Oakbrook Business School MBA Review By Mayank Maheshwari

I wanted to get out of Ahmedabad, but my destiny stopped me at Ahmedabad. I couldn’t score well at the other entrances and the only college that was happy with my score was the one and only Oakbrook Business School. The college is at a fair distance from my residence and after a lot of convincing my parents allowed me to stay at the residency provided by the college. Since the college is managed by big guns who have friends in some of the top corporate of India, the college will assure you placements and exposure. The college mostly has students from nearby though few students from other states also joined OBS and that made me feel like, finally I am at a place where there are students outside Gujarat as well. This itself was an exposure for me and career wise the opportunities and exposure provided by the college was enough to get me placed at a bank that is just 10 minutes drive from my home.

While joining it we were asked to choose our subject and after doing a normal B.Com it was difficult for me to adapt to this pace. Not just me but many students suffered as the college kept on throwing projects after projects and in between exams, internals, and submissions. The fatigue started to happen in the first 3 months itself. It was then that I realized that a break is important before joining the MBA college as having done B.Com will hardly help in MBA studies. The college management understood our point and decreased the pace a bit for the next semester but come the next year and it was the same. Well, I am glad they did this because the demand of the banking systems is such that one has to be prudent always and it was the 2 years with the college that made us learn what being anxious means.

The faculty was way experienced and still the energy with which they conducted lectures shocked all of us. Some of the professors were in high 50s and their speech was so clear and loud that if we pay attention there was no room for any miscommunication. Hats off to the brilliant faculty that was brought in just to train us like animals. MBA is not just about theory and therefore the professors also gave a lot impetus on practicals. The best thing was that they never mislead us or had their favorites. They treated everyone on campus the same and even used to pitch for weaker students.

Yes, some unlucky ones did miss out but overall most of us got placed and that too in the firms they wished for. Banks, brokerage houses, pharmaceutical companies, auto sectors, insurance companies were all there to hire us. The figures are irrelevant because getting placed from campus was more important as the management also made sure that no one discloses their appointment letter to each other. I liked the point so that everyone joins their respective firms on a high note and raise the bar of the institution. From the students of our batch with whom I am in touch all are doing well and will say that I am happy with the kind of placement facility that the college provides.

Since the campus is small the institution was left with no choice but to arrange hostels for us at a nearby place. There are 2 residential buildings out of which one is dedicated for boys and the other one first 3 floors are reserved for female students and the 2 above that are for boy’s accommodation. The fees they charged was justified as along with residential they also provided food. The food lacked spices and therefore 2 days of the week we used to try out some restaurants at the highway. I don’t think there’s any restaurant left in the SG highway that I didn’t tried while I was with the college.

A beautiful campus and may be not as large as my previous LJ College of Commerce campus but were far better for sure. The classes were unimaginable for me because I never thought that I will study through projectors and LED’s. Apart from that there was an auditorium where many imminent personalities came and shared their version of success. Most of us do use to yawn during those sessions but college still called them. Other than that, what to say as I believe its common everywhere, a library, a canteen, a basketball court and some indoor sporting facilities. The college was built intelligently as having a large campus and large buildings don’t help anyone’s case be it student or management. In this regard one should learn from OBS as how well they have utilised the resources.

The important thing that I learned at the campus was how to adjust in a fast-paced city or workplace. I am working today and can say the amount of pressure that we had then was more than what I have today. The college has groomed all of us so well that we know how to present ourselves. The campus life passed by so quickly as I even used to avoid going home on Sundays and my parents used to drive and come to meet me. The life at OBS was a roller coaster ride that had various twists and turns.