Studying in a top 100 B School globally is no less than a dream come true. Hundreds of thousands of students aspire to achieve the goal every year. Just from India, over 200,000 appear for the coveted CAT exam to get admission into the IIMs which figure in the list of Top 100 FT ranked Global business Schools.  Globally, even bigger numbers of students appear for GMAT with the aim of setting their careers on the path to success. On an average, a B-School admits just about 30% of the total applicants.  All the applicants wish they could get to know about the process and these B-Schools as much as they can. We at Top100MiM believe in providing the applicants all the necessary ammo to make their application a success.

Today, in our ‘Student Interaction Series’ our guest is Mr. Ashu Gandhi. He is a budding social media entrepreneur who provides services to large number of firms. He has about 2 years of work experience before he decided to join MIM at I.M.T. Business School Paris- a Grande Ecole, FT top 100 ranked, AMBA & AACSB accredited program. Like many of the applicants, he too had written CAT to get into top Indian B-Schools. However, he took the call to join a top ranked global business school.  His first semester just got over. He is happy to share his views and offer the future applicants some advise. Lets hear from him:

Rishabh: Hi Ashu, as a mentor I feel so proud to conduct this talk. Its so nice of you to agree to share your views with future applicants. So lets start with : How’s you experience been for first few months at I.M.T. Business School Paris?

Ashu: Thank you so much sir for inviting me here. It’s my pleasure to share my thoughts with all the students and I really thank you for getting me admitted in the I.M.T Paris. Having studied at an Indian engineering College and spent more than two years working in the field, I thought that the MBA is going to be a similar kind of college experience that I have already had. Even during my CAT prep days I always thought that IIM or any other top business school are going to be an extension of the teaching methodology and systems that I have been through. Many people in my family and even my friends who are studying or have already studied in top colleges in India like IIMs, MDIs, SIMBs had shared similar feedback. So considering all these feedbacks, I can just say life at I.M.T business school is simply unimaginable till you reach there. My first four months have been nothing short of a very exciting dream run.

Let’s start with my classes, they are so engaging, there is hardly anything which is text bookish or to be crammed. Completely interactive pedagogy with case studies, presentations., live projects etc. keeps us involved and excited about our classes. In my batch I have students from over 70 different countries so now today I can count my friends in Spain, Morocco, Switzerland, Brazil, America, London, China, Hong Kong and more. The faculty encourages us to go out and explore the world. We have already been to 5 different countries as part of our B-School trips.

Truly speaking there is so much to share and I am so excited. However, living there and experiencing it is very different from describing it here, so over all I can say my experience over there has been fantastic and I wish that that as many students as possible should come and experience it. I sincerely thank you for all this because it was you who guided me towards this and made this happen.

Rishabh: That’s good to hear and Thank you for all your appreciation. Many students want to know about your B-School in general? Like how are the placements, the faculty , the infrastructure etc.

Ashu: Honestly Sir, if somebody is worried about placements even after getting admitted in a top Global college like I.M.T Paris then I think the person is too pessimistic and may not even be cut out to become a manager. From whatever I have enquired from my seniors in just first four months here, the average package is more is about €50,000 and when I have even talked to my seniors in industry and taken their advice on how to make a career they told me that you can easily get a package of €60-€70,000 after graduating from here.
So I would say that let’s not worry about package at all, let’s just plan and work hard to make a strong application because once you’re into such a Top B-School the placement is quite assured provided that you do not fail or stop attending all the classes.

Also, students have to understand that this is an AMBA accredited, AACSB accredited, a Grande Ecole certified program and also provides us a French government national diploma. Also, it is ranked by FT in top 100 of the world. What else would assure a good career?

Coming to the infrastructure part, my B-school is a French government B-school so we have one of the biggest business schools in France. It’s a 6 hectare campus with multiple tennis courts, athletic facilities, Indoor game facilities, basketball courts, lush big lawns and gardens and whatever we could have dreamt of a good B-school from infrastructure point of view. We even have separate party halls for a small party or a big party. In-fact parties at IMT have been endless there is every weekly party, there is a 15 day party there is a monthly grand party. Very good platform to socialize with peers, seniors and faculty.

Faculty is super supportive. There doesn’t seem to be any barrier between us and the teachers. We can walk up to them for any advice, they even go out of their way to help us, which may not be necessary as a part of their subjects or academic duties. The faculty members seem like mentors and very motivated to help us succeed in our lives.

Rishabh: Super exciting! I get lot of queries about accommodation. The parents are naturally worried about that aspect. Shed some light on this aspect.

Ashu: We all are living in our separate individual rooms or let us call them apartments. Almost 180 ft.² area. We have individual washroom facilities in a room and cooking facilities, living area and bedroom space. All our apartments are super secure with a three tier security. Even our closest ones cannot enter a room without knowing the digital codes to open the hostel gates and apartments.

We are also having a lot of fun with the food, as we are 11 students from India over there. Apart from that we recently had exchange students coming from IIMs to IMT for one term of about 4 months. So there was a strong Indian community. Amongst ourselves we have started cooking many dishes. You’ll be surprised to know that I can now cook Vegetables, Dal and even butter chicken. All the facilities inside our apartments and with all the friends around, we are very comfortable in terms of food and accommodation.

Also I.M.T has a golden policy of providing apartments to international students on priority so all of us who are from outside France will surely get an apartment.

We also get the CAF subsidy on our accommodation easily, which means almost 40 to 45% of the rent is being paid by French government for which I am truly thankful to them because I could have never imagined this support from Indian government to any student in Indian college. Our overall expenses are in range of around INR 25-35k per month.

Rishabh: Good, nothing could be better. Now lets come to the main query in every students mind: “What are the chances of my admission?” Please share your views on eligibility criteria and selection process.

Ashu: Yes, admission is the tricky part. Having interacted with lot of students over there, honestly I think we were lucky to get admission get admitted in such a Top ranked B-School. They have very limited seats in the Grande Ecole program. They already have a huge number of students applying for these seats.

French students have to sit in for an entrance exam, for which thousands of students apply, and only few get admitted into the grande ecole program. I think it was little easier for us because B-School wants diversity on campus and not many Indians had applied. Overall, if we look into the relative comparison, its almost as tough for the French to get seat here as much its tough for Indians to get into IIMs.

I would say the real key is to apply early because admission is on a rolling basis. So, while the application deadlines may be open till late but if you are serious and want to be successful in getting admitted you must apply early.

As far as the chances for a particular student that really depends on his or her profile. According to my view point, everybody is welcome to study at I.M.T. if they can show a strong motivation and desire to make a good future and have the potential to become a proud aluminus of our B-school. Admissions team and Faculty at I.M.T. business school are very open minded they are not really too much bothered about your CAT or GMAT scores. However, seats are really limited and writing strong motivation letters, and good interview is really very important.

Rishabh: Having closely been part of the admission process and seen the admission committee of I.M.T. Business School, what advise would you give to the future applicants?

Ashu: Well sir, while you are there who am I to give any advice to students. I am sure you’ll be able to help them make strong applications just like you helped us. Only thing I can say to them is that be very sure about what you want to do and be very quick in your decision-making. If you want to come to I.M.T business school apply as soon as possible and follow the guidance of Rishabh Sir. As he advises you on your interview, SOP, LORs etc., kindly ensure that you make them in that fashion and get it edited from him before submission. Mock Interviews are also very necessary. Don’t worry, you will make it here and I am here to offer you a smooth integration into I.M.T. Student life.

So guys, that was the text of our talk with Ashu. Hope you found something actionable and useful. It’s high time that you gave your career the RIGHT push. Doing Management studies from a low ranked (or unranked) B School doesn’t make sense any longer. The world is so connected and increasingly the business domain is becoming ONE- no longer the physical boundaries matter. So to Thrive and even to survive, you must aim at a global degree and that too Only from a TOP 100 B-School. To assess, your chances of admission, you are welcome to try our FREE profile evaluation tool below.

I have already met more than 15 corporate’s son and show them what I do and many of them were willing to offer me on the spot internships which I thought I will first complete my semester and then look forward to them.