So what makes IIM-A different?

Earlier, I touched upon this point in a post on IIM-A's criteria for sending students on exchange(http://iimaexperiences.blogspot.com/2011/07/iim-ahmedabads-2010-exchange-criteria.html), and thought I'll update it after reading Prof TT Rammohan's book 'Brick by Brick', which was about Ravi Mathai, and his legacy on IIM-A. Though a few rankings may disparage IIM-A to get that elusive media byte, the fact remains that both the student community(perception poll, aspirations) and recruiters(quality and offers) still view IIM-A as India's No1 Bschool. But beyond that, the mystique still remains. And while one may attribute it to the unique architecture, alumni network, academic autonomy etc, those factors would not be enough in themselves. So, the student governance is a critical aspect of it, and the factors below

• Integrity in everything:-Be it placements, academics or other activities, it is NOT ok to cheat/pad CV/engage in plagiarism etc. That rubs off on the person in general even during internship, where IIM-A students do not badmouth others despite being victims of it themselves.
• Transparent and fair event organizing:- Anecdotal evidence shows that IIM-A students win very few inter-college events at their own college. Contrast this to other colleges, where there is an undisputed host advantage. But here, IIM-A organizers go to the extent of atleast 50% external judges, random team names, limiting entries to 1/college for some events etc
• Fair selection process in clubs:-There is very little nepotism in club selections, with multiple interactions and a fair process. The clique culture of regionalism/college/community is not prevalent here,in general
• Wide latitude to clubs and associations:-The student body and clubs have a wide discretion to carry out their activities, with minimal faculty supervision.
• Cooperative administration:-Whether it comes to booking classrooms, Audio-Visual staff remaining late to ensure events go off flawlessly etc, the administration is usually quite cooperative for student run events.

There could be many other such factors, but these were the ones that caught my attention.