Post Mortem

It has been almost 6 months since we finished PGPX and it already seems like a distant dream - a great one at that. Sitting alone in the middle of the night, I am having this strong urge to ponder over that year so well spent.The welcome dinner, the barrage of classes and quizzes in the first two terms, midnight football, end-terms, t-nite, Dasada, IIP, placement season, convocation - everything seems like a dream that got over so very fast.

I still remember how eager I was to get into IIMA and then once I got through how confused I was to take the plunge. At some point, I even had the feeling that most of my questions about what I myself wanted in life and career would be answered during that one year. And when I look back now, how wrong I was. If at all, it gave us so many opportunities, so many choices and that much more confusion to add to life. Reality sucks! But given a choice, I would still go back and spend a year at that great place. Personally, learning to use a bit of right brain, great lifelong (hopefully) friends, a barrage of management jargon and the brand are probably my takeaways.

PGPX FT Ranking Communique

Official Recognition

The much awaited Financial Times MBA rankings are out and IIMA PGPX ranks 11th in the world. This is some achievement considering that the PGPX program is less than 5 years old.

http://rankings.ft.com/businessschoolrankings/global-mba-rankings-2011

In terms of career progression, PGPX has been ranked number one in the world. It has been ranked second in Asia. Such recognition really has boosted the image of the program in the world stage. It is also a pride for the nation as a whole because we now have IIMA, ISB and SP Jain in the top 100, a list that had no Indian B-school a few years back. ISB must be congratulated for taking the lead in participation. What also needs to be also known is that IIMA was not eligible to participate in the rankings because the fifty year old two year program does not mandate any prior experience as entry criteria - a critical parameter for FT. The PGPX program also did not qualify until the 2011 because it had not completed the minimum program age criteria - PGPX is less than 5 years old, as of today.

Personally, I believe rankings do not mean anything in absolute terms, but it definitely clears a lot of skepticism for a relatively new program such as PGPX. Before I joined the program a year back, we had our share of doubts about how the world would look at a full time one year MBA program that is wrongly termed as an executive MBA by the Indian media. In that regard, the ranking from a respected authority such as FT is a shot in the arm. More so because FT has ranked PGPX ahead of the likes of IMD, Yale etc. The ranking does not change anything that as participants we already knew. But for the uninitiated, it provides the much desired credibility.

I am sure every world class program has its own merits and in certain aspects they would stand out ahead of others. This is why an absolute number, salary figures etc. mean little. In my personal opinion, the aspects that PGPX really stands out are the selection criteria, the amount of career options it provides to choose from, the academic rigor, the absolute lack of spoon-feeding, the empowerment of students to make their own destiny - just as senior managers would do in real life, and most importantly, the pedagogy which pushes the participants to think beyond the obvious. Please visit grocla.com.