[runaway_guy]

This is not an exhaustive list of professors or teachers i believe.
And yes i have received a verbal confirmation that the profs would be available in the campus for a period of 6-8 weeks.
The course has been designed as per industry needs.There will be relevant case studies on the consortium industries to study their work.No one can teach that better than the executives themselves.
Infact among the current crop of new age B schools (if i might call them so) MBS (Mumbai Business School) and SOIL look the most promising to me.(others are IWSB,Unitedworld,ASIA GB etc).
Both offer 1 year courses.However MBS has a locational advantage.And the academia is good too.But the fees are high.I don't see where MBS would stand 4-5 years down the line.But SOIL knows what it wants to do.
So thats good for a start.

[Looking4MBA]

I would like to differ on this ...
Why are guys like us with a minimum of around 3-4 years of work-ex willing to apply to a new B-School .. and take such a high amount of risk ..
Even I am of the opinion that risks should be taken in life .. but that has to be a calculated risk !!

I was offered admission to MBS , and to correct you .. its fees is not higher than SOIL.. but at par with it ... Moreover MBS offers foreign immersion modules as well..
2 weeks in Europe (Switzerland/Germany)
4 weeks in Middle East..

I had to reject the offer because in these times of recession , the risk factor increases exponentially. So think a thousand times and then once more, if you want to try your luck with a new B School ...

What I would say is that give the school at least 1 year ... and then see the placement and maybe apply for it if you wish to ...

Let sanity prevail !!!

[Looking4MBA]

I would like to differ on this ...
Why are guys like us with a minimum of around 3-4 years of work-ex willing to apply to a new B-School .. and take such a high amount of risk ..
Even I am of the opinion that risks should be taken in life .. but that has to be a calculated risk !!

I was offered admission to MBS , and to correct you .. its fees is not higher than SOIL.. but at par with it ... Moreover MBS offers foreign immersion modules as well..
2 weeks in Europe (Switzerland/Germany)
4 weeks in Middle East..

I had to reject the offer because in these times of recession , the risk factor increases exponentially. So think a thousand times and then once more, if you want to try your luck with a new B School ...

What I would say is that give the school at least 1 year ... and then see the placement and maybe apply for it if you wish to ...

Let sanity prevail !!!

[skuct]

Even I was selected for the PGPM program at MBS, but have not gone ahead with the same because of some other reasons.
What I would like to point here is that the CEO of MBS , Mr Suni Rai , told me that the degree offered by MBS would be PGPM, and it would have signatures of Mr Bala Balachandran (from Kelloggs & founder of ISB ),Mr Jagdish Sheth (from Emory University) and Mr Suni Rai himself.

Wonder what degree will be offered by SOIL and whose signatures will it feature in order for it to have industry acceptance.
& yes the one & a half months foreign immersion is a big attraction for the PGPM from MBS and justifies the 8 lakhs INR fee !!

[Looking4MBA]

Hi skuct,
As per the info available on the SOIL website , they are not going to offer any degree/diploma.
Following is the text from the FAQ section on SOIL website :

Does the program award an MBA degree?
As the curriculum is tailored to meet industry requirements, SOIL has not sought approval for its programs from AICTE. We offer a certificate program which is recognized by leading companies.


Since the first batch is yet to pass out from this college, I don't know what the sentence : ".. recognized by leading companies." mean !!!

According to the info I have ,
As of now, most of the admissions to SOIL have been into the HR Leadership program and that too students with zilch work exp. (This is expected I guess, coz of the lesser risk involved for a fresher)

For the Business Leadership program, not many of the guys have yet gone ahead to pay the initial deposit to reserve their seats .. (again , as expected , because I dont think many of the guys/gals will be willing to leave jobs where they are well settled and well paid and opt for a new BSchool in these times of insecurity/recession)

Friends, how many of the puys out here are actually paying the initial deposit to reserve their seats and for which program ..?

[runaway_guy]

Here's my profile :
Graduation from an N.I.T/R.E.C.
20 months work ex in an IT major.
First attempt at MBA this year.Scored 96 in XAT with ZERO preparations.
Could have got into a decent college using my SNAP scores as well.
Guess what,i didn't apply to more than 2 colleges.Results awaited for the 2nd one.

Yes,my parents too are saying the same thing,that i am acting stupid by going for SOIL.
Here are the reasons:

• Industry relevant course designed and imparted by business leaders
• Manpower a 17 billion dollar US firm that has a majority stake in Grow Talent (the parent company that owns SOIL) is an HR consultancy firm too.
• If you have a look at the GLP program on their website you'll see some major companies enrolling for this.Why?Because the people who are involved with this institute are among the best HR consultants.And yes,the "certificate program" they are offering is HR related.Does it hold any value?You do the math.
• A Social Innovation Project is a part of the curriculum.I am looking beyond money or fame why i am joining this institute.Yes,i believe we would be placed next year with a leading organisation.So money won't be an issue anyway.
• there are so far 21 consortium companies and many more are in the fray.You'll be assigned a business exec from a major organization to mentor you.Where else would you get such a thing?
• Faculty is top notch.Whether they are available in person is another question.I believe they would.You can always enquire with them.

That's enough for now i guess.

[Looking4MBA]

Hi Runaway_guy ,
Felt good to hear that you have scored 96 in XAT with almost 0 preparations.
Buddy, why dont you want to give a shot to top notch B-Schools using your CAT/XAT score or maybe put in atleast 30% effort in preparing for MBA exams next year ..
I am sure you would land up with around 98%ile...

I have nothing against you joining SOIL ..
but what I want to say is that .. please try some established B-Schools if you can ..
and maybe give SOIL a shot next year again.. If you have been selected this year .. you might as well be selected next year as well ..

[Aki07]

Well Runaway I don't agree with your findings :

1. All the MBA institutes teach industry driven course (What new with SOIL ...they will teach Yoga as well)
2. Grow talent is no more parent company of SOIL ...Grow talent is been sold completly & it was bought because Manpower wanted to expand itself in Indian HR market....so thought why to re-invent wheel let's buy something cheap.
3.Well major companies r not just enrolling for GLP but are associating with SOIL (you never know it may be just Corporate social responsibility). Moreover , one can question ther engagement
they will be ther once during interview, once during case study preperation , once during guiding through placement(well atleast this is wat leading companies do at ISB,GREATLAKES & IIMs ) are you seriously hoping there presence throught the year ?
Also, mentorship don't always work..remm it's not a new concept ....but problem with mentorship is you need to wait for your mentor...& the more higher he/she is in heiarchy the longer is the wait , hence slower the learning (we just have one year)

4.There are lot of NGOs as well as Incubation centers in IIMs ,ISB & other good institutes who are working towards social innovation & enterpreneurship projects. Moreover you have not to pay for it......what they need is your Idea & your dedication.(check : NEN Online - Resources for Entrepreneurs in India, Business Ideas & Entrepreneurship Education)
5.Faculty , check how many of they have teaching experience, as it counts, one can be scholar but is he also able to present his thoughts well enough for us to understand is a question ?
The lsit of such faculty members in SOIL is too less for 120 students that too they all are visiting Faculty.
But yes I agree when it comes to HR ...i guess for HR program SOIL can give returns but BLP is a big doubt.

Well, but above all ....my comments should not be taken against one's decission to join SOIL but should be used to evaluate the institute.

-Aki

[runaway_guy]

All institutes do teach industry relevant courses.But when it come to HR leadership these people are the best,i presume.
NEN is a fancy thing.I wanna work at grass roots.I don't have any fancy ideas (I have one,but it's too fancy ).
Yes,the industry consortium is impressive.Whether they will stick throughout the year is a question.I am putting my faith in SOIL.
My interview was taken by industry stalwarts.At no point did i feel they were not involved with this project.There was a sense of belongingness.
They plan to start another campus in chandigarh a year later and 5 campusses by 2014.For that the pilot project has to be successful.
I guess they will try everything within their capability to make it successful.
I share your apprehensions about the faculty.But they are relying more on industry stalwarts.

[ashwani86]

hey Aki , i wud like to comment on your previous statements ... i have joined SOIL as in PGP-HR Leadership..

1. They are not having 2 permanent faculty right now... plz try n update your information... first..
2. Tie Up with external B schools doesnt raises the quality of that B school as nowadays mostly every C grade B schools are also having tie up with external B schools.. This is not justified as well.. Moreover Tie Ups with NGO's can be easily that too i agree with u , but dear friend this is the innovation they have tried to bring in your course curriculum to enhance the leadership quality within student , which has not been done by any B School so far.... Quality Innovation is the thing which matters...
3. I think you have not seen the course curriculum properly , plz check the website again its not similar there are some common subjects but u dont knw whether some modules may be different, only the workshops are the same...
4. Even if they open some branches in near future i dont think thats some wrong or it is "Dare to think beyond IIMs", if the plot works for them ( which im sure that it will work ) than only they will open it... Opening up of branches is done by every B school if they succeed.. eg IIMs , IMT, SP Jain , UBS, now ISB (Second campus in Mohali by 2012)..
5. Last you are talking bout the placements of first batch of ISB than plz remind that ISB was opened 10-12 yrs back and at that time it was the first B School to give 1 yr PGPM... This was very new at that time and salary during that course of time were also not that much higher... Well u can take eg of Great Lakes which has been opened 4-5 yrs back and their first batch was placed decently with the gud packages.... only reason being that after ISB the 1 yr PGPM program has been appreciated by industry if it has been executed properly....

Anyways the reasons which you have given are not justifying NOT TO JOIN SOIL...

Now the statements which you have given let me correct u for that also..

1. New with SOIL is not that they teach yoga or art of living ,, new in this is Assigning of Corporate professional to each student as a mentor...
2. Any company who acquires another means that they want to expand their business , but y did they do so with Grow Talent ?.. there are many others also ... as far as GROW TALENT is concerned every one knows that it was one of the top HR consultant in india... it was nothing to re invent wheel but improvise the quality...
3. Rest you talking of mentoring have u ever been with that.. or have u seen any B School failing to do so.. Means when u dont know than how can u comment for that... Higher Hierarchy Long waiting time.. whateva if u have any FAQ n Figures than talk...
4. Faculty in every lower grade B schools are also from IIMs etc that means they teach a lot , My dear Friend , plz type the name of each faculty in google mentioned in the website and try to know bout them... they have a great exposure & vast experience in the corporate world... which means a lot .. Practical Approach is far better than Bookish Learning....
5. Do u know how many faculty are there in it ???
6. Rest on ROI i cant give any statement... companies will not take student coz of SOIL they will come to campus coz of SOIL but will take u based on ur potential.. if u have it in u thn no body can stop u..


Rest Mr Akshay or Aki ... plz dont put up ur comments in a hurry... think twice wateva u speak and plz speak on facts n figures dont give ur comments on ur hypothesis.....