IIM BLACKI is neither the dream nor the disaster portrayed online, but a 24-month grind where undergrad tier, CGPA, and networking dominate over raw CAT percentile. The OP from a tier-3 engineering college shared the hard truth: "your undergrad, your work-ex, your PORs, your undergrad CGPA, even your grooming, everything is currency." You arrive excited, see SRCC/Stephen's/IIT graduates with structured skills, and realize your worth is constantly recalculated.
Term 1 is chaos: CV reviews, Day Zero panic, pivoting from finance to consulting because consulting is Day 0 and "everyone wants to survive Day 0." Finance requires CFA + SRCC/Stephen's + Excel wizardry, locking out most tier-3 graduates. Term 3 brings the intern dilemma: take PPO or wait for better.
Term 4 exchange programmes cost another Rs 7-8 lakh on top of Rs 27.5L fees at IIM A, Rs 26.2L at IIM B, Rs 27L at IIM C, Rs 22L at IIM L, Rs 24L at IIM K, Rs 16.
5L at IIM I. Placement averages (Rs 35.22 LPA at A, Rs 34.
88 at B, Rs 34.23 at C, Rs 32.3 at L, Rs 28 at K, Rs 25 at I) hide massive variation: some go Rs 50L+, others Rs 15-18L.
Cliques form around "looking the part" with city + college + money combined as the filter. The fix for tier-3 entrants: build resume basics before joining (Excel, accounting, MOOCs), protect CGPA, participate in case comps, form 2-3 tight friendships instead of chasing glam groups. Check your eligibility at collvera.