SIMER: A first batch student's Journey and how it became a Launchpad for my career

Curriculum: Content and coverage were fine, and we were even being taught new concepts with the help of modules. Lengthy evaluation: Ours was semester exams, which felt a bit long at times. The teaching methodology used for our batch was case study discussion, article discussion, Indsutrial Visit, Role play and lecturing, and even presentations by students. It was moderate difficulty with different faculty having question paper with different level of ease but overall the paper consist of question what is being discussed in the class with me having a good attendance I never faced a difficulty to clear the exams

I, along with 3 of my batchmates, were being offered/selected for an Internship at Big Bazaar, Vardhaman Nagar, Nagpur. It was a 2-month unpaid Internship. Our group was required to promote a few specific promotional schemes of Big Bazaar and was required to inform and aware the clients regarding the same My Batchmates were offered an internship at Sonalia Tractors, Punjab, CL Pune etc

We were appearing for the placement process from the 4th Semester, however, our batch was being prepared for the placement process from day 1. The first placement process that I appeared for was for Shriram Transport Finance in feb 2008. A few common recruiters who came for our batch were HDFC Bank, Shriram Transport Finance, CIPLA, Naukri.com, Indiabulls Vandana Ispat etc. One of the offers that I had from HDFC bank and the CTC offered b HDFC bank was 300000. Our complete batch was having a offer , some of us had 1 offer and some of us had many , I had offer from India Bulls, Shriram transport Finance and HDFC Bank I joined HDFC bank after getting my degree.

I paid a total fee of Rs 60750/- for the 1st year of the PGDM program, which included a 10 % merit-based scholarship awarded. The Standard fee for the first year was Rs 67500/- inclusive of all components such as tuition, registration, examination, and other fees. My batchmates who were not awarded a scholarship were required to pay the full amount of 67500 per year.

Campus Life was good and we used to have cultural event in the month of January and used to celebrate a few festivals at home, like Deepawali, Navratri, etc. We used to play a lot of sports too in our relatively free time, and it was a good time to be with batchmates Initially, we had access to 10- 12 magazines like Business Today, India Today, Business World, The Economist, anda few newspapers like The Times of India, The ET, Dainik Bhaskar, etc. We had a library and the library kept on adding books as and when we approached higher semesters. Few specific journals were there, like IIM Vikalp, HBR, Our classroom was equipped with an AC /projector with an AV Support system Our batch was divided into 4 committees, which were acads, Pr & Media, Events, and Placement Committee, with all being assigned different responsibilities

The hostel facility was good, I had a triple shared accommodation. The room was equipped with an attached bathroom, our triple occupancy room had having study table and a bed for each of us. The Hostel was very affordable and we were required to pay a combined fee that covered the cost of food and accommodation Food at the hostel was ok ok, I won't say that it was delicious, but haa if you can manage with the mess in charge than you can ensure a lot of add-ons ( jeera rice, tamatar chutney, etc) can be served to you! ( Made me learn people skills)! Saturday meals were special since it had a dessert Few accommodations were also available in the nearby locality but I never experience that

The admission process at our college was based on the overall score obtained based on 1: Marks Scored in CT/MAT or any management entrance Test 2: GD ( I remember our topic was "Rahul Dravid: Should act as a Brand ambassador of. 3: PI. 4:+Marks scored in 10th , 12th , Graduation 5: Industry experience I appeared for MAT and got a decent percentile, and hence, I was getting a good offer from a college based in the metro cities to take admission. I came to select and decided to take admission here, compared to other colleges, as follows 1: good selection process rather than just paying the fee and taking admission, which was the scenario in CG, and this made me feel that I can expect quality in this college 2: Fee being affordable 3: I knew some faculty ( Mr. Lokesh Verma) of this college from my graduation(B.E.) days, and hence was able to connect and was able to trust them and their promises of quality offering and placements

Our course was spread across 4 semesters, with a minimum of 50 % marks required overall to clear the exams. We were being evaluated with equal weight on internal and term-end exams. I liked this concept of higher weightage in internal evaluation as it encouraged me to have consistent learning. During our time few specific modules were being added to make us industry-ready, and hence I found the content and coverage of the syllabus to be good. Our complete batch was able to clear the process and was being awarded with a PGDM degree and my personal observation was that it was easy if a student is attending and participating daily but haa equally difficult if person is missing on internal marks

Being situated away from the city, the closest hangout area outside the campus was at a distance of 3-4 Km. Hangout places for our batch was Maharaja Chowk, Thakur Thela, or few dhaba situated at National Highway 5-6 km etc At the Campus, the hangout places were limited to the cafeteria