MICA - The School of Ideas PGDM Review By Sandip Patel

MICA is a very reputed college but is it actually worth it? I would call it overrated for sure and I have my reasons to believe the same. I will post an honest review as people should know the cons if they are to invest 20 lakhs for PGDM. I did PGDM Management & Marketing in 2016 and fees then was 14 lakhs. Today it is nearly 20 lakhs and trust me the institute is not that worthy. The campus life is certainly the best and that is the biggest positive about MICA. One thing that is common about the college is that you will find students of almost similar profiles in the college and the 4 major cities students who study in the college includes Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, and Kolkata. If you look at the diversity it is below par if you are competing with the best institutes. MICA is all about demand and supply relation where people get job and MICA gets money.

Well in Academics the best part is that the college has given utmost focus on the research part. The opportunities for industrial projects are numerous and the faculty and senior guidance in the projects is immense. First year is all about academicals learning while the 2nd year is fully practical. The division among both the years is superb. MICA for that reason is rated highly because it gives students an opportunity to convert their thoughtful ideas into reality. Case based teaching style is done in the college and I will say a little participative in nature. Regular CMOs, and CEOs of top corporate interactions. Lectures from specialists were also a part of academics.

Faculty is without a doubt one of the best. Legends in their subjects as they made sure that make learning as a habit because there’s no end to it. Also the faculty members were helpful in our industrial projects and gave their inputs even while all of those were our case studies. The course designed by MICA is done by identifying future demands of the industry and therefore at sometimes it did look confusing. However, it was MICA that helped us survive the Pandemic as the faculty members did taught us on how to adapt during emergency. All in all the faculty members of the college has justified the brand value that MICA has.

At MICA the placement depends on the summer internship that you have had with the PPO. If you have disappointed there then getting placed can be tougher. A good summer internship and placements are cakewalks at MICA. During the final placement, you will have multiple offers and you will have time in your hand to accept or reject any offer. The college has absolutely no role in making you sit for a company. It’s always students' choice as I was always interested to work with a financial firm and luckily there were as many as 6 Banks who visited the campus. Axis Bank, Yes Bank, HDFC Bank is where I appeared for the interview and chose to be a part of Axis Bank. Many IT companies also visited the campus as Marketing is MICA’s specialization and IT companies build their strategies around it. Now comes the worst part. The annual package offered to most of the students was in the range of Rs. 7-8 lakhs. The ROI is therefore not so good. 2-3 lucky persons walked away with Rs. 12-15 lakh packages but otherwise disappointing. Also an institute of this stature doesn't have a 100% placement record.

The college has separate boys and girls hostel. For the first year, we were provided rooms on twin sharing and in the second year, we were given single occupancy rooms. The rooms and the hostel for boys and girls are almost identical. The hostel rooms are large and beautiful at the same time. I fell in love with my hostel room immediately after I stepped in. The rooms have a decent amount of storage space and security guards are on duty at every point in time. The hostel also has a mess facility that serves some of the best food. The college is in the outskirts of the city and therefore staying at the hostel is a good option.

The college is huge and is spread across 20 acres of land. The college campus is lush green and different buildings for different programs. The buildings are more or less inspired by IIM Ahmedabad I guess. The class rooms are hi-tech. The library is one of the grandest that you will find and was mostly occupied. The college has a massive sports ground but trust me apart from Sunday mornings we never went there. MICA in terms of infrastructure has done best to provide students a healthiest environment possible.

The research is the essence of MICA and therefore the time literally flew by. We were always short on time and this college made me realize that we Indians will never work until our tail is on fire. At MICA, as soon as you enter the second year, your tail will be on fire always. The college doesn't have much diversity as same college students can be find in numbers. The campus life at MICA was definitely best to none.