Electives
Management is all farce. There is no value add. It's just a crash course people take to get a jump start into the business world. Opinions. I disagree. Well, there is merit in what they teach at B-schools; though they can't process you into a leader or an ideal manager. The onus is on you. So it does matter a lot on how you make the most out of it.
To some extent, your career depends upon your specialisation(s). Majority of students opt for dual specialisation, the most common combos being Mar-Fin and Sys-Fin; with the first part in each explaining the jobs scene and the second part telling a tale about their aspirations....which is sometimes met, but often not. (The situation is same across schools outside A, B & C where the bulk of the Fin jobs lie.)
Well, electives are bricks that specialisations maketh. And people have different maapdand to select electives! Other than Frax* and Grade quotients, there are factors like relevance to jobs, necessity, interest, prof, etcetera. I, somehow, divide my courses into 3 categories:
Fundamental courses: These are not core courses, but are very essential to your specialisation. Like what is Marketing without Consumer Behaviour or Brand Management; Finance without Security Analysis and Systems without...well dunno. Please ignore my ignorance.
Need-addressing courses: These courses address certain career needs. Examples include courses on Insurance, Retail Management, etc.
Topping courses: These are my favourites. They do not address any need nor have any direct bearing on your career. But they catch your imagination with the different perspective they bring to you. They are mostly soft courses. And I believe, XLRI has the best portfolio of these flavour courses as far as Indian B-schools are considered. Examples include, Indian Philosophy, Management of Creativity, Marketing in Practice, Impression Managememt, etcetera.
Other types include Frax and Grade courses.
Frax courses: These are essentially zero burden courses with lots of group assignments, presentations and no attendance. Of course, ideal for fraxing and creating social externalities.
Grade courses: These are sitter courses where faculty believes that 75% of the students score above the average. Sometimes they are student specific like Industrial Economics for Eco grads, Demand Forecasting for Production Engineers and ERP for people with experience in SAP implementation. However, grade courses are very popular among smart and sensible students;)
There are overlaps in this division as in a course can be - frax, grade and topping - all at the same time. FYI, some people do specialize in Frax and Grade courses also.
Then there are good courses with bad profs and bad courses with good profs. There is no real consensus on which ones are better, but in general it has been seen that people who think the first lot is a better deal tend to change there opinion after they get a taste of a bad prof.
Well, happy hunting for electives and all the best for your MBA.
* Refer the post on Fraxing dated Feb 16, 2005 to get the meaning of the word Frax.
To some extent, your career depends upon your specialisation(s). Majority of students opt for dual specialisation, the most common combos being Mar-Fin and Sys-Fin; with the first part in each explaining the jobs scene and the second part telling a tale about their aspirations....which is sometimes met, but often not. (The situation is same across schools outside A, B & C where the bulk of the Fin jobs lie.)
Well, electives are bricks that specialisations maketh. And people have different maapdand to select electives! Other than Frax* and Grade quotients, there are factors like relevance to jobs, necessity, interest, prof, etcetera. I, somehow, divide my courses into 3 categories:
Fundamental courses: These are not core courses, but are very essential to your specialisation. Like what is Marketing without Consumer Behaviour or Brand Management; Finance without Security Analysis and Systems without...well dunno. Please ignore my ignorance.
Need-addressing courses: These courses address certain career needs. Examples include courses on Insurance, Retail Management, etc.
Topping courses: These are my favourites. They do not address any need nor have any direct bearing on your career. But they catch your imagination with the different perspective they bring to you. They are mostly soft courses. And I believe, XLRI has the best portfolio of these flavour courses as far as Indian B-schools are considered. Examples include, Indian Philosophy, Management of Creativity, Marketing in Practice, Impression Managememt, etcetera.
Other types include Frax and Grade courses.
Frax courses: These are essentially zero burden courses with lots of group assignments, presentations and no attendance. Of course, ideal for fraxing and creating social externalities.
Grade courses: These are sitter courses where faculty believes that 75% of the students score above the average. Sometimes they are student specific like Industrial Economics for Eco grads, Demand Forecasting for Production Engineers and ERP for people with experience in SAP implementation. However, grade courses are very popular among smart and sensible students;)
There are overlaps in this division as in a course can be - frax, grade and topping - all at the same time. FYI, some people do specialize in Frax and Grade courses also.
Then there are good courses with bad profs and bad courses with good profs. There is no real consensus on which ones are better, but in general it has been seen that people who think the first lot is a better deal tend to change there opinion after they get a taste of a bad prof.
Well, happy hunting for electives and all the best for your MBA.
* Refer the post on Fraxing dated Feb 16, 2005 to get the meaning of the word Frax.
posted by ami @ 7:02 PM
2 comments
