Meet IIM Bangalore’s EPGP Class Of 2023

P&Q: In the 2022 Financial Times ranking, IIM Bangalore earned one of the 15 highest scores for being recommended by alumni. What is behind this high level of alumni satisfaction? How does the school bring students and alumni together and tap into alumni to provide greater mentoring and opportunities for MBA students?

Thampy: “IIMB prides itself on its alumni engagement. We have a dedicated office for Alumni Relations. We have a Dean overseeing Alumni Engagement. The Director of IIMB meets the alumni regularly. We have alumni representation on the Board. Our alumni are involved in the school’s activities from interviews to placement; from delivering guest lectures to leading workshops in their areas of expertise; from being part of juries for case competitions to addressing open house sessions during admissions.

We have an Alumni Committee that connects the current batch to the alumni. Every student in the cohort is assigned an alumni mentor. We have AMA (Ask Me Anything) sessions over weekends where alumni from sectors such as Corporate Finance, Product Management, Technology Consulting, Management Consulting, etc. interact with students.

The EPGP curriculum includes a Comprehensive Project, which examines a contemporary live issue or topic pertaining to either a specific company or an industry. Alumni help with sourcing such projects. This reinforces the program’s strong connection with industry. This Student-Alumni engagement helps us network, get industry updates, plan our careers and hone our problem-solving abilities.”

P&Q: IIM Bangalore is one of the most prestigious and selective MBA programs in India. What are two ways that applicants can set themselves apart and increase their odds of receiving deeper consideration for admission?

Thampy: “It isn’t about high GMAT scores alone! Diversity is prized so is experience and domain expertise. Having clear career goals for which the EPGP is a stepping stone does help. The programme emphasizes peer learning not just from the cohort of 75 fellow students but from the PGP cohort as well.”

P&Q: What are some aspects of IIM Bangalore’s programmes and culture that make it appealing to women? International students?

Thampy: “IIMB is an equal opportunity campus. IIMB has a significant number of women on the Board, women in the faculty body, women students and staff. There are women in leadership roles across the school. There is a Women in Management club; there are Women in Leadership seminars and workshops; there are programs like Tanmatra that nurture women in business and leadership. NSRCEL has long-running and hugely popular Women Entrepreneurship programs for women who start up and scale up.

IIMB provides a wholessome classroom experience. Live projects, placements, internships have never been biased on the basis of gender. Companies which come for recruitments hire students for their skills, knowledge and capabilities.

For EPGP students, IIMB provides family housing. Many women in the EPGP cohort have young children and there is plenty of support including round-the-clock healthcare for all, and crèche, sports coaching and summer camps for children on campus. Festivals are celebrated with enthusiasm on campus.

IIMB is EQUIS accredited. It is also among the top ranked B-schools in the world, featuring in the Top 50 of FT and QS global rankings. There is an Office of International Affairs at IIMB which handles Student Exchange Programmes. IIMB has exchange partnerships with over 70 schools, globally. Large cohorts of students from B-schools across the world spend a term at IIMB and apart from the classroom learning, they enjoy educational/field visits, food tours and cultural exchange programs. They find the city of Bangalore appealing and the IIMB campus, welcoming and nurturing.”

5 REASONS TO CONSIDER IIM BANGALORE

1) World Class Faculty: “I am being taught by industry experts and advisors, authors of the books that are referred by several other business schools around the globe, economists who are in the discussion panels alongside cabinet ministers on the news every day, and ex-faculty member or alumnus of Harvard, MIT Sloan, Kellogg, NYU, Cornell, Warrington, University of Texas, Yale, Michigan, ISB and other IIMs. The faculty profile of IIM-Bangalore is one of the richest in the world. This itself is the biggest reassurance to MBA aspirants seeking the best learning in their sprint at IIM Bangalore.

Even if someone is not taught by most of the faculty, all professors are extremely welcoming for talks, discussions, guidance, and projects.”
Abhishek Pandey (’23)

2) S Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning (NSRCEL): “I get to meet and interact with some of the highly passionate entrepreneurs from the startup capital of the country here. As an aspiring entrepreneur who’s never shy of ideas but always worried about opportunity cost, the stories – of both successes and failures – that I keep hearing from the folks who are turning their ideas into reality are instilling some much-needed confidence in me. Moreover, I get to have a first-hand experience of product development in an entrepreneurial environment, build a great network, and be close to work while at school.”
Bibin Kumar (’23)

3) Location: “[It was the] quality of connections with the Industry. Bangalore, being a technology and start-up hub, offers more in terms of learning for those who have a keen eye for it. It was important in the sense that it gave exposure to the kind of business problems companies were already trying to dabble with.”
Akshay V Bharadwaj (’23)

4) Flexibility: “One of the best and least spoken of part of the elective terms is that you get to decide your own calendar for the last 2 terms depending on your elective choices. This way you are in complete control of your time to be invested in beyond the classroom learning, readings, application and research”
Harshad P. Bhoir (’23)

5) Electives: “The number of options that IIM Bangalore offers in terms of the electives is unmatched by any other institute. Moreover, the faculty conducting these electives are or have been industry experts, so it’s not just the academic flavor that you derive out of the hours spent learning these programs.”
Harshad P. Bhoir (’23)

ADVICE TO PROSPECTIVE APPLICANTS

“Plan, Do, Check and Act: The famous PDCA cycle works wonders in personal life too.

“Plan” your career well in advance and that doesn’t mean knowing exactly what you want to do but to know WHY you really want to pursue an MBA from IIM Bangalore. Once that is complete, start “Doing” your preparation and work hard on the application – especially the SOP and Resume. “Check” every single line of your resume and SOP and act on the mistakes with complete honesty. The more real you are, the more confident you will be in your applications and interviews, increasing your chances of a selection conversion.”
Abhishek Pandey (’23)

“It is important to understand that you didn’t get in because you were better than the other applicants but because you were different from them. Being different means the unique ‘YOU’, and only together with the others did you make the class a more complete experience. It might so happen that when you land here, you see a lot of different and amazing individuals. Again, don’t forget you are one of them. With that said, it is extremely important you build new things around who you already are because your core is probably the strongest of your suits. MBA isn’t about reinventing the wheel, but about improving what you already have.”
Harshad P. Bhoir (’23)

EPGP Student	Hometown	Undergrad Alma Mater	Last Employer
Akshay V Bharadwaj	Bangalore, Karnataka	BMSCE, Bangalore	Ministry of Railways
Harshad P. Bhoir	Thane, Maharashtra	Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute Mumbai	Services and Trade Co. LLC
Ann George	Trivandrum, Kerala	Kerala University	Jacobs
Akriti Ghai	Chandigarh, Chandigarh	Institute of Chartered Accountants of India	Ernst & Young
Bibin Kumar	Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala	Nehru Institute of Engineering & Technology, Coimbatore	Deloitte Consulting
Mamta Kumari	Ranchi, Jharkhand	BIT Sindri	Steel Authority of India
Janet Mary	Bangalore, Karnataka	National Institute of Fashion Technology	Enamor Lingerie
Abhishek Pandey	Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh	Manipal Institute of Technology	Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India
Vishwa Prakash Shukla	Mumbai, Maharashtra	KJ Somaiya College of Engineering	Orage Digital
Sipra Priyadarshinee	Cuttack, Odisha	NIT Rourkela	Hindustan Petroleum Corporation
Gautam Sharad	Patna, Bihar	Training Ship Chanakya	Maersk Tankers
Lokender Singh Rathore	Jodhpur, Rajasthan	NIT Surat	Indian Navy