International School of Management Excellence PGDM Review By Ugam Kumavat

ISME offers a PGDM program that is industry oriented. The college accepts CAT, XAT, and MAT scores. Talking about B-Schools of Bangalore, there are plenty. IIM-Bangalore was beyond my capacity, so I'm coming down a bit, Christ University, St. Joseph's Institute of Management and Ramaiah Institute of Management are known for their MBA and PGDM courses. I had to take a year off to prepare for the entrance exams and that hard work landed me to one of the best colleges in Bangalore. ISME is a little different from other B-Schools as ISME's entire course resonates with industrial demand. All the big IT companies and Banks have raised their problem to the college, and that is what we were taught so that when we join those industries, we don't join them as freshers. ISME was started by groups of people who have passed out from prestigious global universities like Wharton and CMU. The college, therefore, has tie-ups with many private universities in abroad. It was a completely different experience as my belief that place doesn't matter because at the end of the day, we have to study on our own. Thanks to my elder brother, who has studied all his life in Bangalore and understands the importance of an institute in a student's life.

For the first time in my life, I heard a year divided into three semesters called trimesters. When I went through the syllabus and the list of things we will be doing in each trimester, I went berserk. ISME had other plans as the way everything went from classes to practicals to assignments, I never personally felt that I am being bombarded with the extra workload. Exams were so fast that once we are done with one trimester exam, just one day off and we are back to classes. Time is money, and one will understand that thing only if they join a B-School.

Faculty is, without a doubt, the best part of the institute. Not just alumni of prestigious B-Schools, but along with that all the professors had vast experience of working in industries. These qualities gave them the upper hand required, which made students take them seriously. More than the study material, their teaching method gave us confidence.

Bangalore being an IT hub, one can't keep a distance from the IT industries. Wipro, TCS were the major IT recruits while all the big domestic banks like HDFC, AXIS, and Kotak from the banking sector gave us an opportunity to be a part of their organizations. The salary offered was somewhere between 6-8 lakhs per annum. It was a little low compared to other colleges that I mentioned at the start, but one thing that even they would have failed to manage was 100% placement. The corona touched during our final trimester, but we all were placed well before that. Thanks to the college's placement cell that took care of this aspect with complete dedication.

ISME boys and girls hostel is inside the campus. The hostel fees was a little high as 1.3 lakhs for a room that is shared by two was pretty high. It included food, but I used to eat south Indian food for a change but when I had to have that daily, it became nuisance for me. Since, PGDM is a residential program the students had to stay at the hostel compulsorily. The hostel was not that strict as boys could go out and come as late as midnight. The guard would give informal warnings, but that was it. I have had Rasam Rice almost every second night while staying at ISME hostels. There were students from nearly 20 states of India, so the college should do something or cook something that suits everyone's palate. Other than food, there was nothing that could have any negatives.

Since the founder of the institutes is international, the infrastructure too was international. Hostels close to the admin building and a library and amphitheatre next to the hostel. The campus is not that big but has all the amenities. Hot and cold water coolers on each floor of admin and hostel building. The canteen was our savior as they served us Paratha's. The entire campus is Wi-Fi enabled and is under the surveillance of security cameras. A recreational room separate for UG and PG students. A spacious basketball court to enjoy during downtime.

The analytics and financial lab consumed me and my college life. Coming from an engineering background, I had to spend extra hours at both these labs. Students had to wear blazers as it was the uniform and anyone without proper tuck-in was asked to leave the classes. We were taken to a study trip in Singapore during the second year. Thus, ISME provided us an opportunity to share space with international students. It was perhaps the most unique experience of my campus life at ISME.