DDay minus 3

Its 3 days to placement week. I have a few interviews lined up. No complaints so far about that aspect. But tensions ride high here at ISB where a majority of the people don't have any shortlists yet. A majority of the companies have not released their shortlists yet, which is pushing people to the edge of their seats. I guess a lot of it is peer pressure. Though it is a known fact that a lot of people will not be placed within the placement week (which is when a majority of the placements occur), no one wants to be the one who goes into the 8th term without a job. I guess it would suck to watch the majority of your batch party, while you're still wondering where you're going. I sincerely hope that everyone has atleast one offer by the end of this placement week! This whole deal is a bed of roses probably from the outside world, but to be in here, is to be sitting inside a pressure cooker for a lot of people :-).
The people who find it most difficult to differentiate are the IT people (something for the next batch to note maybe?). IT guys with 6+ years of experience will probably be able to differentiate themselves. IT women with 4+ years of experience will probably be able to differentiate themselves too. Anyone with lower experience than this, well, think again before you come to ISB. Every employer probably will get a 200 applications similar to yours. Whatever exceptional feat you have done, there's a strong chance that atleast 10 other people have done. Services background especially. IT product backgrounds have fared much better till this point. So, next batch students, know what you're getting into and set your expectations right. Get the right experience and differentiating factors in place before doing your MBA in an Indian B-school.
There are a lot of people with less than 2 years experience coming into ISB, expecting some 14-15 lakh jobs! Hmm, read my post last year about the 2006 placements. If someone was making some 3 lakhs per annum pre ISB, how can he/she expect a 400% increase in salary just by coming to ISB??? Your salary will be a function of your experience (there will always be a few exceptions.. but exceptions are not examples)!! ISB is not a money multiplier :-). Be prepared for a sub 10-lakh job. Thats probably more than the fair rate of returns (still an approximate 3x multiplier). Later you will probably blame everyone else around you, but, probably will not realize that you made the decision to come here. No one held a gun at your head and asked you to go do an MBA!
The CA's are also having a tough time with the non-finance background guys stepping into their turf for those rosy Investment Banking, Private Equity, Corporate Finance jobs!
Other than that, there are some "funny" things going on with the placement process itself; politics, collusions, arm-twisting etc.
We still have a good 1.5 months to go for placements to finish. But, in the meanwhile, the cooker gets hotter, and pressure mounts inside!!

Okay.. kicking myself to go study. More later!