PGSEM 40%

After a long gap I am returning on this blog page. By far this was quite nightmarish time.  Qtr 3 and 4 both got over, even a month long vacation after 4th quarter completion is on verge of getting over and I will be back with the grueling time again.

For whole quarter 4 not even a single day gone by without a thought of quitting from this madness and rest in peace. But it is a tough call to quit. I guess many of the batch-mates would probably be sharing the same thought. It is not that there was no casualty and no one called it quit. So far have seen 1 each quarter quitting after having enough of it. I guess they have mastered the concept of sunk cost in entirety. Or may be others and I are still continuing as we are still thinking mechanically.

Won't go in much details for Q3 as I already had a post on that. but few noteworthy things were the 8 hours and counting QM-2 end term exam, me scoring 4/4 GPA in one subject (Law it is). Don't ask me how I got 4/4, but I know this will look like anomaly in my grade sheet. It will be impossible to replicate this again ever in life. Don't ask me why vouching for 'Life'. PGSEM made one thing very Clear, very very clear, studies and me won't go together anymore. I will be DONE with studies after this course. QM-2 paper was not lengthy nor it had too many questions that it took 8 hours + to crack the paper. QM-2 end term had just 5 questions, very 'simple' one with open book, open internet, and well within the course limit but based on real-life scenario. This will be one paper which I will never ever forget like Cell Biology paper during engineering days. Telling the paper tough would bean understatement. Prof did the justice of being a Karmakar's pupil. The linear programming and the network program just seemed liked those of Ramanujam Problem's which will be left unsolved for centuries to come. Anyways, Q3 ended and I was very happy man.

Q4 looked very easy considering 3 subjects compared to 4 what I had in Q3, but the reality hit very quickly. Subjects were very interesting but that's where the interesting part ends. 'Corporate Finance', 'Operation Management' and 'Managing People & Performance in Organization'. Short detail as below -

Corporate Finance - I got why people called it as Coffin and not CorpFin, it is truly a hell hole. No matter how much you read IRR, NPV, PVGO and feel you have mastered the concept, but then the concept just doesn't seem to work in the real-life problem scenario with high probability of making a mistake.

Operations Management - This subject was another of those subjects which I was eagerly waiting and wanted to study since pre-MBA era. Even this was in my specialization plan, but guess now I am better off with the so called 'General' management.

Managing People & performance in Organization - this was one of the course which seemed too easy but was very demanding. Moreover what could go wrong with OMHRM subjects? But innovative presentations requirement, 'n' number of surprise quiz notice in 1st class itself, a real-life case term paper and loads of reading ensured that we are engaged with the subject all the time. It was truly a interesting subject and I would say this is one of the best subjects which I have done so far in past 1 year. Those who are looking for answers to questions like where I lag, what I need to improve and may be purpose of life (if you attentive enough) and what to expect at each stage in corporate career this is one course which can give 'some' idea.

I am not writing detailed account for the Q4 subject nor making a grammar check. May be once I get some time to come back on blog page will be making the updates. For now short account should give soem idea at later point.

Q5 starting in another week time with me taking electives as 'Consumer Behavior', 'Product Management', 'Leading Change & Organization Renewal' it is going to be a busy time.

PGSEM Qtr 3 # 1/2 - MBA#1/4

Those who aren't frequent visitors on my blog may wonder how come 1/4 came so soon after 1/5. Well that's the magic of numbers, already half way into 3rd quarter and thereby this moment qualifies as quarter of MBA program. Yey!

Before writing anything further - I would like to wish all my blog readers "A very happy and prosperous new year". Not sure what to be happy here but nonetheless custom is custom and need to be followed.

Coming back to PGSEM story, 3rd quarter is special and interesting in many ways. This quarter we have 4 subjects instead of standard 3 as if 3 subjects a quarter was less. 2 Credit points for 3 out of 4 subjects are just a misnomer, it doesn't reduce the burden at all. As each subject is important from Prof's point of view and they make sure that we don't the 'beauty' by reading less or by having less exams or by having less assignment and projects. But yeah subjects are interesting - Marketing Management, Quantitative Methods - II, Managerial Accounting, and Law. Interesting because I always dreamt of having career option in them, but now no more. ;-)

Marketing Management - 3 Credit course and is making sure that we realize that 3 is a big number. With 10 case prep, book reading, 1 case presentation, 1 case submission and 4 part submission of project and a final presentation on that. Wow! and as if it was less we have a compulsory class participation and an end term. Don't tell me that there are no mid-term, each class has turned into a mid-term, can't risk missing even a single class. Apart from all these we have regular classes which talks about interesting element of marketing. Never really noticed that each action by any entity is driven by a marketing motif. For example - Real Estate supplements comes with news paper on Saturday/Sunday because people have ample time to read it and enquire if interested. All these things were much like if you look from broader perspective everything looks normal, but once you notice you can't really unlearn it and then suddenly you start noticing it everywhere. 

Managerial Accounting - Contrary to what it suggest it is mostly a theory based subject and talks about actions rather than anything else. It uses financial data to analyze the situation and than take future action accordingly. ABC, Kanban, JIT, Costing, Kaizen, Theory of Constraints, Job Order Costing, Contribution margin, etc. are living their true glory here in this course. It teaches until and unless you don't do in-depth analysis don't write off anything. An entity may look to be making loss, but once you get rid of that entity to work only for profit making entity you will realize that you may have entered the death spiral. What looked as a loss making unit was working a pillar for other entity. Unbelievable but true.

Quantitative Method - II - I am not sure why it was named II, it has no similar element and is way apart from what I studied (yes, I would like to believe that) in QM - I last quarter. This subject talks about linear programming, simplex rule and optimal mix. It definitely requires the a visualization in higher dimension to identify the optimal mix. Sensitivity analysis, limit report a great tool to identify up to what value constraint can vary without really impacting the profit margin or product mix.

Law - I always dreamt of taking law as an career option, thankfully I never got what I dreamt of. Not that the subject is difficult or boring, it is interesting but need a lot of thinking on foot ability and ability to read between lines,words, letter and what not. Court structure, legal details, IPR, Contracts, there is lot to Law and more are yet to come. Civil remedy, criminal remedy, arbitration, void ab initio - it is just interesting to listen on and on. Did you know - Location of jurisdiction written in any item bought is incorrect? You can file case anywhere and everywhere irrespective of the jurisdiction area mentioned by the company/manufacturer. Or you can still claim for a loss even though disclaimer from company says they disclaim all such request by taking vicarious route. Law is strong and rigid to those who doesn't know it, but has softer and flexible element to those who know it. No wonder lawyers take a lot of consultancy using this information asymmetry. 

I think by the time I finish the course there will not be a single rock unturned in MBA parlance. PGSEM was not a bad choice I think. Yes, it is painful as it requires a lot of personal commitment and time but then I do have to forgo something to gain something for small period. Till it gets over, Rocky Balboa for you - "No Pain - No Pain"

Time for marketing pitch - if you are following my blog page, have experience of 2+ year, have written CAT/GMAT recently and are interested in pursing a MBA program to enhance your profile or learn something new then PGSEM is the right choice - Refer to this link to apply - http://www.iimb.ernet.in/node/3497