Indian Institute of Foreign Trade MBA Review By Sreeranjana Mitra

IIFT is one of the best institutes in India. International Business was the theme here but the institute taught us all subjects and HR definitely being their flagship course. The talent pool of IIFT was immaculate and I was a part of the most confident section, Section C. Our class discussions and debates were so memorable that I still debate with my friends on same topics. Our class represented students from various backgrounds and it was nice to learn something or the other from each one of them. Placements are still 70:30 as one need to be really lucky to get placements. However, IIFT passed out easily get placements off campus too. One can stay occupied with the campus life the way they want. The alumni base of the college is strong and has been exploited to student’s advantage. The alumni fraternity stories of IIFT are as good as JBIMS, FMS, or the IIMs.

Institute has maintained its 50 years of legacy through hard core studies. Trimester system prevails like many top B-Schools today. The institute is not just famous in India but abroad as well and therefore our research materials came from top universities of the world. Our case studies too involved Jack Maa, and Elon Musk. Now academic was hard core and so were the parties of IIFT. No other B-School other than IIM Kolkata and IIFT party as hard as 4 am in the morning. The irony here is we can party till 4 am but at 8 am we have to be at our classes. So, you will live a campus life that you will just die wondering but to keep the momentum going, or rather your stay comfortable at the campus, do study as hard as you can.

It was both highest of highs and lowest of lows. The best one was class apart and even this is an understatement. The bad ones, I think I should leave it here. They are so intriguing, that they will make you expert in Mark-Trade and Mark-Fin.

The college unfortunately has lost some of its charm in last few years. The placements were benefitting 8-10 years back and aren’t so good as they used to be. Yes, people walked away with a package of 30 lakhs and then there were few who didn’t even had any placements. Nestle wanted some students for their trade policies in various countries. Naturally, it became one of the biggest contributors during our batch. SCI was new name added as college has mailed them to hire students of IIFT and they obliged by taking 40 odd students from our class. So, placements again has the highest of highs and lowest of lows for students who couldn’t get placed through campus. The ratio was still in the favor of students who were placed from the campus.

Hostel C7 was the boy’s hostel and C8 was the girl’s hostel. A new hostel was almost ready and probably must be operational by now. Each student gets a single room to stay. Hostel had laundry service, a common dining area separate in each building. Hostels were guarded with guards and girls were allowed to go close to the boy’s hostels but guys were not entertained near the girl’s hostels at all. Our balcony opened at the sight of Qutub Minar. The hostel life I will discuss in the campus life area as campus life includes the hostel life.

I don’t have great shake about the infrastructure of IIFT but will give 11 on 10 to the location in which the college is located. Right next to the college was Sanjay Van and Hauz Khas restaurants were our savior on most occasions. The college had two eight floor hostels and a six-floor building that had everything. A huge conference hall, a discussion hall and probably the biggest auditoriums I have seen in my entire life. The classrooms are designed that encourages interaction as without breaking the neck one can see every other student in the class. There’s no restriction inside the campus as we can roam around and use every single facility of the campus at any point of time.

You just need a right companion and life will be super fun at IIFT. From Film Festival to Management Festival, everything happened at the campus. The annual cultural fest Quo Vadis need no mention as for three days, the college became a jam station. As soon as the sun disappeared, the party started and students, faculties everyone openly used to have alcohol inside the campus. We just had to keep some for the guards as well as we included them as well in our parties. In a nutshell, if one needs to have a great campus life, there’s no better place in India at least other than IIFT.