IMI - Total Quality. Review on IMI, Delhi

A Big Hello to All MBA Aspirants!

A years ago, I was in the same situation as most of the guys reading this review(or indeed their parents...!!) are in. So, as a student of IMI's Full Time Flagship 2-yr PGP Programme, I decided to give you an honest bird's eye view on the institute.

I secured a percentile of 94.18 in CAT 2004. After the CAT Paper Leak for the first time in 20 years, we were all very apprehensive, and wanted to get into some good B-School to make good our hard dedicated efforts extended till Feb. Amidst all the confusion and chaos, I got calls from IMI, Fore, IMI, XIMB, Symbi etc.

Being from Delhi, I had seen the infrastructure such as the classrooms, computer lab, recreational facilities, the mess etc. But my major concern was the intellectual fervour, the value addition that would accrue at the end of the 2 years. It was a big investment, 3.5 lacs, add to that the opportunity cost of 2 years of work lost.

But after consulting several colleagues, my mentors at Career Launcher and my parents, I came to the conclusion that IMI was the right Institute for me. But, since then and till now, my life has been redefined. Joining IMI has been undoubtedly the most productive decision in my life.

From the very beginning I was totally impressed by the academic excellence here, the faculty here is simply superb. The pedagogy followed from the beginning was closely related to the live industry happenings, and the cases taught are also contemporary. From that perspective, you really get trained very well for entering the corporate world. Classrooms are well equipped with multimedia projectors and are spacious, well-lit and comfortable seating is a big plus( you could doze off in some boring lectures, which are rare although!)

But I would say that the greatest value addition has come from the time spent outside class hours. There are several clubs catering to the fields of marketing, finance, systems etc. They conduct lots of activities such as quizzes, debates, management games etc. Then the endless fun at the hostel(which I miss being a day scholar... alas..) makes it lots of learning with loads of fun.

After hearing all this stuff on academics and management, you must be wondering.... what about leisure?? After the gruelling day, we chill out in our amphi, chatting away, or playing basketball or even watching the stars at night! Then what to talk of fests, our annual event Kritva, parties and all, total tashan!

Well, now coming to the most important issue - PLACEMENTS. On the placements front IMI has been doing well consistently for the past many years, but the last year was exceptionally successful. There have been several recruitments of new faculty members who have excellent records from IIT or IIM's and some even from premier US B-Schools which has added great value. On top of it, there is now a new Director who is a stalwart in his field and has excellent contacts with the industry. Because of that, placements can only be expected to skyrocket for years to come.

When I rejoined in 2nd year in July 2005, I was in for the shock of my life! Total change in the look of IMI! On the infrastructure front, great strides have been taken, the interiors have been totally revamped to give a stunning international look. Our fav 'audi' or the auditorium now looks like a corporate conference hall.

Now to conclude, I would say that studying at IMI has been a highly rewarding experience for me and the learnings here will be cherished in my treasure trove for the rest of my life.

For all those aspiring for a good B-School, let me give you a very honest opinion about when to join IMI, if you do not make it to the IIM's, XLRI, FMS or their ilk, then IMI is the best bet. Many will say that MDI, SPJIMR, Symbi etc are above IMI in rankings, but very honestly, based on the facts I am seeing, it is only in 1 year or less, that we will be rubbing shoulders with these institutes in term of intellectual capital and placements. In terms of infrastructure, we are on par or better than them. So, I would place IMI in the A segment after IIM's and XL etc. You need a percentile of 90 above to make it.