Management Development Institute PGDM Review By Ankit Pathak

Coming from a humble background both in terms of academics and financially, the world stopped for me when I got the admissions at MDI Gurgaon. My parents couldn’t afford MDI Gurgaon Fees and it took just a matter of days for my loan to get approved. MDI in terms of placements match top three IIMS, i.e., ABC. Most B-Schools today have become shops but this is where MDI is different. Yes, the fees were too high but to combat that, the institute teaches us many special programs and one such was an employability program. My answer will be biased for most answers and I ask for sincere apology for that. However, I have taken care in writing as honest answers as I can and then you can decide yourself, were my answers biased or not. The institute is couples with a great infrastructure and great faculties. Learning was not just the only way as MDI has always believed in an all-round development of students.

I was afraid because B.Com and MBA are like opposites. In B. Com, you can get away with studying during the fag end but in MBA you have to be constantly at your studies. More than assignments, the institute made us indulge in many live projects. I did as many as four live projects for companies like Aditya Birla Group, Coca Cola, Grofers, and Uber. All that we did was started adding up on our CVs and the strongest CVs got their reward with that fat a pay cheque. The classes were never ending but luckily that was it as post that we had some hours for ourselves to go into our thinking space.

Without naming anyone, I want you all to know, that one of our professors has been teaching in MDI since 1997. He has seen all the changes as he been in constant touch with the industry. His experience was the biggest help to us not just in studies but in helping us in our projects. All the professors were class and every year the batch size is of 240 students here and professors know each student by their name in just a matter of time. Their simplicity has touched my soul because with the professors you are close, you can call them at any point in time.

Talking exclusively about our batch, the Finance students were hired directly for front end roles. The company profiles that visit for placement is huge and some of the prominent names include HSBC, Goldman Sachs, Nomura, Langham Capital, RBL, Barclays, and American Express. MDI Gurgaon Average Package of our batch was 16 LPA and highest number might surprise you because Nomura and Goldman Sachs hired few students to look after their international investments at a price of around 50 LPA. The salary figures are disclosed once the full placements are done and in the two years, I was there MDI Gurgaon Placements were more or less, 100%. Placements from MDI will make sure that when you go for a bride hunt, your MDI degree and placement provided by them will ace.

Hostels are allotted on first cum first serve and because my budget was low, I had to settle for Change Masters hostel. The rooms were ordinary as we had to do everything in our room by now. From tables to bed, we had to get everything of our own. For rich brats, or for those who can afford a hotel rather than hostel, can stay at the Kshitij hostel as it was better than any hostels in the country. The girls' hostels were smaller than the boys' hostels. The two girl’s hostels at the campus were Kaveri and Oddessy.

Ask most B-School people and they will be crying on one thing and that is peanut size campus. The MDI Gurgaon Campus though was spread in close to 40 acres. I had some friends in IIFT Delhi and our Greens Library was bigger than their campus. IIFT don’t even have any sporting facilities at the campus as during events they had to rent facilities. More than that, they can’t even have their full batch stay inside the campus. I have spoken enough about them, so coming back to MDI, will start with Gurukula where our classes were held. Each student can have their own space in the green rooms as they were so big. Almost every morning, I used to see students flocking in the campus with cameras to have the best pictures in a picturesque campus. Best sporting facilities, best class rooms, best auditorium and some of the best canteens in Bhandari Bhaiya Canteen, Sharmaji Canteen, and JhaJi Canteen. Most students have left the college by putting on few extra kilos as their butter laden everything was so tasty, that health was put secondary.

I never played it but MDI is famous for its basement Poker Club. Students used to play poker and win and lose big as most students at the campus were quite rich. One thing for sure that even after leaving the college in 2019, I will always cherish the students meet, parties, movie screenings, fests, lawns and the Gurukula forever.