Learn how these 5 working professionals got to fulfil their IIMA aspiration and live their dreams

We have all had dreams that seemed unreachable. The dream job we probably didn’t get, the dream car that was way out of reach, or the dream education, that we almost qualified for. Almost. It’s a word that most hustlers detest, but cannot ignore. But sometimes, there are opportunities that turn our ‘almosts’ into realities. Take the glorious Indian dream of getting an MBA from IIM for example.Every year, more than 2 lakh students appear for the Common Admission Test (CAT) with the aim of entering an IIM. Just last year, 2,40,338 students registered for the examination, eyeing the 12411 seats across 20 IIMs. And while some of them get in, what happens to the IIM dream of those who don’t? Do they go back to their corporate life? What if we were to tell you that that there is another way to realise your IIM dream?
Well, this dream seems to have become reachable for many working executives and entrepreneurs with 3+ years of experience, thanks to IIMA’s 2-year ePost Graduate Programme. This programme is designed to match the global standards of management education by providing its participants with vital expertise that will help them accelerate their progress in the corporate world, without taking a break from it! A blended learning programme comprising of 850 hours of classroom sessions and project work, along with 5 campus immersions of 7-8 days each, the ePost Graduate Programme from IIMA has been designed to help people improve their managerial as well as entrepreneurial skill at a flexible pace.
Talking about this uniquely designed course, Prof. Biju Varkkey, Chairperson – ePost Graduate Programme said, “One of the main objectives of our course is to help people re-invent. We understand that careers are dynamic and organisations are fast-evolving. This culture drives a need to constantly evolve and management education programmes are one of the powerful modalities.Our research found that while many people take a break from their career and opt for a full-time programme, there are a whole set of professionals and entrepreneurs, who have other commitments. So we focused on offering location and time flexibility while continuing to give similar high-quality learning experience. That was the thought behind designing the ePost Graduate Programme.”
So how does the programme actually help its student participants? We spoke to a few IIMA alumni from this programme and here are their stories.

A Downstream Oil and Gas professional with 6+ years of experience in Aviation and Retail sectors in a leading Public Sector Organisation, Barun has an urge to continuously learn new things. This is the key motivator behind his participation in this course as well. A columnist in the Economic Times, he was enticed by the convenience and flexibility of the learning opportunity by attending sessions from anywhere across India, without having to quit his job.


This ePost Graduate programme from IIMA is not only helping working professionals with varied experiences, but also empowering entrepreneurs like Chandroma Saha. An entrepreneur who heads two different companies, Chandroma believes that joining the ePGP course from a prestigious institution like IIMA helped her re-define the way she looks at business as well as life!


This blended-learning programme is helping people in multiple fields to progress in their career path,like Dr Davy Jindal, who is a practising physician working in the Critical Care Unit at Max Superspeciality Hospitals & has an experience of more than 6-years in healthcare delivery. Dr Jindal realised the apparent lack of coordination between the clinical aspect of healthcare delivery and the business aspect. Thus Dr Davy Jindal opted for IIMA’sePost Graduate programme to help bridge this gap.


A Charted Accountant (CA) with over 12 years of experience, Somya has been ever-focussed on self-development and she was yearning to do an MBA for the longest time. She is currently a part of the technical accounting advisory team at American Expressandjoined IIMA’sePost Graduate programme as the prospect of being a part of the best in the country and one of the best in the world intrigued her. She began preparing for the entrance exam in the middle of her maternity leave (while taking care of a 3 months old daughter and a five-year-old son), and her passion for learning and supportive family helped her to take this leap!

Opting for the ePost Graduate Programme from IIMA has clearly helped these professionals to get closer to their aspirations. Since ePGP is a replication of the full time PGP, entrance to the same is necessarily through a competitive exam score. The selection is on the basis of Score, academics, work exp, profile, role, responsibility and a personal interview.Graduates with 50% marks and 3 years of Work Experience + Valid CAT score of the test taken within the last 3 years (2016, 2017, and 2018) or GMAT / GRE score taken within the last 5 years (Jan1, 2014 to May 15, 2019), can apply for this Programme. The course currently has batch strength of 60 to 70 students and the last date of application is May 31, 2019.
Talking about who will benefit from the course, the Chairperson ePGP, Prof Varkkey added, “This is a Programme that will help you build your managerial capabilities, and help you to move towards the next higher orbit in career. It offers the flexibility of staying at jobs, timings and location. People who travel due to work can attend the course from multiple cities. They benefit from the vast presence of our program partner - VCNow which delivers high-quality classroom and interactive experience which is being leveraged. From IIMA’s side, we believe this is the future.”
The digital classrooms created by VCNow have been one of the most unique and gratifying parts of this course that makes it easier for students to have the classroom experience from different locations. The two-screen interactive system allows students to listen to the lecture without any interruptions, while also allowing them to raise their questions and discussions on the chat. Talking about the unique endeavour, VCNow Founder-Director, Mr Darayus Mehta said, “VCNow’s endeavour is to enable IIMA to disseminate high-quality interactive executive education through India’s finest faculties by making them virtually present in classrooms covering every state capital of India.”
It is not every day that we get a second chance to fulfil our dreams and aspirations. But as for the IIM dream, this ePGP is the perfect gateway.While the cost of this course is Rs 20,00,000, it is paid in 6 instalments over the course of 2 years, and IIMA has also tied up with Bank of Baroda for education loans at attractive interest rates along with tax benefits.
IIMA has a reputation of shaping global leaders and this course is an excellent way to set on this path. With IIMA’s faculty and rigorous course design, the prestigious alumni status and the cohort of equally ambitious and driven students, the ePost Graduate Programme is one of the most promising options and you can read more about the course here.