Neharika Agarwal from next year’s class looks back to her introduction to IMD and shares impressions from her assessment day.
It all started one Saturday afternoon when I was discussing my MBA plans with a friend. He introduced me to IMD saying it is one of the best general management MBA programs in the world and it would be a great fit for me given my background and experience! Only problem is that it is quite difficult to crack given the class size, student accomplishments and a very rigorous admission procedure. This really piqued my interest and I poured all my energy into getting to know the school more.
After months of hard work, I finally got a chance to meet my interest first hand when I got an invite for the assessment day. IMD is situated on the banks of Lake Geneva and that sight itself took my breath away!
The Assessment day started sharp at 7:50 AM with a tour of the lovely campus. During the tour, I realized the importance of time when Antonio told us that if you are late by even a minute, you’re not allowed to enter the class! Talk about Swiss precision! We also got a chance to peek into the class, celebrating a birthday over Salsa and what we saw made us realize that it is not all work but some play too.
At the end of the day we were taken to a class to see for ourselves what a lecture is like at IMD. It was an entrepreneurship class by Professor Benoit Leleux. What made it more special was that the person who started the company that was being discussed in the case was attending the lecture and gave her inputs and made notes of some of the suggestions provided by the students on the next stage of her venture. Attending that class, seeing the potential tangible impact live, suddenly made it all so real for me and instantly made me realize that IMD was really the place where I wanted to be if I got through. I was glad I got a chance to visit the school in person to see what I could expect and was totally blown away. Despite eight strenuous hours and a previous night of sleeplessness I was still fully charged and was absolutely ready for more.
Now that my interest has been reciprocated, I’m looking forward to spending a year getting to know it deeply and developing a lifelong relationship.
Neharika
