Indian Institute of Management PGDM Review By Mansvi

I chose IIM Sambalpur, and the only reason was that my teacher said me to choose it among the ones I converted. IIM Sambalpur is a baby IIM, and yes I thought whatever facilities are provided us here are just normal as other IIMs, but after 1 or 2 months I realized that it was not the case. IIM Sambalpur is built on 200 acres, and it is built really beautifully and is hardly 2 years old. When you enter, you will be truly mesmerized by the beauty of our campus. The first week which you experience here, and at any other good B school for that matter (especially IIMs) will look like hell to you. We hardly get 2 hours of sleep for 7 days, all the time we have to be on our toes fully dressed in business formals and tight formal shoes, a lot of students quit MBA in these first 7 days itself, and this is called induction week, and it was just to make us ready for the 2 years, after that our classes started and we thought it’s good that the induction period is gone but let me tell you the academic pressure, deadlines and CnC selection is another major trauma you will have to face during your first semester. Our professors were pretty good, and well established in their field of study, so you will have great learning for sure because this is also an IIM, so no need to worry for that quality of education.

In first year all the students study together, and each semester is divided in such a way that students get a chance to go through all subjects like finance, operations, marketing, HR etc. We have 3 semesters in one year, and after every 40 days you will have exams, each semester is of 3 months and you will have mid-terms and then end-terms for each semester. You can say that, mentally you will be never free from exams, also projects and PPTs will be integral part of your life. Learning how to make PPTs and present them, is the must have skill in MBA, also nearly 60-70% weightage of each subject will consist of class participation, group presentation, and quiz. Only 30-40% weightage is for exams in most of the subjects. So, an active participation is a must. Also, we are graded in percentiles not percentage, because competition is everywhere in MBA college, we have relative markings and you can say our marks put together makes a bell curve. Our professors are really good, because they are already Ph.D from top IIMs, also if you find problems with any faculty or his teaching style, then academic committee is there to ensure the teacher is replaced, also we have a feedback form filling system before every mid term and end term, regarding the course structure, pedagogy of the faculty and all, and these feedbacks are taken seriously. For the academic part I will say everything is really well structured and nice.

Well experienced faculties all have done Ph.D from IIMs, really great faculties for marketing, but till now we didn't had very great faculty for accounts, maybe we will get better in future semesters. We have visiting faculties as well, from IIMs like Calcutta, Ahemdabad, Lucknow, Indore and many more, and our faculties are really strict about timings and discipline in the class, for some faculties if your phone rings in the class your attendance is gone for that class for sure, and when the class is at 9:30, it means be seated by 9:29 (because after that you will not be welcomed). Also, faculties don't like if you compromise your studies for CnCs (Clubs and committees)

We have an independent body for placements (Placement Committee) that are responsible for providing us opportunities for summer internships and finals. A lot of boot camps, guest lectures, and mock interview sessions are organized by the placement committee. Recently we also had workshops for excel as well. We have a big 1-2 days placement committee activities planned very frequently. Because no day is Sunday in an IIM, and most of our Sundays are taken by PLACEMENT COMMITTEE.

Sorry, But I am unable to stop myself from saying that we have the best hostel facilities better than even some old IIMs like IIM Calcutta. We have AC in each and every room, (which is not the case in IIMC, as told by one of my friend pursuing MBA in IIMC). We have proper furniture (study table, side table, chair, night lamp, study lamp, light, big spacious Almira). You don’t need to worry about the cleanliness because, there are helps provided by the institute who will clean your room everyday. 8 people share 3 bathrooms, automatic washing machine is here, we have sensor lights in our lobby, lifts are there). Our in time is 4am for hostels, girls are allowed in boys room but boys are not allowed in girls room.

Because IIM Sambalpur has shifted in its newly built campus in 2024 (Feb), so the infrastructure is new and I am proud to say that our campus is much appreciated by every visitor. Lush greenery, design of the buildings everything is great. we have 2 academic blocks (A and B), Admin Block (Kautilya), A big auditorium (Konark), I-hub (Innovation hub for startups) incubation center, a large sports complex and a gym, football ground, helipad within the campus, pond area where boating is done every evening. Everything is amazingly built here. Our campus is in 200 acres so you can imagine how big it is.

We have every possible snacks’ at our campus (Biggies burger, campus craving, canteen etc.) and we also have a small mart for our daily needs, we have a bakery and parlor as well. But, for stitching and other facilities we have nothing at campus, IIM Sambalpur is in Goshala and the connectivity is near 0, for a small repair of cloth you will have to go to Goshala and each round can be only through auto rickshaw (no OLA, UBER or bus service) which cost minimum 600 for each round. It’s in a very rural area called Goshala so please don't hope for clubs or fests outside IIM campus. Night out is something you can't do here, because In-timings for the campus are 6PM as the area is not safe to roam around in night. Also, you will encounter snakes and different types of frogs in the campus because the campus is between small mountain forests and very near to nature.