IFMR Graduate School of Business MBA Review By Ipshita Mitra

At IFMR strict academics, structured program, good discipline and decent placements always keeps us motivated. Our professors not only helped us to explore different fields of the finance world but also made us identify the avenues where we can enhance the spectrum of our knowledge and nurture the ability to stand strong in today’s competitive business world. IFMR has helped me to develop my knowledge, interpersonal skills, management and decision making abilities. Thus if one is opting a career as an MBA, IFMR should be in his top priority list.

IFMR is one of the top-ranked B-schools of India. It accepts candidates clearing CAT/XAT/CMAT entrance tests. The CAT cutoff is around 80 percentile and CMAT cutoff is 90 percentile. After getting a call for IFMR one has to go through writing skills test, followed by personal interview round to get selected. To the sudden outbreak of COVID-19 virus many people are losing their jobs and people are skeptical about pursuing MBA. IFMR makes a student dynamic. It not only ensures high paying jobs but also acts as a catalyst in the career progression. The college management is always dedicated towards the well-being of the students and tries best to give them the best education and placements. Another thing which I learnt at IFMR is that having clarity on the tasks is the most important thing. IFMR offers different subjects on these topics to make us industry ready.

IFMR has a legacy over 50 years. It is mainly known for MBA in finance and financial engineering for years. At it also offers specialization in Marketing, operations, strategy, HR and data science. Several insightful seminars and interactive sessions are organized by the college where students get to interact with top business leaders of the world. IFMR is one of the best management institutes located in South India. Knowledge, diversity and collaboration is most valued at IFMR. IFMR has constantly maintained top-rank in the best B-schools of India. The different specializations offered are Finance, Financial Engineering, Marketing, HR, Strategy and operations.

Since last year IFMR has introduced a new stream of Data Science. IFMR not only gives importance to domain based knowledge but also teaches us about the new trend in industry like analytics, cloud and AI. IFMR offers different subjects on these topics to make us industry ready. IFMR teaches computer algorithms, networking, data security and programming languages like R, Python which are essential in today’s tech-based world. Expertise in these domains can save organization from being exploited to a good extent. It was firstly introduced as a research organization but now proved to become one of the best B-schools offering MBA courses. Moreover most of the B-schools in India offer a PGDM degree, whereas IFMR gives MBA degree which is far more valuable. Being an MBA finance student my career opportunities for me have widened from before. Stress management is the most important thing in such a case so that one can keep calm and cope up with adverse situations while executing multiple tasks at the same time. We always work in teams, which makes us a better team player and improves our networking skills. After the completion of the task assessment and evaluation is mandatory. During my MBA days also I used to prioritize and re-prioritize the roadmap to complete the critical activities on time. Urgent things must have immediate check, but they may not be as important as some other activities. That is why forming a priority matrix always helps to prioritize our tasks while multitasking.

I feel lucky to be a student of the eminent professor panels. Our former dean Dr. Anantha Nageswaran is a member of the economic advisory board of the prime minister. Our professors hold degrees and experience at the leading B-schools of India. The average years of teaching experience that the teachers hold is 15 years. Most of them have previous industry experience and MBA degrees from leading B-schools. All the teachers guides and supports the students throughout the 2 years of MBA. Especially the teachers in the finance department are dedicated and passionate.

I come from a non-finance background, but the teachers helped me to connect with the other students who come from a finance background. They teach the basics as well as advanced level and also help us to get prepared for the campus placements. They are always available to help the students and clear their doubts and motivate them for a better future. My curriculum and teachers helped me to develop analytical visualization and strategic thinking. After assigning priority I execute the tasks based on that. Proper goal setting and decision making is essential for multitasking.

IFMR has always ensured 100% placements since its inception. Placements are decent, especially for finance students. Companies like JPMC, Deloitte, Credit Suisse, Accenture, Barclays, Bank of America, Crisil visit our campus for placements. Average CTC offered is around Rs. 9 LPA for fresher and more than Rs. 10 LPA for experienced students, and the highest CTC is around Rs. 14 LPA so far this year.

Several eminent companies come with internship opportunities. They also provide pre-placement offers to the students if they get impressed by their work. The main disadvantage of the college is its location. It is situated about 80 km from Chennai, thus the students cannot enjoy city life much and many companies do not want to visit the campus.

The hostel rooms are well equipped and comfortable. The college offers twin sharing facilities, where each student will have their own bed, almirah, table and bookshelf of their own. Two students need to share a common bathroom. The rooms have geysers, air-conditioner, Wi-Fi and mineral water supply.

The college campus is pretty large. The classrooms are well equipped with comfortable chairs, projectors. There is a huge library inside the campus having almost all the necessary books needed by the students during the curriculum. The students have a great time walking down the campus lanes post dinner, or playing different indoor games like table tennis, carom, chess, and billiard. The campus also has a basketball court, badminton court and football court where students often play to release their stress. There is a beautiful open-air amphitheater where all the cultural events take place.

There is an infirmary inside the campus where doctor, nurse and ambulance facility is available 24*7. A grocery store is also there which contains all the necessary items which can be needed by students for their day-to-day lives. The canteen maintains good hygiene and cleanliness. Food offered at the mess is quite good and better than most of the other college canteens, and I can say this as I have stayed in hostels before also. The college provides shuttle services for students on every Sunday who wish to visit Chennai for different purposes. The college also motivates and provides the opportunity to the students to take part in different events and competitions held at other top B-schools. This boosts their confidence and also makes their CV impressive.

IFMR has always maintained gender diversity, where almost 35% of the students are female. Not only gender diversity, IFMR concentrates diversity in every single aspect like they give equal importance to fresher, work experienced and also students from different cultures and educational backgrounds. Students can be part of different clubs and committees based on their individual interests which helps them to grow their management skills.

From Durga Puja to Onam, From Eid to Ugadi, from Navaratri to Pongal each and every festival is celebrated in IFMR making it a diverse centre of culture. An annual fest is held each year which is three days of massive celebration.