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CAT... B-school Entrance Tests... you came, you saw, you conquered... The hallowed portals of a premier B-school now stand waiting. The glory is yours, but so is the gauntlet. As a PGP student at IIM Kozhikode, this is my attempt to give an inside view of the lives within these four walls.

Caveat Emptor - Expect an Opportunity, not Schooling

As you take your first steps in the college of your dreams... this is the palpable warning in the air for the buyers of a management education.

Walking down the labyrinthine paths that lie ahead, you uncover your own opportunites, take your risks, applaud your victory and admonish your fall. This individualism is something we must learn to treasure for our life ahead. In a B-school, there are no absolute achievements; achievement is as much a relative component as hyped CGPAs. Paper presentation victories, incredible network of peers, an outlandish CGPA, a love interest, self-discovery are all take-aways offered. In this wonderland, you have a choice whether to follow the white rabbit or not, but if you do decide to, here are the things to keep in mind: -

Awaken

B-schools are a universe of the never-seens, whether you are a quasi-teenager or a 6-year working veteran, this education is an opportunity for you to experience diverse stimuli - the enlightening talks of peers, corporate big-wig’s seminars, obscenely difficult case-studies, insane night-outs, cut-throat competition, etc. The awakened mind endeavors to learn through all these moments and emerges enlightened and with a fresh perspective.

Arouse Awareness

You will be confronted with a scarcity of time, and the most convenient way to combat this stress is to confine yourself to allocated tasks. This false sense of complacency of having completed your "daily assignments" can lead you down a path spiraling abysmally into the depths of narrow perspectives .In these times, the people who can be aware of larger perspectives and the world around them rise a cut above the rest in terms of self-actualization.

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* Contributed by -
Ananya Tripathi,
B.E. (Computer Science) from Pune University,
Currently pursuing 1st Year PGP Course from IIM Kozhikode.