We had our mid terms last week. It was a weird feeling getting back to exams after such a long time. It had the perfect recipe for disaster: huge syllabus (profs told us that they cover about a 15 day course in 5 days here), little time (3 weeks), back to back exams (4 in 2 days) and huge competition (need I elaborate on the last point?). Strange as it was, the exams didn't feel so bad. Sure the eco paper felt like a PHD dissertation and I committed some gaffes here and there, but the entire concept of an exam has been turned upside down @ ISB. Some exams are open book, open notes. In most exams, we are allowed to prepare a cheat sheet! Kinda takes away the fun. Down the line, I heard that there would be some exams that are take home! The idea is to test application skills and not mugging skills. All questions pertain to application of concepts and depth of understanding and do not hinge on the ability to remember a formula. The grading is also a continuous process and we have quizzes, presentations, group and individual assignments, class participation and other such grading scheme wherein we are being graded nearly every day and not just during the mid and end terms. It's a shame, such schemes weren't employed in our schools and colleges. It would have surely aided our understanding a lot more.
P.S. Speaking on presentation, today we had to present a Marketing case analysis to our section wherein the grading comprised entirely of peer evaluation! Now that was fun.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Monday, May 11, 2009
MBA FAD(M)s
Many people say that MBA is a fad. I say come and attend our FADM classes. FADM stands for Financial Accounting by Decision Making.
The first half of the course was taken by Professor Mohan Venkatachalam from Duke University. Who knew Accounting could be so much fun. Only a maverick like he can make a mundane subject like accounts come alive in class. In a class composed of mostly engineers, he literally brought Taare Zameen Par. Today was his last class and he actually showed a clip from the above mentioned movie wherein the kid draws the winning picture in the competition. He explained the reasoning behind showing the clip that today being the last day, everything he taught will fall into the big picture and it will all make sense.
It all started on our very first day of classes. The first class contained such gems as "Many students say Accounting seems like Greek and Latin to them - one day Greek, next day Latin"! In our class, the Chartered Accountants (CA) were given an option to continue normally or chuck the class to work on a project which would be more challenging to their intellect/knowledge. To elaborate on the choice, he brought up Matrix, the movie. When Morpheus and Neo meet, Morpheus offers Neo two pills. The red pill will answer the question "what is the Matrix?" (by removing him from it) and the blue pill simply for life to carry on as before. As Neo reaches for the red pill Morpheus warns Neo "Remember, all I'm offering is the truth. Nothing more." So he enacted the scene to the CAs that he'd offer this just once and if they accepted the red pill, that would be it and there's no turning back. To accentuate the point, he in fact brought 2 actual red and blue pills!
All ISB students were really emotional on seeing him leave and each section is planning to give him some gift as a token of our appreciation. He's such a sport that he agreed to be at the receiving end of ISB's most personal gesture - Dunking (where we throw the person to the swimming pool - generally reserved for Birthdays)!
Now that should be fun.
Over and out. For now.
The first half of the course was taken by Professor Mohan Venkatachalam from Duke University. Who knew Accounting could be so much fun. Only a maverick like he can make a mundane subject like accounts come alive in class. In a class composed of mostly engineers, he literally brought Taare Zameen Par. Today was his last class and he actually showed a clip from the above mentioned movie wherein the kid draws the winning picture in the competition. He explained the reasoning behind showing the clip that today being the last day, everything he taught will fall into the big picture and it will all make sense.
It all started on our very first day of classes. The first class contained such gems as "Many students say Accounting seems like Greek and Latin to them - one day Greek, next day Latin"! In our class, the Chartered Accountants (CA) were given an option to continue normally or chuck the class to work on a project which would be more challenging to their intellect/knowledge. To elaborate on the choice, he brought up Matrix, the movie. When Morpheus and Neo meet, Morpheus offers Neo two pills. The red pill will answer the question "what is the Matrix?" (by removing him from it) and the blue pill simply for life to carry on as before. As Neo reaches for the red pill Morpheus warns Neo "Remember, all I'm offering is the truth. Nothing more." So he enacted the scene to the CAs that he'd offer this just once and if they accepted the red pill, that would be it and there's no turning back. To accentuate the point, he in fact brought 2 actual red and blue pills!
All ISB students were really emotional on seeing him leave and each section is planning to give him some gift as a token of our appreciation. He's such a sport that he agreed to be at the receiving end of ISB's most personal gesture - Dunking (where we throw the person to the swimming pool - generally reserved for Birthdays)!
Now that should be fun.
Over and out. For now.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
CEOs, Power dressing and meaning of Time
Finally it has started to dawn that Im in the Indian school of Business. Last week was damn hectic and getting back to books was a whole new experience.
The whole concept of class is turned upside down in that here, u r supposed to come prepared with the readings and the prof will just help clarify doubts and facilitate discussion among classmates. There are 4 papers this term:
1. Financial Accounting in Decision Making
2. Managerial Economics
3. Marketing Management
4. Statistical Methods for Management Decisions
Each papers require about 4 chapters of pre reads before each class (unless there's a case study). We have classes from Monday to Thursday - 2 a day. There are group assignments and individual quizzes over the weekends and a host of other activities including club meetings workshops, talks by eminent personalities, etc.
The CEO of Goldman Sachs delivered a speech on the importance of Entrepreneurilism last week. COO of CA also spoke on restructuring and growth of CA over the last few years. Watching these mighty personalities from a hand's distance feels great. Last week I took a session on IT strategy and spoke about my experience as a consultant. The clubs are yet to be formalized but there are lots of initiatives by enthusiasts. So we have 2/3 meetings planned for each club every day. There are a whole lot of new clubs coming up as well to the tune of politics Club, Beverage club, Running Club and so on.Hats of to the energy level of the batch. The meaning of Time has changed a lot. Some people including yours truly have even forgotten its definition. I sometimes wonder how I manage to pack in so many activities in just 24 hours
Some people asked me about Toastmasters so I emailed the student body asking how many would be interested. I got over 100 responses! So I held a Tm session at our auditorium which was attended by well over 100 participants!
We also had an informal BCG alum session in which 2 alums working in BCG flew down from Mumbai just to have a chat with us. The session was very informative in that they clearly outlined the requirements for wannabe consultants. The room was jam packed as expected but it was fun as well. Sometimes the inquisitiveness of the batch overflows and there were questions such as what do partners at BCG have to look forward to?..Are the careers stagnated after one becomes a partner? Some people feel getting in is a mighty task while others are thinking way ahead.
We had a Photoshoot today for a marketing handbook to be distributed to the potential recruiters. So we finally got to power dress. God it feels good to be back in school.
With each passing day, my decision to earn my MBA and at ISB seems more justified. More on the subjects and profs on a later post.
Till then, over and out.
The whole concept of class is turned upside down in that here, u r supposed to come prepared with the readings and the prof will just help clarify doubts and facilitate discussion among classmates. There are 4 papers this term:
1. Financial Accounting in Decision Making
2. Managerial Economics
3. Marketing Management
4. Statistical Methods for Management Decisions
Each papers require about 4 chapters of pre reads before each class (unless there's a case study). We have classes from Monday to Thursday - 2 a day. There are group assignments and individual quizzes over the weekends and a host of other activities including club meetings workshops, talks by eminent personalities, etc.
The CEO of Goldman Sachs delivered a speech on the importance of Entrepreneurilism last week. COO of CA also spoke on restructuring and growth of CA over the last few years. Watching these mighty personalities from a hand's distance feels great. Last week I took a session on IT strategy and spoke about my experience as a consultant. The clubs are yet to be formalized but there are lots of initiatives by enthusiasts. So we have 2/3 meetings planned for each club every day. There are a whole lot of new clubs coming up as well to the tune of politics Club, Beverage club, Running Club and so on.Hats of to the energy level of the batch. The meaning of Time has changed a lot. Some people including yours truly have even forgotten its definition. I sometimes wonder how I manage to pack in so many activities in just 24 hours
Some people asked me about Toastmasters so I emailed the student body asking how many would be interested. I got over 100 responses! So I held a Tm session at our auditorium which was attended by well over 100 participants!
We also had an informal BCG alum session in which 2 alums working in BCG flew down from Mumbai just to have a chat with us. The session was very informative in that they clearly outlined the requirements for wannabe consultants. The room was jam packed as expected but it was fun as well. Sometimes the inquisitiveness of the batch overflows and there were questions such as what do partners at BCG have to look forward to?..Are the careers stagnated after one becomes a partner? Some people feel getting in is a mighty task while others are thinking way ahead.
We had a Photoshoot today for a marketing handbook to be distributed to the potential recruiters. So we finally got to power dress. God it feels good to be back in school.
With each passing day, my decision to earn my MBA and at ISB seems more justified. More on the subjects and profs on a later post.
Till then, over and out.
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