Let’s call it a day: Term 1
The dream of studying MBA was a part of my soul, my dreams and thoughts since high school itself. In a period of uncertainty in life, I still held on to the belief that I found solace in my dream, then a wisp at most. It grew more powerful in my college years, a powerful storm in my otherwise calm being. When I was 3 years into my job, my work schedule was becoming more and more unforgiving and merciless, I worked 13-hour shifts, slept about 3–4 hours a day, couldn’t give time to my family and was living a miserable existence. In these conditions, I held on to my MBA preparations. Around the last week of November, I got offers to join both TU Berlin and Politecnico de Milano. I was excited but the life that lay ahead of me, but like The Fool of the tarot, standing for uncertainty and surprises, the UK strain surfaced and I had to relinquish my decision. One day while scrolling through social media I came across SOIL, which offered a 1-year program in HR, although I had my own doubts, I threw my fears to the winds and left my project, joining in May after a few months of mental preparation. It was one of the most important decisions of my life which gave a new push to my being.
The courses were balanced, the assistance offered was good, the Mentoring was carefully monitored and coordinated, and we had constant interactions with business leaders and seniors of SOIL. One of my first classes was foundations of marketing, I was initially not much interested in classes as they were online and I thought there would be little interaction, however, the classes were interesting and the teacher often cold-called the students. Even Accounting, which was nothing short of a diabolic existence-threatening me, became a cakewalk due to the unique style of teaching of our teachers. I really enjoyed Psychology and OB classes, non-academic subjects like Yoga and Wellness were a fresh breath of air in a busy day and I had lots of hilarious moments including those with my family during the sessions. Our batch was filled to the brim with creative but amicable peers and there was a healthy sense of competition that allowed everyone to grow and blossom.
Elections came around but I had other priorities so I couldn’t stand up for any of the positions. I was both surprised and amazed at the smoothness with which the elections were carried out. I got selected as the head of the Ankuram Club (E-Cell). I actively participated and hosted a plethora of cultural events. The journey was not without any struggles; I despised Pre Reads before class and had a lot of issues with time management. Then I went to Gurgaon and my learning program morphed into a hybrid one. Initially, I was anxious but I later acclimatized. I actively had a good time at college and we spent our leisure time socializing peer interaction, and constructive criticism. There was also a lot of fun in form of dance and singing, activities during rehearsal for the cultural exchange program in collaboration with Shizenkan University which I genuinely enjoyed. I had a greatly needed confidence and self-esteem bolster through Business Communication classes. Aptitude tests every week are a great pain. Constantly cribbing about how 30 questions are given in a time frame of 15 minutes became my life’s newfound sorrow. GD Sessions with CMS were an Icebreaker along with a place to widen one’s experience. In the initial part of the year, I achieved a role model grade, which fueled my ambition and desire to get better, what followed was a series of hilarious attempts to get the same result, only to miss a short mark and get the Accomplished rank.
I am seeing the way my personality is changing. I am observing how I can fulfill those tiny little goals that I dreamt of before starting the course. SOIL’s PGPM can indeed be called a 1-year transformation program. In a span of just 4 months, I have seen some of my weird fears going away. Day by day I am becoming more and more confident. With this series of bizarre but amazing events, term 1 came to an end, and now here I am standing at the welcoming gates of term 2, anxious but fully prepared to face whatever comes next.
