With the recent surge in the books and movies having stories revolving around the lives of students at business schools there have been lot of assumptions that have been made with regard to the same.

It not only shows the pressure students are made to undergo in order to ensure a seat in leading business schools but it also highlights the pressure they are made to go further after their admission with reference to their studies.

In a way it wouldn’t be wrong to say that they have been painting a picture where the business schools are said to be torture chambers where the students are being made to work for 17-18 hours a day making them feel as if there is no life beyond it all.

While this is not true, the lives at business school have a lot of fun mixed with learning and growing with the experiences they gather there in terms of team spirit, bonding, becoming leaders, learning how to work on tight deadlines etc. Have you ever wondered what makes a student from a business school stand out amongst all the other candidates in the interview?

It is their ability to be able to strike a perfect balance between the bookish world and the real world in terms of knowledge and implementation. The next question is definitely going to be, where they manage to get that from. The answer is simple – their B schools.

I have always been a fan of B schools; a person who would be pro such an education however rigorous it is for I believe it leads to ultimate betterment of a human being as a professional. But the so called society around me wouldn’t believe in it. Basis all the hearsay they had began to believe that B schools are nothing less than torture chambers where students are roasted and fried like in hell for the only crime of having a desire to study here.

With my graduation on the verge of completion soon I was being dissuaded from even dreaming of joining one solely for the fear of facing hell. My family loved me a lot and they didn’t want me to go through for the sake of education. Day in and out I was fed a healthy diet of such horror stories making me believe in their words and finally one day I gave up my dream of studying MBA completely till one savior came to my rescue. As it is said if you want something from your entire being the whole Universe conspires for it to be yours. That ways maybe the desire to do an MBA in me was very high which finally led to all this.

I remember a distant relative of mine who was a very shy and reserved person all throughout his life. He was the butt of jokes at all family gatherings solely for one reason; he couldn’t speak in front of so many people. Crowds used to make him feel nervous. On the other hand he was an exceptionally bright student one who was brilliant at studies, studious, ranker, one that the teachers wouldn’t tire of praising. It was surprising to see someone like him be at loss of words when it came to talking or even looking eye into eye with the person he was currently conversing with.

This continued all through his school and college till he got admission into one of the premier B schools for his masters. We didn’t see him for quite a few months till one day when we saw him and believe me everyone’s jaws were touching the ground. Gone was the nervous, shaky, scared young guy… he had been replaced by a charming, smart and confident young man. He looked into everyone’s eyes as he shook hands with them confidently and conversed as if the old “he” never existed. It seemed as if he had a huge makeover and the curious cat in me couldn’t hold myself without asking him this question.

After the dinner and all formalities I took him aside and asked the inevitable curiously. That is when he explained the advantages of studying in a premier B school. He went on and on about all that he had learnt there in such a short while making him what he is today. He even added I want to cover up on all the lost time till now in life by making the most of it. One look at him and I could see it in his eyes, the joy of living a dream of having a desire fulfilled to the extent where one could witness the manifestation of dreams into reality. It is from there such confidence comes around.

From all that he told me the fears that were there that B schools are cruel in terms of their schedules were all put to rest. His first hand experience reinstalled my gut feeling about this course giving me enough courage to go ahead and pursue this one. He explained to me how the curriculums of B schools though strenuous are ones that prepare the students for become future leaders. While working on projects together, they learn some very vital lessons of life needed to grow and sustain in this bad mad world outside.

They encourage the entrepreneur in each student pushing them to keep coming with innovative and creative ideas. They concentrate on the all around development of every student ensuring when they come out they are ready to face the world with all the challenges that come together with it.

The students learn a lot of important lessons of life during their time at the school, within the education system. The tough deadlines ensure they learn to work within strict timelines and deliver the optimum output.

The theoretical knowledge imparted to them at every step ensures they learn how to look at the base route of the problem and analysis it in detail before looking for its solution. This ensures that the problem is resolved once and for all with no more chances of the same erupting again. This not only becomes a time saver but also it saves a lot of money and energy.

Business schools are also largely responsible for teaching you how to face the losses in life. Everything that you get in life cannot be a victory nor can it be rosy as always. There will be times when you will take wrong decisions and bear the brunt of it. Business schools prepare you not only to face them but also to learn how to take decisions and make them right. Whatever you become in life, learning is something that never ceases and that is what you learn at the business school. For learning is an integral part of our lives. The day we cease learning we stop growing.

As you work in teams you understand that each one around you is blessed with some special ability which makes them stand out. Each one of us cannot master everything and hence the importance of having a team to work along with. It ensures that you get to deliver the best with so many differently capable people performing together. It is like the hand.

Each finger in its own is capable of doing something but they have their own limitations beyond a point. When all of them come together to make a fist, there is nothing that can stop them. Their energy is multiplied and the possibilities that lay before them are manifold. That is the power of working together in a team. The capacity gets multiplied and hence so does the performance and the delivery.

It is very fascinating to observe the way we learn some simple lessons like leadership while working in groups for some projects where you are entrusted the responsibility to lead. A good leader can do wonders for the team and the organization both as they ensure the goals are met both individually and at the organization’s level.

A good leader always ensures the individual’s goals are aligned with the team goals which in turn are aligned with the organization’s goals. In case any of these steps is missed the results can be disastrous, and hence it is imperative a good leader keeps all this into consideration and ensures it is adhered to without any lapses.

Every student learns some of the most important lessons of survival in their business school. It forms a base for them on which the strong building of their future can be constructed, one that will withstand any storm in future.

In a way it prepares them for almost everything that they might have to face in life. So much so that they even begin to solve personal problems the way they look at managerial issues, through SWOT analysis! It is a very unique yet effective way of solving problems, even ones that bother you in real life and not only limit it to your professional lives.

Many people believe that MBA makes students particular and finicky but the truth is it makes them more detail oriented leading to superior results. They not only see the solution they can also see many other things like ensuring the results have a long shelf life, there are shorter and quicker ways to achieve it and that the problem never reoccurs in future.

And this vision, the ability to foresee things not only forward but also do a backward analysis is not possible without the guidance of proper teachers and apt training which one gets only in business schools.