AMA - Business school professor (Top 5/7), tech mgmt; PhD IIMX, 3yr industry

[Menon]

Hey folks,

I'm a Business School Professor at a pretty well-ranked B-School (usually Top 5–7 depending on which ranking you trust ), specializing in Technology Management. My students basically dared me into joining Reddit (you know who you are), so here we are.

My qualifications: PhD from Indian Institute of Management (one of BLACKI), worked \~3 years outside India, and have been teaching full-time since Sept '25. I teach and research around AI, tech strategy, and how organizations actually *use* these shiny new tools (or mess them up).

Happy to answer anything life as a prof, PhD journey, research, teaching, B-school culture, AI hype vs reality, student behavior, internships, placements, whatever you can think is something i can answer, except who I'm

PS: Term over, its fun time so keep it fun.

[Nandini]

I gave my 12th boards (PCM) and might fail in more than one subject, so I may have to reappear through an open board. I didn't study seriously in 11th–12th and regret it now. I got 55 percentile in JEE.
My parents are against taking a drop, and I'm also unsure if it's a good idea in my situation. I can currently study around 5–6 hours a day.
Upcoming exams like BITSAT, IAT, NEST, MHTCET seem hard to prepare for in such little time, and I don't want to waste money.
I'm from a lower middle-class (EWS) family in Uttar Pradesh, so I need practical options.
What realistic paths or alternatives do I have now?

[Kunal]

I am currently a postdoc in STEM. How was your experience in finding a tenure track position in Indian academia?

[Arjit]

Hi professor, thanks for the Ama.
So im a bsc economics grad from a decent tier 2 university in india. I have had strategy consulting as a longterm goal for the past few months, before which i was strictly planning to enter academia.
I will be done with my undergrad this yr and now im comcerned about my profile for an mba. I had 89.8% in both 11th and 12th and will most probably get 6.5/10 overall  in undergrad, and also due to a clarity before most of my profile is kindoff geared towards academia oriented internships and competitions. Now the undergrad low marks is due to a variety of genuine crisis that i had faced (eg terminal health issues etc). I could justify it in an interview, but its not possible to justify in initial rounds anywhere.

Q) I have heard that even if I get into a good mba program in india, mbb and other top level firms, usually keep a filter of 7.5/10 in undergrad to even sit for their placements. How true is this?

Q) Also I have been thinking of first getting work exp of 2-3 yrs and then the mba. From the information i got, analyst roles could help prepare my profile to get into strategy consulting post the mba. Are there any other roles you would suggest?

[Rohit]

I have a 6 in 12th due to some personal reasons,  (lost my dad that year and ever since then I am working as a salesboy while I am enrolled in an online ugc approved college for bba) my cgpa is solid arnd 8.75cgpa by the end of my bba, with 89% in 10th

I am planning to go all in this year with marketing internships, and CAT prep, can I get a tier 1? Or atleast good marketing placement from these colleges? I asked from the CAT SUB and they said that my 12th % has ruined everything and I couldn't get into a tier 1 if i manage to get a tier 2 I wont be placed as my 12th is low

[Asha]

Hello prof...
1) Just wanted to ask How's phd life at Blacki. Is it chill? Rigourous?? Both ??
P.S - I have applied to IIML/K/I.
2) Secondly,I wanted to ask how easy/hard it is to get post doc position abroad let's say in US, if someone wants to target Ivy leagues..
3) My last question is , Is Phd relevant now ?? Or will it be relevant after 4-5 years when we will graduate..(just wanted to know because things are changing rapidly because of AI)

[Jyoti.kumar]

I am a female, ex armed forces. Really trying hard for phd at one of the top ten management schools. I might have a phd idea but not a concrete one. What is expected gre score, and what do they expect in a profile, what is expected in an interview and how is the academic career prospects for serious research oriented people. Also, can you help out more such people. Thank you so much, regards

[Kunal]

Hello prof,


I am from a non-tech background. But I discovered coding and really loved it. I have a certification in data analysis from Coursera. I also collabed with someone on GitHub for a project


So How do I now switch to tech especially in data analysis roles and apply for jobs with a non tech background??

[Swathi]

One simple question: what field of work is safe to bet on considering how AI is eating up?

Context: current btech cs student, finding difficulty to find job due to decrease in hiring. CG around 8.5 if that matters.

Thinking about pivoting to some different field which can atleast put food on the table.

[Balaji]

6(Covid) / 8/9 - bca / obc  / how's is this profile  will try to get 98-99 percentile please help can I convert tier 1 B-school

[Jayant]

sooo i am doing a unique bsc degree (pls dont ask coz i got doxed the last time i mentioned) which essentially locks me out of pursuing every masters degree except that degree in which i am pursuing my bsc from and if i do that then i'd be a human waste

and since i dont have lot of time and options left i thought that doing an MBA would save my life

i am new to this MBA thing and i know a few things about it

\- it required overall baground along with CAT score. i have 82 in 10th and 61 in 12th and a 7cgpa in 1st yr, and 0 work exp now if i score 95%ile in CAT (i havent seen the paper) then what'd be the probability of me getting into a good clg with 15lpa avg package and hopefully low fees

and what difference would a 1-2yrs of work exp would do

now i have looked into entry lvl jobs but all these companies require work experiecne for even a bloody internship and the entry lvl jobs i can get post bsc are pamplet distributing sales jobs or some call center jobs

plss help