Dr. Atish Chattopadhyay Ask me Home / Students & Alumni
For aspirants, students, alumni and parents
Questions people ask me, and what I have said in answer. Start with who you are.
What I told aspirants in a live session in January 2026:
Today in India there are thirty-odd institutions which are globally accredited, forty are globally ranked. All that you need to do is to get into a good institution.
If you are in a good institution and you have put in a little sincere effort, there are more jobs in the market than good people. After that it is up to you how you shine.
CATKing session, 30 Jan 2026 · from a talk
My answer to Careers360 in November 2023:
An online programme is for people who are working. If a student is not engaged in a job, they should join offline programmes.
The atmosphere inside the classroom and outside can never be replicated by online classes. For upskilling, online is okay. For a fresher to join an online programme, in India, is just a waste of money.
Rankings measure different things, and some measure the wrong ones. When my own school rose in the Financial Times ranking in September 2026, I wrote:
Rankings are not an end in themselves. However, career progression is a meaningful measure of the enduring value of management education.
Our responsibility is not merely to help learners secure their first role, but to prepare them to grow, adapt and lead across roles and throughout their careers.
I said this in my first term and I still mean it. Asked about it by students in September 2026, I explained what makes an IMT student different:
For a person who intends to operate out of an air-conditioned chamber, IMT Ghaziabad may not be the right place.
If there is a task to be given and volunteers are required, the first hands that show up are the IMTians.
InsideIIM interview, first term; DCP Podcasts, 23 Sep 2026 · from a talk
Interest you can show. If you say marketing, expect to be asked which advertisement you liked and why, and which brands you noticed the last time you walked into a store. If you say finance, expect the stock market, a share price, what EPS means. My advice from the same January 2026 session:
I would advise everybody to look at The Economic Times every day at this stage, till the time you come for a GD-PI.
A consultant essentially is a problem solver. What was the specific problem? What were the options? Which alternative did you choose, and why?
CATKing session, 30 Jan 2026 · from a talk
The interviewer asked me for the big no. I answered in two words, then explained:
Very self-centred.
A person who can actually work with others, who is a team player, who is non-self-centred, who is collaborative. More and more, all the analyst work will be done by your AI. So what is expected of a human being? To remain human.
CATKing session, 30 Jan 2026 · from a talk
I wrote a checklist for Poets&Quants with Suraj Commuri. Four rules: understand the prompt, do not just read it. Reflect, do not just recount. Have a purpose, do not just structure. Focus on the words, do not just count them.
Your résumé is for listing achievements; your essay is for reflection.
This is how I closed that session with aspirants:
Stay very relaxed. You are all good students.
Everybody wants to be the topper. You don't need to be. Go, give it your best shot. You will find a way.
CATKing session, 30 Jan 2026 · from a talk
AI will do more of the analysis. It will not take the decision for you. From what I wrote in September 2026:
AI may suggest an action, but it cannot accept responsibility for the consequences.
Leadership begins when responsibility can no longer be delegated. Ownership cannot be outsourced.
Companies today hire for roles, not labels: a performance marketer, an investment banking associate, a product manager. So we start from real job descriptions, map the competencies each role needs, and align courses, projects, tools and certifications to them.
Learners don't just choose a specialization. They design a pathway to the role they aspire to, guided by assessment of their strengths, industry expectations, and structured capability development.
Role-ready without becoming role-bound.
Yes, openly, and you answer for the result. In my own marketing class students may use any source. Then they must explain why they chose a customer, a proposition or a message, and which alternatives they rejected.
GenAI should augment human thinking, not replace it. We encourage its transparent and responsible use as a thinking partner while requiring students to retain intellectual ownership and accountability.
Students asked me this on their podcast in September 2026. My answer:
Each one of those who are in the class are very good, coming through a very stringent selection process. Because of the peer pressure, at times one feels: am I good enough?
The only job that we have to do as a teacher is to make sure that the belief remains: I am good, and I can make it good. Nothing else to be done, because you guys are good, actually.
DCP Podcasts, 23 Sep 2026 · from a talk
No. I wrote about this with Dr. Barnali Chaklader in May 2026:
A teacher can pause, look a student in the eye and ask, "Are you okay?" AI can generate the same sentence. But can it mean it?
AI can run the class. It cannot create the classroom.
Start from the role
Companies hire for roles, not labels. Pick a function and a role, and see what it asks for, where it can lead, and which courses build it.
49 roles across 9 functions. The role finder is easiest to use on a laptop or desktop, where you can compare a role's skills, career path and courses side by side.
Download the playbookSource: IMT Ghaziabad Role Competency Playbook, first edition, April 2026. Tools and certifications change over time.
I am a typical chalk-and-board teacher. I ask a few questions. You may find the answers anywhere: Google, AI, each other.
AI will probably come up with one answer, but human beings will come up with different questions.
Two things I see go wrong most often: the essay, and the interview.
For parents
Who is this person? Is the institute serious? Will my child be employable? Here are straight answers.
Ask me something elseA teacher for over two decades. I have led four institutions as Director, Dean or Vice Chancellor, one of them twice, and I still teach.
Education should instil curiosity, build character and prepare learners for meaningful contribution.
#59in the world, FT Masters in Finance 2026
#86in the world, FT Masters in Management
We start from the role a student wants and work backwards to the courses, tools and certifications that build it. The aim is more than a first job: the ability to grow, adapt and lead across roles through a career.
See how it works, role by role2025 · IMT Ghaziabad
2026 · IMT Ghaziabad
"Teamoure Iced Tea: The Expansion Conundrum" is about a venture a student founded. I co-wrote it and teach it in Entrepreneurial Marketing.
2018 to 2024 · JAGSoM
A student-driven annual charity marathon for the girl child and women's empowerment, aligned to UN Sustainable Development Goals 1 and 5. Named in AACSB's Innovations That Inspire.
2016 to 2018 · IMT Ghaziabad
L'Oréal Brandstorm national champions in 2017. Mahindra War Room winners for the first time in 2017. First runners-up at FCB Ulka Comstrat in 2018.
2007 to 2015 · SPJIMR
All 240 participants of the programme took specialisation courses at Carnegie Mellon, Cornell, Darden and Purdue.
For IMT Ghaziabad alumni
The IMT Ghaziabad Alumni Association was formed in July 2025. The school is stronger when its alumni come back.
Play"The only job that we have to do as a teacher is to make sure that the belief remains: I am good, and I can make it good."
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Play"There are more jobs in the market than good people."
Play"You curate your own curriculum. You curate your own career."