campus. 2. Hustle, but stay sane. You'll see people working 16 hours a day. But you should only work as hard as your body & mind is comfortable with. Push your limits, but always stay in the limits. For me, I had to get 7-8h of sleep to stay sane. So I never compromised on that. 3. Your Internship/Placement is NOT your identity. It's sad that you'll be known on campus by where you got placed. That is how people will judge you. But your self image should not be defined by your placement. There's already a crazy amount of pressure of placements. Don't add to it by attaching your self worth to it. 4. Make a lot of connections and a few friends MBA is not Engg where you'll make a lot of genuine friends. People are very competitive and toxic. Don't try to make too many friends, but make a lot of connections through chatting in the mess, classrooms, events etc. but remember, these are your connections and not friends. 5. Accept your position in the curve Most of the people in the top bschools are very very smart & hardworking. You may be the top 1% in the country, but the bottom 20% on campus. The faster you accept your position in your peers, the better your mental state will be. Remember, there's life after your MBA where you'll be the top 1% again. 6. Substance Abuse Never seen the level of alcohol & marijuana usage anywhere else. I had never drunk a drop of alcohol before coming to XL. I still haven't. People act as if I'm missing out on a lot of "fun". But in my view, they've missed out on so much fun because they were high all the time. This is a personal choice, but don't cave in to peer pressure. Make your own choices and stick to them. 7. Relationships The amount of sleeping around and cheating that happens in a bschool is crazy. Stay focused on what you came here for. I already had a gf (now my wife) when I came to XL. Never even thought of anyone else through that lens. Trust me, it's not that tough. If you do want to date on campus, try building a genuine relationship and not a physical infatuation. 7. Suno sabki, karo apni You'll hear a lot of advice in B-school, including the above points. Take these as people's opinions. And build your own opinions. But don't "follow" anyone. All the best for the most overwhelming 2 years of your lives :) feel free to DM if you need any inputs.