Culture matters more than ranking. Period. People obsess over brands, placements, and averages, but forget that they’re about to live inside this place for two years. Every day. With the same 300–400 people. That environment will shape you more than any case study ever will.

Some campuses are chill. People help each other, share notes, collaborate, compete but without toxicity. Some are political. Everything is about optics, visibility, and alliances. Who you know matters more than what you do. Some are cut-throat. Silent competition, constant comparison, people hiding resources, smiling in front and competing in the background. Some are cliquey. Small groups, strong in-groups, hard to break social circles.

And here’s the part nobody prepares you for. You don’t experience a B-school. You experience its people and incentives. What gets rewarded. Who gets celebrated. What behaviour is normalised. That slowly rewires you. If risk-taking is rewarded, you become bolder. If conformity is rewarded, you become careful. If visibility is rewarded, you become performative.

Same curriculum. Same degrees. Completely different humans coming out. That’s culture. And that’s why two people from equally ranked colleges can feel worlds apart in confidence, mindset, and ambition.