[Looking4MBA]

I am also looking for a 1 year MBA program in INDIA.
Came across SOIL when I searched up google.
The internet is flooded with messages from someone who goes by the name "Nipun the mindhunter" , who as I have found out now is from some HR publicity company .. Peoplestrong..
I see this as a desperate attempt by the B-School to advertise/market itself ...
Moreover the fee of 6.5-8 lacs seems toooo much for this program !!
Friends ..Look .. before you leap !!!

[sunilk]

I feel to disagree with you. The institution is having so much industry back up , I guess placement should not be the problem.

gupta.h, can you please call me up at <snipped>. I am also in same boat as you are in .

Thanks,
Sunil

[skuct]

Yes .. the industry i sbeing backed up by some good names in the industry ..
Atleast that is what we see on the SOIL website !!!

[Looking4MBA]

Sunil, in one of the other threads on Pagalguy .. I saw your post asking about how good the placement at SOIL is and how good the college is ..
Now you are jumping the gun and answering your query yourself , by stating that the placement should not be a problem !!
How come a change of opinion on the same day itself ???

[sunilk]

Hi, i am not jumping to the conclusion. i was answering thequestion that fee of 8 lakh is much more for this course. i am also confused about placement. In the interview, there were so many big faces such as Abhijit Bhaduri, Anil Burman. If we go by the interview, placement does not seem to be a problem but I am getting skeptic about it. I dont care what do they teach me in one year but what I worry about is placement. Just thinking, should I leave my software powerhouse to be a leader / fool ( in case of no placement). Date to deposit fee is approaching so wanted to know more about it. Have you got some news about it ?

Thanks,
Sunil

[Aki07]

Hi, I too got call for BLP but there are few things which helped me to decide that it's not the right time to join this School .....

1. They have just got 2 permanent faculty till now & they are looking for more ....R u kidding me .... u r looking for more now when it's close to 2 month left (I was told by there representative over ph)
2. They don't have any tie up's with External schools which means no exchange & hence no Network....like GreatLakes , ISB has.Somebody can say that they do have tie ups with NGOs ...but today you can work with N number of NGOs & don't need a PMP course for that......also the industry Consortium will be "Leading the Placement Process" which don't means that they will be offering job.Moreover participating in School's consortium is another way of showing corporate social responsibility.

3. If you go through the course detail both HR & BLP is very much similar , hence you will have 120 students in most of the classes ....& no mention of any credits as well

4. In one of the articles I have read that this is a prototype launch & in future they will be opening more branches of SOIL ..... r they planning to go "Dare to think beyond IIMs " way

Anyways , folks that's my view .....& trust me the way I got the admit (I really didn't give much effort) I now doubt even more.

So, with the above pointers & whooping fee for such a course , it's a big NO from my end.

[Aki07]

Hi, few pointers before thinking to join this School .....

1. They have just got 2 permanent faculty till now & they are looking for more ....R u kidding me .... u r looking for more now when it's close to 2 month left (I was told by there representative over ph)
2. They don't have any tie up's with External schools which means no exchange & hence no Network....like GreatLakes , ISB has.Somebody can say that they do have tie ups with NGOs ...but today you can work with N number of NGOs & don't need a PMP course for that......also the industry Consortium will be "Leading the Placement Process" which don't means that they will be offering job.Moreover participating in School's consortium is another way of showing corporate social responsibility.

3. If you go through the course detail both HR & BLP is very much similar , hence you will have 120 students in most of the classes ....& no mention of any credits as well

4. In one of the articles I have read that this is a prototype launch & in future they will be opening more branches of SOIL ..... r they planning to go "Dare to think beyond IIMs " way

Anyways , folks that's my view .....& yes ROI is doubtful too (your salary + 7.5 or 8 Lakhs + interest) ...remember even ISB was not able to get there 1st year placement salary to 8 L for all students though it was so well planned school.

[Looking4MBA]

No doubt that the SOIL initiative is a good one .. but here are a few points here which are a major cause of concern for me :
Total number of study hours / total credits of the course are not mentioned anywhere.
Now that 1 year courses are also being approved by AICTE , what about the program offered by SOIL ?

I have been told by one of my friends that the total fee for BLP comes to around 8.8 lakhs INR (taxes included) not 8 lakhs published on their site.
I feel that there is a lack of transparency in such a trivial thing as disclosing the fee structure , so what else they might be hiding !!!
Moreover, as there is no foreign trip offered/included , the fee is way too high for the first batch.

[runaway_guy]

They don't need a permanent faculty as such.

• The faculty from abroad would be there for 2 months or so at a stretch.For a one year course thats good enough.
  The course fees are high because of the faculty.
  The board consists of people from the industry as well as academia.
  AICTE approval is not required if you have industry backing.
  The course material would be industry relevant,something u won't find in a run of the mill MBA school.

Having said that here are the cons:

• No mention of total contact hours/credits.
  The placement is not binding upon the consortium,which means they may choose not to recruit from there.
  No tie ups with any university.

Going for this college would be a risk that might pay off.I would have chosen to ignore it totally had it not been for the people involved with this project.
And if they have a bigger vision for this school,they have to take care of the 1st batch .

[Looking4MBA]

From the list of the faculty members provided on SOIL website
only Dr. Ashok, Mr. Adwaita Govind Menon, Dr. Ramnath Naraynaswamy,Stephanos Eapen & Dr. William Davidson are the ones who have taught at academic institutions and the other names out there are only Directors, consultants or some other members of the industry.
I think that any director, consultant of any industry/organization will be able to impart knowledge in at most half as good a manner as a veteran academician can !!

It would have been much better if SOIL had a few more guest professors/lecturers as part of the faculty .

Moreover, runaway_guy ,have you received any confirmation that the faculty from abroad would be available in person at the SOIL campus for 2 months at a stretch ..
I am asking this because as is the usual norm, lecturers/professors from abroad are always advertised as part of the faculty but one might rue later when one finds out that they usually take lectures via video conferencing ...