Rita Skeeter in our world

Article in reference:

http://youthcurry.blogspot.com/2007/07/iim-bangalore-and-order-of-admissions.html

Shiv Khera narrates a story of a bird hunter in his book “You can win”. This hunter buys a bird dog that can walk on water. When he shows this amazing feat of a dog walking on water and asks if his friend noticed something unusual about this dog. His friend says “Yes, in fact I did notice something unusual. Your dog can’t swim.”

I was reminded of this when I read article on IIMB’s admission procedure by Ms. Rashmi Bansal (I'm the Editor and Publisher of a popular youth magazine called JAM - Just Another Magazine). What disturbs me most about the article is not that it is somewhat antagonistic to my alma mater but that Ms. Bansal provides an opinion not because she has one, but because she thinks that she has to have one. Hence, she ends up filling her page with what IIMB has announced for most of the part and through rest of it she keeps jumping on conclusions.

Last things first. When she contends that past performance cant predict future achievements of a person, I couldn’t agree more. We can easily solve that if IIMs leave CAT-GD-PI path and instead start Crystal Gazing futures of all prospective candidates? I am sure at least her favorite Shri Harry Potter wouldn’t like it!

What does IIMB do when it chooses students based on consistency in past academics? It just looks for commitment levels of candidates in whatever they had done. Is it too much to ask for? IIMB gives weightage to work experience. All B-schools worth their salt around world do that. Work experience helps in gaining a perspective for B-school education. Too bad that Ms. Bansal can’t appreciate it just because a particular B-school doesn’t do it (or is at least not open about it).

IIMB gives importance to various factors like 10^th score, 12^th score, Bachelor’s level acad performance, work-experience and hence is likely to end up with well-rounded geeks. Surely, considering only CAT scores is a much better way to end up with less-rounded geeks and there are campuses full of such people too.

Numbers involved in the decision processes astound her, but these numbers try to instill as much objectivity as possible in the selection process. No one can take out subjectivity from any selection process, but at least one institute is trying. Just because general public can’t understand it (in her opinion), is it worth to question the integrity of the process? Or does she hate this transparency in the process because she can’t boast about similar transparency from another B-school?

On her suggested study about success rates of students etc. is she somewhere suggesting that IIMB is choosing all the wrong people? Does she have a right to comment on institute’s every individual alumnus and student’s progress? Does the article spring from some complex about status of a particular B-school’s relative status in her mind?

In the end, Does IIMB or for that matter any institute needs to justify it’s selection procedure to each and every person with free time on her / his hand?

IIMB might not produce the “well-rounded” persons achieving the success levels of Madam Bansal’s liking, IIMB still provides us with a good chance at corporate world and we will take it.

IIMB doesn’t stand in the way of people who want to shed baggage of past and make a future. Actually, no one can. The people with dreams and people with passion grow irrespective of any IIM or any B-school takes them or not. Regardless of what Rita Skeeters of the world might say!!