What would you suggest to an engineering graduate who is about to join IIM Ahmedabad for its Post Graduate program in Managment?

It is difficult for an engineering graduate to adapt to the course work of IIM Ahmedabad. You may feel like a person stranded in the middle of the ocean who does not know how to swim. If you are an IITian, you can choose to sail through your years with your alma mater's brand value. If you are not an IITian, find some friends who are good at the subjects taught at IIMs. 

In the 1st year, try to figure out your sustainable limit and stick with it. Do not burn yourself out trying to keep up with the course work. Other than this there are some tips that may be helpful in surviving the academics of IIM A.

Subjects you are already familiar with- 

• Quantitative Management (QM), Managerial Computing (MC), Operations Management (OM) are based on topics you already know and cover only a few new concepts. 
• First-year of IIM A is not the time to discover the beauty of equations and difficult problems. 
• Take advantage of your prior knowledge in the subjects, prioritize key problems, solve and move on. 

Time Consuming Topics-

• These topics fall under numerical/logical but new subjects- Economics, Accounting, Finance. You will face difficulty in these subjects. Not because these are tough but you have less time to cover these topics. 
• For these topics make friends with the people who have a good comment on these topics and clear your basics. 
• If your basic concept is clear you can solve a lot of problems on your own. Do not just blindly rush through materials. 

Subjective Topics:

These include HR, Marketing, Strategy, Organization Behaviour & Design, and WAC. These subjects can be tricky. Think questions while you study the subject materials. Subjective courses solve a lot of questions, so aim to learn structured problem solving on ambiguous topics. 

You have to cover a lot of topics in a limited time period. So, strategize your time wisely at IIM.