Life@SPJIMR

As I walked in to the SPJIMR campus, I was filled with a sense of excitement.  I saw some familiar faces from the interactions on facebook, and smiles were in abundance. There was a great deal of warmth and openness right from the administrators to the faculty. It has been an eventful few weeks at SP Jain since then and I am amazed by the diversity and talent in the batch. SPJIMR has a unique selection process and when one looks at the numerous skills and talents the batch possesses, it is hard not to give credit to the college for sticking to a different admission criteria in a country where we are obsessed with marks and ranks. It is really cool that there are national level basketball players, people with patents and books to their credit, dancers and singers of great calibre and several others sailing in the same boat!  In the words of the very wise, Captain Jack Sparrow, 

“I think we’ve all arrived at a very special place. 
  Spiritually ecumenically, grammatically”

Life in any b-school, especially during the first year is hectic. You have deadlines to adhere to, competitions to participate in, class work to keep up with. But, you also get to meet some interesting people and make some genuine friendships. When you are thrown into a cut throat environment like a b-school, it is easy to lose perspective and get caught up in all the madness. But what I like about SP Jain is that, by virtue of some unique programs in its curriculum, it has managed to give us the students, a broader view of things and taken the learning beyond the classroom. Be it the PG [Personal Growth] lab where the entire batch gets an opportunity to travel to Khandala, indulge in adventure sports, participate in group activities, build ‘connections’ and learn some important lessons of life; or Abhyudaya which takes you out from your comfort zone and into the slums of Mumbai to be mentors to some very bright children. There is an effort to humanize a course which is not traditionally associated with having that element. This is what makes SP Jain different from other b-schools.

SP Jain gives its students’ great amount of responsibility in terms of dealing with several aspects of the MBA life. We have committees that cater to a plethora of issues ranging from infrastructure to organizing guest lectures, from running an academic conclave to organizing the college sports and cultural festivals. The faculty trusts in the ability of the students and under the faculty’s capable guidance the college has managed to go from strength to strength. All these activities foster a great sense of camaraderie in the batch. Being located in Mumbai makes the whole experience even more vibrant. The local train experience, the walks and talks at Marine Drive, the endless discussions about new places to eat on Wednesday nights, the excitement at spotting a celebrity, the trips to Carter Road and the shopping adventures in Lokhandwala are just a few in a long list of things that Life@SPJIMR offers.

In sum, through all the ups and downs of academic rigour, the excitements and disappointments of competitions, the successes and failures of events, you learn a lot and you live a lot at SP Jain!!

      

Contributed by: Namrata Suri

 The contributor is a PGDM(2012-2014)  student at SP Jain Institute of Management and Research