The untold story --- MBA an IIM-Kozhikode, India

IIM-Kozhikode director takes you into a world of no baths, no breakfasts, no time

The IIMs produce roughly 5% of the MBA population in the country. They selected the students through the Combined Admissions Test (CAT) examination. "For every 100 students who take the CAT exam, only one makes it to one of the IIMs". The CAT-scanned boys and girls represent a selection of excellence that is unparalleled in the world.

The popularity of the MBA programme comes from a very stiff entry barrier and multiple exit options in the form of job opportunities. This is unlike university courses where the entry barrier is not that high and job options are much less.

It is only natural, then, that recruiters in industry pay a lot of attention to the students and consider them fit for well-paid jobs. Where else would recruiters find such tried and tested students with a very high degree of general intelligence?


Having started on a note of optimism:

Director wish to share with you the untold story of what actually happens once the students get into the MBA programme. The views expressed here do not pertain to IIMs in particular, but to most good MBA schools in general.

Getting admission to the MBA programme is only part of the story. Being selected is just one function of student’s test-taking ability. It may not have much to do with student’s managerial ability. Student’s success in the jobs they’ll get, it’ll depend not just on the student’s quantitative and verbal skills that had helped you successfully crack the CAT.


The challenges on the job will demand a lot more:

Social skills, ethical behaviour, capacity for on-the job-learning, emotional maturity and leadership.

Here, I attempt to highlight some of these:

The learning curve:

From the day one of joining the programme, they have to move steeply up the learning curve. They are accelerated learning has to accommodate reading upto 200 pages of printed matter a day.

The readings will include case studies, books and newspapers for general awareness. They will be tested for their ability of not just learning by rote, but also learning from the experience of practising mangers and some wise professors.


Time & self-management:

They have to complete at least 36 courses of 30 contact hours each in two years. Time passes by like a rocket and if you are not self-organised, they may feel like an astronaut who has just missed the spacecraft! Everything here may seem to be at an accelerated pace than their "previous life". Some B-schools insist on a minimum percentage of class attendance.

Multi-dimensional character:


If we are a potential Nobel laureate and a social entrepreneur like Muhammud Yunus, we will not be a complete misfit in the MBA course. We have had people who have owned their own football clubs and scripted promos for Bollywood after passing out from IIMs.

They are dedicated to one mission only-maximise profit.

If we want to change the system being part of the system, we are welcome to IIM Kozhikode. Here our encouragement not exclusive mercenaries, but inclusive excellence. We are privileged here to create socially sensitive citizens who would someday lead India in their chosen paths of excellence.