Term-4 musings

Going with my safe and predictable topic of reflecting on the different terms at ISB, I’ll do the same about Term-4.
Term-4 is a weird term, for lack of a better word. It’s weird because your attitude has changed compared to past terms – the term is no longer judging you, you are judging the term! It’s the term by which you are ‘over the hump’ (refer to my previous blogs for more on getting over the hump!) By this time, you’ve found your place, your fit. And you start judging things.
To elaborate, here are a few things that make Term-4 ‘weird’:

• Fatigue: Exam fatigue, pre-reads fatigue, CP (Class Participation) fatigue sets in. You get into a ‘I don’t care anymore!’ attitude as you are too fatigued after 3 grinding terms.
• The Subject mix: A strange mix of subjects, with absolutely nothing in common! From Investment Analysis, which is a central finance subject, to “Government, Society and Business”, which is, well, I don’t know what it’s about. The other 2 subjects are also ‘touchy feely’ – Strategic Analysis of IT and Management of Organizations. The problem with all these subjects, except Investment Analysis, is that what you get out of the class is totally up to you! (For investment Analysis, what you get out of it is totally up to the professor! Just kidding!)
• Section Love, Elective Bidding, Resume Review Sessions, etc: There are sundry other aspects unique to Term-4 – the section realizes that it’s our last term together as a section and so we take bonding more seriously and do more things together! We decide on our concentration area(s) and pick our electives for Term-5 and this activity really begs the question – what are we going to do when we graduate!? (Some answer begins to take shape.) Simultaneously, there are several resume review sessions that are taking place, and we begin to synthesize our life story into this one-page document (that shows us in the best light of course!)

Once Term-4 ends, we are going to be thrown out of our comfort zones as we get into different sections, and different study groups, mixing with new people. By the way, there are several of my classmates that I haven’t met yet and I hope to know them starting Term-5! (Remember, we are a batch of around 580 students!)
To sum up, academically Term-4 isn’t as bad as the previous term. Plus, the focus somehow shifts away from just academics to other issues. That’s what makes the term weird, again, for lack of a better word.