Wondering which Bskools to apply visit this thread!!!

[pranav10]

Hello all MBA aspirants,
I have been working on this thought today and think that I must share it on this forum as it is PG that has given me all that I have today.

Whenever someone asks me how they should go about preparing for the entrance exams they get a lot of gyaan and advice ( often unsolicited ) but what seniors/ guides rarely tell their students is how to apply to Indian Bschools. It is very important because many a times candidates have a bad day on the Sunday of the exam and we cant apply to schools after the results are out and later realize that we missed applying to institutes which were in our range.

Just like a candidate applying to the US of A chooses the universities he applies to an MBA aspirant must also choose judiciously. Why you ask..... well thats because he has a lot to lose if he doesn't make it... Time, effort, money, one year of waiting and agony and answering awkward questions.



So here goes without much delay my 2 cents on the issue at hand....
First things first you need to decide a few things and judge which category u fall in...


1) How desperate are you to do an MBA in the year you are applying?
It may be that a fresher can take a higher rick than someone who has taken a year's break to prepare for the exam. Or if u have 3+ yrs experience then too its OK cause you can always try next year.

2) The budget that you allocate for the application process.
As I have come to realize now the applications are a good revenue source for all Bschools.

3) How well you judge your own performance and the past data you excavate and research from places like PG.com
basically there are 1500+ Bschools in India now so you have a wide variety.

4) Why MBA/ What MBA?
Ex: MICA for a PR/Mktg/advt focussed person and SITM for a specific field like telecom.



Now that you know these basic things you can go ahead and make a choice as to which schools you should apply to.

Divide your applications into 3 categories (like is advised for foreign universities)

Dream: The ones that everyone and anyone wants to and would love to go to...

Within Reach: The places below these top schools that you think you can reach (use mock cat %iles and past cutoffs to decide here)

Backups: these are the institutes that you must apply to considering that the exam day does not go too well for you.

The number of institutes you have in all these above categories can vary and change from person to person but a good mix in my opinion should be 3-5-5.

So go ahead and plan the institutes to apply to this season and a lot of us on PG are there to help you, veterans please add to my post as all the above are my personal opinions and not from any "reliable" source unless ofcourse you rely on my word.


Bye and sorry for the long post... let the thread begin

[gpriyanshu]

good initiative man!! i hope we do not indulge in rotten comparisons on this thread but let it have some meaningful criteria like you well started with. I feel we use up only the well accepted facts for giving info. For all those needing help, i guess it would be a good idea to have a look and ask meaningful well thought after questions. I promise to contribute in whatever way i can.

[pranav10]

Thanks priyanshu
it guys like you who can make this thread meet its purpose

[grondmaster]

Hey all...

One point I need to make here.

I'm in Marcom @ SIBM. I've got quite a few classmates who said that they applied to Marcom only because they felt that the cutoffs would be lower in Marcom (That's true, though) that Dual. But now, they're feeling unsure of that idea of theirs.

Do give your own goals a very good thought process. Just because you WANT to do an MBA, don't apply to all instis left right & centre. Other than CAT, I'd given only 2 exams, applied to 7 instis, got calls from 5, and converted 3. I know I wanted to get into commn. related studies & career, so I joined here in Marcom. In fact, it'd have been difficult for me if I'd converted any general MBA, like the IIMs, for instance. Give yourself a clear idea like this, and then only go through the process.

Money is good after an MBA... the placements of all instis will tell you that. But remember, that is only for those who have the ability to be good in whatever they do. Not easy, even for those who are the best. The rest are spread across the spectrum - selling soaps to housewives & wearing ties as shoe salesmen, and taking strong decisions for MNCs or consulting for major finance houses.

I AM TRYING TO SCARE YOU. Because you will then think about your chances, perhaps pessimistically, bu more importantly, very objectively. then take your decision.

Regards,
Grondmaster

[s_raj_t]

Originally Posted by pranav10

Hello all MBA aspirants,
I have been working on this thought today and think that I must share it on this forum as it is PG that has given me all that I have today.

Whenever someone asks me how they should go about preparing for the entrance exams they get a lot of gyaan and advice ( often unsolicited ) but what seniors/ guides rarely tell their students is how to apply to Indian Bschools. It is very important because many a times candidates have a bad day on the Sunday of the exam and we cant apply to schools after the results are out and later realize that we missed applying to institutes which were in our range.

Just like a candidate applying to the US of A chooses the universities he applies to an MBA aspirant must also choose judiciously. Why you ask..... well thats because he has a lot to lose if he doesn't make it... Time, effort, money, one year of waiting and agony and answering awkward questions.



So here goes without much delay my 2 cents on the issue at hand....
First things first you need to decide a few things and judge which category u fall in...


1) How desperate are you to do an MBA in the year you are applying?
It may be that a fresher can take a higher rick than someone who has taken a year's break to prepare for the exam. Or if u have 3+ yrs experience then too its OK cause you can always try next year.

2) The budget that you allocate for the application process.
As I have come to realize now the applications are a good revenue source for all Bschools.

3) How well you judge your own performance and the past data you excavate and research from places like PG.com
basically there are 1500+ Bschools in India now so you have a wide variety.

4) Why MBA/ What MBA?
Ex: MICA for a PR/Mktg/advt focussed person and SITM for a specific field like telecom.



Now that you know these basic things you can go ahead and make a choice as to which schools you should apply to.

Divide your applications into 3 categories (like is advised for foreign universities)

Dream: The ones that everyone and anyone wants to and would love to go to...

Within Reach: The places below these top schools that you think you can reach (use mock cat %iles and past cutoffs to decide here)

Backups: these are the institutes that you must apply to considering that the exam day does not go too well for you.

The number of institutes you have in all these above categories can vary and change from person to person but a good mix in my opinion should be 3-5-5.

So go ahead and plan the institutes to apply to this season and a lot of us on PG are there to help you, veterans please add to my post as all the above are my personal opinions and not from any "reliable" source unless ofcourse you rely on my word.


Bye and sorry for the long post... let the thread begin

Hi I have 2.5 years of experience in IT. I gave 4 Aimcats & got the score 70-75. Suppose I get the same in original CAT,Can you suggest which colleges should I apply ??? I tried to find the cut-off of some colleges but most of the colleges listed on PG have 80+ cut-off.

[pranav10]

First thing first... what makes u belive that in 3 months u cant increase ur score to the 80s. also remember that the more u believe the more you achieve...

At the same time plan where you wanna apply. the first 2 categories u can choose with less effort.
you have to have the back up schools ready for you... thats the main concern... take into consideration factors like city, previous lateral placements, last year's cat cut offs etc

ps: more later this is the inital response that i want you to work on

[sarit]

hi,
Can you give a cut-off score(percentile) for getting an interview call from the following institutes( 2005 data will do) :
IIMS
FMS( FMS paper)
SP Jain
MDI
XLRI (XAT paper)

Also can you tell me which institutes have a chance of achieving 10+ lacs as average domestic salary during 2009 placement period ? A rough guess will do.

[ramarao]

Originally Posted by s_raj_t

Hi I have 2.5 years of experience in IT. I gave 4 Aimcats & got the score 70-75. Suppose I get the same in original CAT,Can you suggest which colleges should I apply ??? I tried to find the cut-off of some colleges but most of the colleges listed on PG have 80+ cut-off.

It is the performance on the D-day which matters the most . Generally people tend to improve with time. You will definetly get more in the main CAT

Since you have 2.5 years of experience I think you should apply to top colleges only.

[ninja_talli]

One important questionOr fact! Whichever way you see it )

How do we exactly determine how good a Bschool is? Of course i'm not talking about the IIMs or other A+ schools (SPJain etc), but the A-grade ones( e.g. XIMB, GIM, BIM, IMT Gz, SIBM, etc)

The question I'm putting up is how do these colleges (atleast the ones i mentioned) stand up in actually teaching management? How to determine that?

P.S. I'm not talking about salaries. Unfortunately that's the only thing talked about generally...

P.S.S. I have a work-ex of 2+ years.

[gpriyanshu]

Originally Posted by sarit

hi,
Can you give a cut-off score(percentile) for getting an interview call from the following institutes( 2005 data will do) :
IIMS
FMS( FMS paper)
SP Jain
MDI
XLRI (XAT paper)

Also can you tell me which institutes have a chance of achieving 10+ lacs as average domestic salary during 2009 placement period ? A rough guess will do.

IIMs: 99.8x+
FMS: scores not declared
SP J: profiles matter more than scores... ppl with 85 also manage a call while even 99.9X may not fetch u one.
MDI: 98+
XLRI: no overall cutoffs.. individual cutoffs of 89.5+ va, 94+ in di and qa

2009 is too far to predict, depends much on state of economy..
anyways, what makes you feel that you would be average wherever you go... in a higher ranked scool, you may be lower than avg while in a lower ranked one, you maybe above avg.. so not comparable..
roughly, all the A+ ranked B-schools are expected to have more than 10+ in 2009 going by current projections... A+ wud include top 10-12 colleges in country....