BITSoM

Sunaina Ahuja is a founding class student for the MBA program at BITS School of Management, Mumbai. She completed her BA from Jesus and Mary College, Delhi University in 2017 and has a work experience of 29 months with E&Y. The first month at BITSoM in July began with orientation week, titled “O-Week at BITSoM.” It consisted of five days of diverse and thought-provoking sessions, commencing first with interaction with Mr. KM Birla himself. He took the batch of 140 students through his vision of BITSoM and engaged in a Q&A which was quite enriching. The rest of the days were filled with team-building activities, hearing from other global thought leaders, meeting study groups, having a faculty session for families, and many more insightful discussions. All of this took place during our stay in a luxurious hotel in Powai and hence was comfortable, to say the least.

After the conclusion of O-week, we kickstarted our classes virtually, which were quite seamlessly conducted. Our subjects contained a lot of depth; for instance, one of my favorite ones was happiness and well-being! In how many MBA schools do they include such a course as part of their curriculum? It was extremely important for us given the current social context of increasing mental disorders and the general feeling of dissatisfaction that’s flooding people’s lives. Moreover, the assignments got me to think, reflect, and take action. One of our projects was “creative altruism”: how could I come up with a creative and fun way of conducting a selfless act, which is also impactful for the stakeholder? Such tasks even got me to collaborate; Within the first month itself, we had two group assignments.

Additionally, the method of block teaching, i.e., having only two subjects taught a week, with their conclusion ending in an exam, allowed me to take in that course for that period and gain as much as I could, rather than having it spread out over many months and hence not cultivate those skills as effectively.

These core subjects were then interspersed with an introduction to PDP (Personal Development Plan) with one of the most renowned professors, Dr. Leena Chatterjee, recognized for her Organizational Behaviour class at IIM Calcutta. The PDP focused on making us identify the skills we currently possess, and the ones we want to and need to acquire for our future career journeys. This introduction came at a very appropriate timing given that it was the beginning of our MBA, allowing me and my batchmates to measure the progress we make when we reach the middle or the end. However, one of my biggest takeaways was from being around my peers in a safe environment. Due to this, learning has already taken place and networks are already beginning to form. In the past month, so many of us have sat and worked together on training, or discussed case studies, each instance bringing out the diversity of thought and comprehension of the other perspective. Hence, through this, I got to encounter one of the major aspects of the MBA experience. 

Overall, the first month at BITSoM was a great mix of industry teaching but also of the personal, real-life context, and a mix of teamwork and collaboration, as well as individual reflection. It was fully packed with a great amount of content. Every session was a lot interesting in its own way in the first month of BITSoM.