We're Not in College Anymore, Toto!

You'll walk into any IMC class and see the following scene:

Students of all ethnicities and backgrounds sitting behind laptop computers, ferociously typing away notes from class, responding to emails, and filling their online calendars with numerous "save the dates" that come their way -- everything from guest speakers, to company presentations, to group meetings to lunching with the Dean of Medill. At the front of the class, a professor is lecturing - teaching sampling methods, segmentation, discussing famous marketing cases, and other marketing concepts from the basic 4 P's to complex statistics formulas.

But as IMC students, we only sit in each of our classes for about 4 hours a week! What else do we spend all our time doing? Why don't we get more naps in? Are we spending all the rest of our waking hours partying and socializing?

Oh no. We're not in college anymore, Toto.

IMC is a full time job!

IMC students' calendars are filled to the rim. Our schedules are jam packed - the educational opportunities here are endless, and we have a world of knowledge at our fingertips. Through professors, classmates and guest speakers, we're constantly being introduced to new marketing concepts, or hearing a different perspectives on old concepts. We're learning how companies work from those who run them. We're learning about job functions from our classmates who have performed them. And we're learning about recent research projects from the professors that have done the research. It's exciting... and it's overwhelming!

Aside from classes, here are some other activities that might fill our schedules:

Speakers: Through the IMC Professional Speakers Series (a student-run group) we invite professionals from marketing-related fields to come speak to IMC students. These are lectures not to be missed - and lunch is usually served. Also, the Medill Career Center brings in potential employers to give company presentations. For students anxious about their residencies and future employment, these presentations are a MUST to attend!!

Group Projects: In each class we take, we have a number of group projects and presentations to work on. IMC students are a group of "type A" personalities -- group projects are fun, and challenging, as you're working with a number of different people, trying to come to a final solution! Group project meetings can last for hours -- my last group met for 5 hours, for 6 days in a row!!! Needless to say, these are fun and educational, but very time consuming.

Committees: Through the Medill Student Life office, IMC students can become involved in a number of committee groups, depending on their interests. These committees include the Branding Committee, Orientation committee, MASA (Medill Asian Students Association),Professional Speaker's Series, Medill Networking Committee, Toast Masters (speach-making), INNuvation(for entrepreneurs) and even a law-review type publication, called the Journal for Integrated Marketing Communications.

Homework: an old concept, reintroduced! Between readings, projects, statistics problems, studying and review of concepts taught in class, students might spend up to 6 hours (or more) doing homework each night!!

Sleep: Optional.

It's a grueling 15-month program, but the hard work pays off, as IMC graduates are placed in marketing positions for some of the world's top companies.

All for now!
Shari

Why IMC for me?

Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) is a graduate level program offered by the Medill School at Northwestern University. This program is designed for those who want to pursue a career in marketing communications and marketing management. The program approaches the traditional marketing concepts in a data-driven and customer-centric way. I am a graduate student at the Medill IMC program at Northwestern University and here's my take on why I chose this program.

I constantly get asked why I chose IMC having already done my MBA. I went into my MBA program with no work experience and at that time I felt it was the right thing to do. But in retrospect, I strongly believe that I would have been able to take away more from the program if I had worked in the industry before.

Post-MBA, I worked for 3 years in product management, brand management and marketing strategy roles in the technology industry. My understanding of marketing concepts from my MBA helped me perform well in these roles. Having smoothly made the crossover from campus to the corporation, I was often confronted with the conflict of theory and practice. Having got a little experience in marketing and the confidence that I wanted to pursue a long-term career in marketing, I was looking for a program that helped my further solidify my marketing skills. And the Medill IMC program exactly fit this need.

The 15-month IMC program is highly specialized and intensive and drills deep into most of the marketing and marketing communications concepts but with an interesting data analysis flavor. For would-be marketers who have battled with the measurement side of marketing, this program could give you an interesting skill set that could set you apart from the traditional MBA marketing students.

With advanced courses, in-class projects, client sponsored projects, group assignments and residency opportunities; this program is not for the light-hearted. Learning in an environment facilitated by world-class faculty, the IMC program is definitely a bang for my buck.

Get more on IMC in this blog !! Watch out for this space.