Grapes are sour ;-)

No, no...I am not talking about the quality of grapes available in the market, I am talking about one so-called 'high fundoo B-school' in Mumbai. Now, one may wonder what has grapes got to do with B-school...well for understanding the relationship, you will have to read the entire post.

After 2 years of continuous convincing from my parents and 2 odd years of work experience, I decided to pursue my Masters in Marketing Management. I decided to apply in one of the so-called reputed Management Institutes (named here as 'x' college to protect the identity) in Mumbai. It was a 3 years part time course and was recognized by Mumbai university.

I filled the forms and sent it to them before the 'Last Date of Submission'. I also gave the mock tests conducted by them on a sunday and worked really hard to crack the exams. After 2 months of relentless practice, I gave the entrance exam (which I cracked confidently). Even the GD/PI had gone well and I was cent percent sure that I would become a student of 'x' college very soon.

A month after the huge procedure, the first list was put up on their website, sadly my name did not feature in it :-(

I waited for the second list, which was put up after 15 days...again my name did not feature in it. I was disappointed and was on the verge of tears coz I knew I had done really well. I called up the institute to enquire about the 3rd list (called the same lady whom I had spoken to before buying the admission forms) only to listen to a rude reply: "Don't call us like this...keep checking the website...jag lagna hoga list lag jayega" and then banging the receiver down before I could ask anything further.

Out of sheer Kunas and with lot of time on hand...I thought of testing the link and tadaaaaa I found some mistakes and was fultoo impressed with my discovery.

See the images of my discovery below (please view them in a new window or tab as they are not that clear).

Note: I have edited the snapshots in paint so as to hide their identity.

The spelling of 'Second' is incorrect...

 The duration of the course mentioned here is 2009-2012 when actually the duration is 2010-2013. Now I entered the wrong DOB.

Now, I thought a 'Invalid entry' or some such message would appear as the DOB is wrong...but to my surprise it showed the result:

Psst: check out the year here, it is 2010-2013

Initially, I was super excited and was jumping around in the office just as Archimedes jumped during the Eureka moment...only to be brought back to zameen by my developer dost who said that probably the form was made such that results are displayed on the basis of form no. According to him DOB must have been just an additional parameter. He also added that instead of showing some 'invalid input' message...it has been designed such that it just shows if you have been chosen or rejected. I accepted his logic quietly.

But I still have the following queries (which I will obviously be asking the institute when I go there):

a) if an individual has originally got selected...but has by mistake entered the wrong form no and DOB, should'nt the message be 'Invalid input' instead of the 'your name does not feature in the list' ? Would'nt such ambiguous result mislead him/her?

b) Is it a norm that a candidate who has not been selected by your insitute be treated with disrespect. Is polite behaviour only situational? Forget the spelling mistakes and other silly mistakes...my question is should'nt college 'x' be more responsible and more accountable? Has education become a mockery, a money minded business to them. How do I trust institutes such as these to mould the future of managers and entrepreneurs?

The above incident has aroused a serious question within my mind: will a certificate of masters program make me a successful manager or a better individual or am I just wasting my time and energy on this? Several more questions in my mind...but seeing the length of my blog..I decided to end it here.


P.S: O btw angoor khatte hone kaa reason toh bataya hee nahi. See, had I got selected, I would not have bothered so much to prove 'x' college wrong. I took all these pains to prove them wrong only because I did not get an admission there. Ho gaya naa a classic case of 'Grapes are Sour' ;-)