That thing they call IIM - Part one

The last one year at an IIM has been one hell of a journey and cannot simply be covered in a blog article. So, what I am gonna do is make this a series and spread my life @ IIM over a set of articles.

Do I hear some groans? (Oh no not one of those stupid IIM/IIT stories again...)

Unfortunately it is. But you are a good person no? You won’t close this blog without reading it fully right. So stop complaining and start reading...

After four years of work experience, I must admit entering an IIM was scaring me a teensy weensy bit. My greatest fears came true when a few of the students ended up calling me "old"

:(... Hey come on, I am just 18 (I mean at heart)

Ok back to the story.

There are primarily 2 kinds of students at the IIMs. I will call them BF and SF (no no, its not what you think...)

BF stands for Big Fish and SF stands for Small Fish. (ya, I don’t want to use bad words in front of family audience see)

Ok, so what’s with the fish?

Big Fish
Before entering the IIM campus, the word "Derivative" vaguely reminded them of something that their math teacher was trying hard to push through their skull...

Was that dy/dx? arre chodo yar....
Small Fish

Derivatives are financial instruments whose value changes in response to the changes in underlying variables. The main types of derivatives are futures, forwards, options, and swaps.....ok enough there...

Big Fish
The third price they won in a fancy dress competition in their 8th class is one of their
resume bullet points

Small Fish
They are unable to find space in their one page resume for the international quiz competition
which they won last year

Big Fish
They attend classes to gain attendance

Small Fish
They attend classes to gain knowledge

Big Fish
They are serious when they say they haven’t prepared for the exam

Small Fish
They are serious when they haven’t prepared for the exam

Big Fish
Day zero of placements : They are probably sleeping till 1 o clock in the afternoon
and go in the evening to check out if their small fish friends have been placed

Small Fish
Day one and two of placements : They don’t know what to do and try to give moral support
to their Big Fish friends

So there you have it.

You are probably wondering why I decided to call them big fish and Small fish.
The logic is quite simple.

The Small fish are ones who are going to be "small fish in a big pond" (the pond being Mckinseys, BCGs and Goldmans and Lehmans where an IIM grad is perhaps just another guy among thousands of Wharton/Harvard and other IIM grads) while the big fish are going to be "big fish in a small pond" (the pond being some IT company or some other day 2 company which is more than glad to have them working for them)

Ok no judgment calls here. This is just a simple truth. Take a moment to digest it.

The ocean (IIM) is not just made of the small and big fishes, it consists of all kinds of sea creatures that swim and enjoy in the ocean, before taking a jump into a pond.

I for one am a dolphin and am a big fish (not the biggest though :( ).

Do I hear some protest?I am the author no? So I get to choose what I am. So don’t complain now. You pick some nice fish which you want to be called as.

So I guess, that should do with the intro. I would continue with this post later. Next time, I would be obviously talking about fishes, but would assume that you know what I mean when I say someone is small fish or a big fish? Ok? Now run along, go do that thing your boss asked you to do and stop wasting time reading blogs....