Today is 24th March, my last day at Great Lakes, Chennai. It’s hard to believe that it has already been 2 years since I joined Great Lakes. My Journey at Great Lakes has been fun filled with lots of learning and has certainly developed my personality a lot.
A lot of people have different reasons to pursue an MBA – get a better salary, advance their career, didn’t knew what to do after an undergrad degree, unfit for the job market and even running away from home/marriage. Well, I also decided to do a PGDM degree from Great Lakes because I couldn’t find my right career after an undergrad degree. I also wanted to pursue a career in Analytics and hence decided to join the institution that was well-known for its analytics programme.
Our batch was called the Mauryas – named after Chandragupta Maurya, founder of the Mauryan dynasty who was the first emperor to unify most of India under one administration. Our program director was Prof. Vidya Mahambare who was a faculty for Finance and Economics. The first week at Great Lakes was fun-filled with boot camps and outdoor adventures. Ever since the boot camp, it has been a roller-coaster ride for the past two years
Academics
At Great Lakes, I have seen all the scores and grades possible – from being the lowest to highest in class – all grades from A to C. I can certainly assure you that the institution has some of the best faculty in the country. I was more inclined towards subjects related to operations, analytics and marketing. But nevertheless, here are my thoughts:
- Finance: Semester 1 finance was out of our brains. Everyone taught finance was adding up numbers and it wasn’t. It’s more complex but it’s simple. All you need to know is concepts and apply them. Didn’t understand? Neither did I :-P. At the end of the day, ask yourself, what is your ROI after two years at Great Lakes? If you can answer this question, you are good at finance.
- Marketing: CCCDVTP and Philip Kotler – never forget these – It will help you become a good marketer. It is a contest for getting people’s attention. You may learn marketing but it takes a lifetime to master it.
- Operations & Analytics: Some of my favorite courses were in these subjects. Some say that “Analytics = Statistics + hype” and I don’t deny it. You need to have some interest in statistics and numbers. These subjects will help you in your long-term a lot. You will get to learn these subjects from some of the top minds in the industry.
- Strategy: Don’t expect yourself to be in a strategy role right after your MBA. But, these subjects provide a great foundation. It’s about planning long-term and putting into action.
Extra-Curricular
More than academics, extra-curricular made up my life at Great Lakes. I was the Co-organiser of the first ever TEDxGLIMChennai in 2017 and 2018. I have blogged about my journey with same in multiple blogs. You can read them at:
- My Journey with TEDx
- What Does it take to Organise a TEDx event in Your College
- Curating the perfect TEDx Talk
I was also part of the Analytics Committee at Great Lakes. You can read more about it at
Like every college life, we also have the same story for the mess food. First few weeks, the food was great. The same food makes it boring and tasteless. Late night walks and early morning classes were the most memorable (because time flies). Karmayoga was another experience that I can never forget. It was an experiential learning program where we visited nearby villages in the first semester.
I made some great friends with whom I would stay connected for the rest of my life – Adithya N, Bommineni Jyothirmaie, Sri Ranjani Murthy, Rohith Rameshkumar, Naveen Thankachan (my roomie) and the list goes on.
The video below sums up the whole two years at Great Lakes.
The class of 2018 truly made it a memorable experience I wish I could relive.