What all to “bring while coming”/“know about”/“follow after reaching” SIBM, Pune

I have created a list of points from my experience. You might be aware of a few of them. 

The well known seniors might tend to disagree with couple of the points. Its up to you to decide.

Plan to bring the following :

1. 2 bed sheets and 2 pillow covers

2. One cup for drinking tea in morning. (Container of Tea is present inside the hostel in morning after 6:45 AM). It's good for early risers and morning tea drinkers.

3. The LAN wire is 1.0ft -1.5ft long and is not very good. So it's better if you bring one which is at least 3ft long. Else bring a Wireless Router if you have one.

4. At least 2 ties (Wearing Tie on Wed is mandatory – though these days this is not followed at all – but things can change any time).

5. Shoes / Sleepers / Sandals which can stand the rains.

6. Thin/medium thick quilt (it can get windy and cold during Dec/Jan)

7. Get the skype, gtalk plugin & chrome installed in your machine before coming to campus. The firewall is does not allow to install these softwares here. Come along with the installers for all your softwares as most of the major download sites and torrent sites are blocked. There are workarounds, which are used by selected few.

8. Photographers– better bring your SLRs, DigiCams along with you. I know you all would be thinking of going back and bringing it later but believe me you would not have time for that. Don’t wait to become confortable in the college and then bring the expensive gear. Believe me, it's safe here. Except few umbrellas getting stolen during rainy season, rest all is fine.

9. Those interested in joining Gym should bring the gym clothes.

10. An umbrella and if you already have a raincoat bring it also – The umbrella should be able to accommodate at least two individuals.

11. If you know swimming, then a swimming costume and hair cap is compulsory.

12. If you are interested in Cricket, Squash, TT, Badminton, Basketball and Football then bring your own sports gear. Sports like – Billiards, Carrom are also present.

13. Set of 6 Hangers would be of great use

14. At least one half-sleeve sweater

15. At least 2 bottles (1.5 lt) for water

16. For Boys - Shoe polish and brush

17. Maggi Lovers bring your “Maggi Pan” along with a plate, fork and spoon. There is a hotplate in all hostels and you can use it anytime

18. For Boys - find out about which hostel you are in (Main Hostel / Annex). Annex is far from Main Boys and Girls Hostel and Recreation Room. Still it's a quiet place during exams and has a great view and has the 2 wheeler and 4 wheeler parking close to it.

19. You can bring your vehicle in campus but inside the campus you can walk or use bicycles

20. It's 6 mins walk from Main Boys/Girls Hostel to Mess if you are walking at a medium fast pace. For Annex Hostel you would have to start learning to use the bicycle againJ. It's 5 mins from Mess to College. 6-7 mins from Hostel to College if you run all the way.

21. Reach a couple of days early. You would get first movers advantage – knowledge about the college, mess, etc.; Speedier resolution of any trouble in your assigned room; etc.

22. Do not take postpaid CUG connection just because everyone else is taking, you might regret later on as the bills are huge. You can go for prepaid connection also. But only network of 2 service providers is good (infact Average) in the campus – Idea and Airtel.

23. Ensure that you meet every single person joining in your batch. As the first point of interaction, people will ask you about various trivial stuff, and as you would be having the knowledge of the same, it would help in the initial ice-breaking. Many are introverts or egoistic and would like the other person to approach and meet them. Please note that in the first few days(2-3), everyone would be having the same thoughts. Some has to initiate the ice-breaking. If you are introvert, try not to remain that only for first 4 days. This would help in creating good network within the first 7-10 days. You would be having the first movers’ advantage.

24. Search and add the seniors on facebook/orkut. Also add your batchmates. ART is present to ensure smooth transitioning but believe me they would not be able to interact much with you owing to their workload. Besides most people will try to interact with ART. Think and act in a different way. Still it's a good idea to add all the ART members in your FB/Orkut account as this would provide authenticity to your friend request. When sending friend request to a senior/batchmate, introduce yourself in the personal message. Try to find a person who is either from your city, state, college. Interaction would help you in getting acquainted with all the relevant as well as trivial details before you reach campus.

25. Attend at least one city meet so that you meet at least 1-2 people there either among seniors or among your batch. Follow Point 4 religiously. If you are coming from Mumbai/Pune you would already be having a pre-created network. If not then it's better to create one.

26. When coming to Lavale campus, catch the SB road bus preferably in morning or afternoon. Introduce yourself with at least a few in the bus especially those who are carrying luggage – they would definitely be from SIBM.

27. When the introduction has been done from both sides, while talking to the individual, try to take his/her name more than 4-5 times. This would help you remember the names more easily.

28. There are a lot of people to meet and interact on this hill top. So do not go to your friend/relative’s house at least during the first month. I know they would be missing you a lot, but if you go then you would miss the fun here.

29. Prepare or update your LinkedIn profile.

30. Either take a laptop before coming to Campus or get it delivered within the first few days to any one in Pune City. Do not plan to take it after reaching to campus. IT Team might be working towards negotiating a bulk deal but not sure whether it would be successful or not.

31. There is a shop in campus but it's too expensive and sells sub-standard stuff at a high rate. All daily use items could be bought from that shop - Noodles, Deos, Chocolates, Soap, Shampoo, Biscuits etc. It also has Cards, Phone Recharge, Courier Service, Gift Items etc.

32. Mess Food is sometimes good sometimes bad. Chicken is of low quality. Omelette is OK. There are shops of Chat, Ice Cream and coffee for a change of taste. Else we have dhabas at the bottom of hill and college canteen.

33. During Breakfast you get Omelette, Poha, Upma, Bread pakoda, Puri Sabji, Aalu Parantha, etc. Bread - Amul Butter Tea or Coffee is available daily.

34. In the evening Tea is available.

35. Liquor lovers have the option of Hangover, Silver Spoon, etc which would be just 10 mins by bike and 20 mins on foot. They are at the foot of the hill.

36. Give interview for at least 1 council team. If you get selected it's good, if you don’t still it would be a great experience.

37. Movie screening goes on in the Auditorium at night on some occasions.

38. There is a dhobi. But if interested in washing on your own get a Brush for washing clothes.

39. An Iron would also help in case of emergency.

40. Before coming to college leave your ego at home. The guys here are good both in academics and extra-curricular. So do not judge a person by how he is talking or how he is behaving. See his resume and you will understand on your own. The competition that you are going to face here is going to be a tough one.

Study Related Stuff :- (Only for those who are coming to SIBM for serious studies)

1. Get knowledge and hands-on of 1-2 days on Adobe Photoshop, and Corel Draw. It would be of great use to you here – not in your studies but in other activities.

2. Read basic definitions of Economics, Fiscal Policy, FDI Policy before coming. It's good to create a good image in front of your batch & teachers in the beginning. One or 2 answers in the class would help you do that easily. I know it would sound too boring, but it really helps. These are the only classes in which good interaction happens. In the rest plain teaching goes on and on and on.

3. Many come prepared to take specific specialization, but end up taking something else. For those with Finance as an option before coming, it's better to read and be prepared for the test. There will always be more demand than the supply in case of Finance although the return on hard work is the least in Finance. Until and unless you are from commerce background, there is no reason to like Finance before getting to know about other branches. Hence attend the specialization orientation session with an open mind.

4. If you wanna score a good CGPA then concentrate on clearing the written tests with very good marks (not just good marks – very good marks). The marks of presentation or class participation may/may not be good even if you have worked hard for that (sad! but this happens). They are also dependent on the teacher’s mindset which is not the case in the written test. What you get is based on what you have written. Hence to maximize your score, get good score in internals.

5. As soon as your specialization is decided, get in contact with the senior batch of the same specialization. It would help a lot to know important students of that batch (a person is important if he/she is aware of what goes on in his/her branch and can give you good guidance on the important queries related to your specialization).

6. It's not necessary to study “daily” but it's very much necessary to make good notes in class, and gather chapter photocopies etc. Right before the exams, there would be scarcity of relevant books in library, it's better to avoid this situation.

7. Start subscription of Economic Times or Mint as soon as your session begins. It would help you in GDs etc in case you are a regular reader.

8. If you have the book of Class 11^th or 12^th on Double entry bookkeeping, get it.

9. Track your marks and attendance on regular basis otherwise at the end of the semester, there might be lot of discrepancies in the marks u have received and the marks with the college, which you might overlook.

10. You might not have used ebook in your entire life, but accept this fact that there are certain books that you will find only in the form of ebook. So be prepared to read such stuff online.

11. Get knowledge about EBSCO, CMIE’s Prowess, etc from library/IT team. Get these softwares installed in your laptops – they would help you in case you are selected for a market research project.

12. Subscribe for Online Newsletter from McKinsey Quarterly, Knowledge @ Wharton, Harvard Business Review.

13. Business Standard is available free at the entrance of the hostel (except on Sunday). You can go and pick one. But ET, Mint is anytime better than BS.

14. 2012 batch is getting Forbes Magazine for current semester.

15. Download and install “FeedReader” from www.feedreader.com

Add RSS feeds for ET, etc. In case you are not a tech savvy guy, ask your IT friends to help you out.