I always had a desire and a dream since my childhood days to study at Oxford, Cambridge or Harvard. In addition I had always been interested in acquiring a management qualification ever since I graduated in Computer Engineering discipline. Combining the two was not very easy considering the strict admission process and the fees involved. However being based out of UK & working in the organisation which was supportive of my management aspirations helped me make my dreams a reality.

I participated in an Open Evening at the Saïd Business School where I got a chance to hear about the programme and have dinner with Executive MBA students and faculty. The journey for pursuit of my management degree at SBS, Oxford started off by my online application for the EMBA programme, almost near the deadline date of the application process and subsequently appearing for a GMAT examination, in which I did not fare too badly, considering I jumped into it without much preparation. The admission interview with Stephan Chambers, Executive MBA programme director was a great experience and I would call it a conversation with one of the most intellectual persons I have interacted with. I was thrilled on being notified success in the admission process after a couple of days. Now was the time to accept it, and arrange for the finances. Once all the formalities were completed, I received the welcome pack and course notes for the first module.

Fast the day approached which I had been eagerly awaiting, first Sunday of January where we had to meet up at the Saïd Business School for the evening dinner, the day before start of our first module “Understanding General Management”. I was quite excited and met up with a lot of very cordial and smart ladies and gents from my batch and previous batch and not to forget the charming administration and faculty staff members. I retired to bed early that night at a very well arranged accommodation, few minutes walk from the college.

Monday morning, the first day at college, woke up early, it’s always so very special and at any cost wanted to avoid being late to class. I had a great breakfast at the Saïd Business School and met some of the colleagues who I met up last evening and we all wondered what was to follow in the class.

The lecture theatre was a well laid and spacious room with very well designed seating & innovative pair of white boards & projector screens. We had a long and extremely interesting introduction session in the morning where the staff members and chair of examiners were introduced. The examiners at the University laid out the principles of studying and examinations at Oxford. This was followed by introductions of fellow Executive MBA batch mates who briefly spoke about themselves. It was amazing that 49 of us in the EMBA batch came from 23 countries from all continents (barring Antarctica) and represented majority of industries and job roles.

The afternoon was no less interesting where we got immersed in the first topic “Manager as Master of Context” where we touched upon what managers do and how does that matter to the organisation & individual. We did a number of case studies and group discussions, notable being the one on Nissan’s CEO.

It was almost 6 o’clock in the evening when we finished the studies and I was quite exhausted, headed off to the dinner with my colleagues. In the evening we ventured out for drinks at the “Oxford Retreat” pub which is quite popular with SBS students.

I started fresh on Tuesday morning with smile on the face and growing confidence. “Working in Groups” was the topic taught in the morning by a very impressive lady lecturer, who we got to know was going to set our first assignment. The afternoon was informative with administrative information such as Library and IT departments giving us briefs. Late afternoon we got immersed in Finance, and we had some controversial discussions on why corporations exist and their motives. By the end of day, I was extremely tired and had dinner and went to bed.

On Wednesday we had more management topics such as Leadership & Decision Making as well as discussion on Management vs. Leadership. In the evening after dinner most of decided to head out for drinks in the lovely Oxford town.

On Thursday I was introduced to Decision science and a lot of us were puzzled with decision trees and probability theory, but the way the lecturer presented the stuff was amazing, and a lot of us grasped the fundamentals and reasoning behind the approach. The day also saw all of us groomed as we had an individual portrait session followed by an Oxford University matriculation ceremony where we had to wear the sub-fusc. Dinner was to follow next at the college, and then was the pub crawl.

Friday was interesting as it was the second last day of our first module. Entrepreneurship was the topic of study in the morning and Social Networking in the afternoon. Dinner at Trinity College was to follow in the evening.

An interesting debate on Saturday about entrepreneurship brought the first module to an end. I had completed an intensive module; however I had an assignment to work on General Management which was due for submission in couple of weeks. I subsequently submitted the assignment and secured respectable marks, which gave me a sense of satisfaction.