Graphic Era University MBA Review By Tanisha Panwar

GEU rescued me after GEHU jolted me without any placements. Placements here are a feast because if you survive the four semesters with a good CGPA, trust me: placements will be a feast. At GEU, you can push your luck as much as you want because placements will happen, but it's not the end of the world for activities which you have been involved with during the UG program. Hill and GEU are similar in a lot of ways as the same clubs and societies were operating in both the Universities. MBA, though, is the lengthiest course of the University, as we were the ones who entered the first at the campus and left the last. Some students took some extra pressure from their studies and made a cut-off from all other activities. I was unlucky during the MBA program because I had to leave the Marina Hostel and stay at the GEU campus girl's hostel. The in-time again was 7 pm and classes ended at around 5. Thus, I was left with a couple of hours to have some quality time spent at the campus.

MBA was tough or the University made it tough is beyond me. A lot of people whom I work with today are from XLRI, and NMIMS and they say that we studied more than what they did. Classes couldn't be missed at any cost. The schedule for industrial visits and events were planned and there was never a change in that. We ran as per the schedule and that was the best part of the University as everything went as per the plans.

There's a vast difference between the Hill and the GEU faculty. Firstly, the number of faculties were quite high and our management block named as the 'Chanakya Block' also had the staffroom as MBA faculties were not allowed to move out of the block just like the students until the classes are done. So, faculties were kept in check and student's activities, too, were monitored closely by the faculty. Faculties' communication skills were the best and there were two kinds of faculties at GEU. One type was excellent and the other was extremely knowledgeable. One complaint from students' point of view, if I can make it, would be that they were strict with deadlines and timelines. Otherwise, one can't have any complaints from them.

The University is known more for engineering, as management studies here comes as a second fiddle. The placements, though, were equally good for MBA students as it is for engineering students. IT, FMCG, and Auto companies were the core of the companies that came for placements. Hero Moto Corp, Bajaj Auto, Skoda, were the big names from the auto sector and Infosys, IBM, and Wipro were some of the big names from IT that made their way to the campus and offered placements to MBA students. The average placements were around 6-7 lakhs, as nobody can guess that because 80% of the students were placed and 20% couldn't, so average of 6-7 is what we were told by the University. However, my friends, including me, had the package of figures that the University said was the average of our batch.

The hostels of GEU campus are not as good as Marina hostel which is off-campus. I decided to switch back to Marina as Marina hostel is the home for both the Universities. The GEU girls hostel was not as big as that. The rooms were not as spacious and most importantly, balconies were missing at the GEU campus girl's hostel. Laundry service was upright and food served was more or less the same that we were served at Marina hostel. Sorry for mentioning Marina hostel much as the importance of that hostel is confined to the ones who have stayed there.

The GEU campus is bigger and better as the Chanakya block ensures that we have everything in our block. The campus's biggest canteen, Shagun Canteen, was on the right-hand side of our campus and the library and labs were inside our block. The central library was hardly used as all the reference material required for our course was available at our block library. The classrooms were bigger and there were two big lecture halls as the common lectures were held at those lecture halls. There were many auditoriums and two playgrounds along with badminton and basketball courts at the GEU campus.

MBA was tough and finding time for club activities and events was tough. However, I couldn't keep myself away from the limelight and therefore kept myself updated with many activities and also made my presence at the annual fest 'Grafest'. For the most part, we were occupied at Chanakya block, but life inside that block was quite fun.