This post is way overdue because I just went through the most packed term to date. (Yes I know I’ve been saying that for every term till now) Last term was load, this term was overload. The cocktail called “inundation” had three potent spirits. First, we had five courses (as opposed to a typical four) and each of these courses were packed with demanding assignments making it hard to get by with just paying attention in class and studying . Second, all clubs got going in top gear – alumni sessions, recruiter visits, resume reviews, study trek planning and much more. Finally, there was a flood of case competitions, from Amazon ACE (which happened before the term itself) to UHG Optum to ABG Stratos and many more.

The packed schedule began even before the term. After term 2, I thought I’d have a chill 5 day term break but the most of my time went away in solving Amazon ACE . This term we had Operations Management, Management of Organisations, Managerial Accounting and Decision Making, Corporate Finance, and Responsible Leadership . Corporate Finance was by far my favourite course – it started an interesting exploration of the guts of finance and ended up jargon-busting a lot of terms for me . Made me feel like I’m one step closer to understanding markets. Managerial accounting was also interesting because it taught us how managers account for costs and determine profitability for individual business/product lines, which is very different from financial accounting which is done at the firm level (and with very different goals).

In the spirit of keeping us on our toes, our study groups were shuffled this term. My new team was filled with rock stars who show up to study group meetings with assignments (nearly) complete and ready for quick discussion, which meant I was always struggling to keep up with what was happening . This dynamic was very different from my pervious group where we would do assignments together with ample discussion, allowing everyone sufficient time to catch up . Due to the overload of assignments, most groups (including ours) split the work – which means that instead of the group doing an assignment together, pairs or sub-groups of people would tackle individual assignments . This felt like a real downside to me because I really enjoy taking a crack at assignments and learning along the way.

Term 3 is when priorities start to change, academics went out of fashion and club activities, case competitions and (still 2 terms away) placements take their place. One unique component of education at ISB is class participation; 10-15% of your marks in most courses are allotted to how well you participate in class; this includes answering questions a professor may ask, sharing your owning experiences relevant to a topic being discussed; and in some form or the other, just talking . With 70 students in a class, it becomes just logistically hard for everyone to get a chance to speak. Yet, in the last two terms people did try a lot to get their points heard . This term however, a huge chunk of the class decided that they don’t care anymore, which was lovely! The fight for airtime usually means a lot of banal points . However, this left class participation to much smaller group of people. In a classic case of the lemons problem (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Market_for_Lemons), these people aren’t the ones with the best points.

Something truly different that I did this time around was going bald. After experiencing a thinning hair for a couple of years, I knew I’d have to embrace the bald look someday; with the alternative being to get some hair transplant done . It’s something I wanted to try out anyway, so I decided to just go for it. To compensate for the missing hair on the head, I decide to grow a modest sized beard and swap my glasses for ones with a much thicker frame . The look drew caused shock and confusion amongst people. Most people were stunned. Many asked why I had done this, inquiring quietly if I had done this because of a death in the family . Many laughed. A sizeable chunk couldn’t recognize me. It was truly enjoyable to watch people’s reactions. With no hair on my head, I finally was free from the worry of hair-fall . With thinning hair, every strand of hair you find lying around gives you a little sorrow as it reminds you that you’re slowly going bald, and old. By embracing the bald look, I felt extremely relieved and free . I recommended this to anyone who get feeling under-confident or annoyed because they’re losing hair.

A fun thing that happened this term was Aikya. Aikya which means oneness is ISB’s effort to get students to be a part of the local community. Every study group is allotted an Aikya family from the local community . The families are welcomed on the first Aikya day with a student dance performance, plays and other performances followed by a dinner. Our Aikya family was super fun, they were a couple from the Panchkula area; the wife was an ISB Alum from the class of 2006 and her husband was IIM Ahmedabad graduate . They were working in Mumbai about 10-12 years ago, when they decided they had had enough of the city’s hustle and bustle and moved back. They are an entrepreneurial bunch, after setting up a Biryani delivery business, they are now doing an education venture (wow) . The husband was an extremely humourous gentleman and kept joking around. We had a great time sharing our experiences with them. After wrapping up dinner and taking a picture, they left for the night . Leaving us with invitation to join them whenever we can with promises of good home food and Old Monk.

This term we had Elective Bidding. Unlike BITS, where every student got assigned a random priority number and could use that to select available electives, here everyone gets 4500 points and has to bid for electives . The administration conducts pre-bidding rounds to understand demand for various electives and puts a final number of electives and seats. Elective seats are limited, and bidding is a live process - meaning everyone logs into their PCs and places continuous bids for electives they want . This also means that you can lose an elective you’ve gotten at the very last second because someone came out of nowhere and bid more than you – which is what happened to me . Fortunately, there are additional bidding rounds and I hope to get my elective back!

This term was a complete blur. It really pushed my limits and I’m happy for it! Despite my best efforts to plan things to keep activities manageable, I ended up sleep at 5 on a couple of days . It has also reset my expectations. While last time I was looking forwarding to a relaxing term break, this time I’m actually gunning to finish a few case competitions and get back to running. Relaxation has exited the lexicon.