Management Development Institute PGDM Review By Chetan Ram

After studying a lot of Physics from the professors who were equally efficient in economics, I decided to try my hands at some. MDI is the highest-ranked B-School in the Delhi-NCR region. The admission criteria is again high and you will only find the brightest students at the college. The PGPM program was so fun and rather easy than my UG program. I will share the routine that I had at MDI as the classes started at 8.30 am so had to wake up at 6-6.30. The mess opens at 6.30 and had to rush for the breakfast as soon as I woke up. Take a friend along for the breakfast and get into some gossip session is how the morning session passed. From 8.30 am to 2 pm, we had non-stop classes and since the attendance is strict, you have to attend. 2-3 was lunchtime and the mess food was amazing. After a year, it got boring and we searched for some options nearby. 3-5 more often than not we had extra classes and after that, a coffee became even more compulsory. So 5-8 pm was our time in which we used to have some coffee at Nescafe bar and some bonding time with friends. 8-10 pm dinner over which many groups of the college would meet and discuss the upcoming college and intra-college events. From 10 pm onwards we used to play AOE or CS with friends till 12. Every other day, we have to be ready as it was the birthday of some or the other students. 1-2 am have to sleep as we always had an early start. Next day 6-6.30 am repeat the same schedule. It may sound boring but trust me I never had so much of dun in my life before.

I think I did all my studies at St. Stephen’s College itself because at MDI after the lectures, you will not find a single student opening their notes or doing assignments. The assignments were done only on Sundays because every Monday we had submissions. The industry visit once in a month was done and doing compulsory industrial training for 2 months was compulsory engagement. Getting grades at the college was rather easy as submitting assignments on time will take care of the practicals and studying a week before the exams will help you pass semester exams with good numbers.

Probably the most chilled. Each class consisted of 90 minutes and half of that time we used to play pranks with our faculty members. Oh boy, they were such a sport that they will make fun of themselves. The faculty played a power play during the class where they were serious for the first 20 minutes and then give us some relaxing time and the last 20 minutes again they will rush through with the notes. In short, they were amazing because one can ask them the same thing a million times but you will hardly see any frustration on their faces.

Ever since the IT industry has taken over at the Delhi-NCR, no matter which course you are in, you will always have IT companies backing your strength. I was not so keen but among the choices that we had, IT was the leader of the pack. Companies like Tech Mahindra, Coforge, Infosys, and TCS took the bulk of the students and offered a reasonably fair CTC which was around 12-14 lakhs. Some also missed out on campus placements and though the college claims a 100% placement record, it is not that way.

There were 2 twin sharing and one triple sharing block for boy’s accommodation at the campus and likewise such block for girls as well. Takshashila block was like the executive block and therefore the fees for staying in that block was higher than the other. The hostel room had regular fixtures but students had to bring their own beds as the college didn’t provide that. You can get all the room fixtures inside the campus from the store called MART. The hostel dining hall was clean and huge. All the courses students used to share the same mess and the dinner which were officially from 8 to 10 but we used to extend that till 11 pm. The food, on the whole, was good but over time it became impossible to have the same food time and again. Thanks to Sharma Ji’s Dhaba near the college as from 2nd year onwards, we had our meals there more often than not.

The campus is big but half of St. Stephens in terms of area. The facilities though are modern as the library we had was digital and the classrooms too had digital blackboards and screens. The computer center of the college was built by Tech Mahindra. The college lawns were lush green and the buildings at the campus had some architectural symbols. The academic block had state-of-the-art classrooms and recreational rooms separate for boys and girls. The auditorium hall was again one of the best as it was completely air-conditioned and had comfortable sofas for the students. The infrastructure has taken out-of-the-box thinking and one needs to appreciate that.

I think I should have mentioned my routine under this section. Nevertheless, the college had more events than almost any other college in the DU or NCR region. The fest, intercollege competitions were given equal importance. You have to participate to be in the good books of the management. If you performed well there you might get some extra numbers.