[rishikesh15]

Business today rankings for 2009 :

Business Today - India's leading business magazine


Brief Text on ranking:

Business Today - India's leading business magazine


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Interesting part of the text :


Our study also throws up a few puzzles: While you’re scrolling through our rankings, you may come to an abrupt halt at the #13 slot, occupied this year by the International School of Business in Hyderabad. Why is a top-notch programme, rated in the 2009 Financial Times top 15 Best Global MBAs, not in our top 10? Its Rs 20 lakh price tag—compared to Rs 9 lakh at the IIMs—probably scares away your average middle class applicant.
Then, there’s the fact that it’s programme is a one-year course—too short for anyone who wants the more familiar two-year stretch to absorb the experience. Corporate recruiters, too, don’t seem to give them relatively high marks— probably because ISB’s graduates are more geared towards the international job market rather than the domestic one. In other words, ISB’s problem is that it is too much of a premium brand and in a downturn, this can be a disadvantage. However, when the economy revives, ISB’S fortunes—as well as its future ranking— is bound to improve.
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[rishikesh15]

Is this ( corporates not preferring 1 year MBAs ) something we should worry about? 1 year MBA at this stage of career is a big decision... any thoughts?

[NOTHING1954]

One year MBA is more than enough for a person with a lot of experience and who generally doesn't look for a major shift in the function- for example from business development to Finance etc.
It gives more of a general mangement perspective. If some one wants to go in-depth into a specialised field, then he/ she might need a 2-year programme.
I don't think you should give too much credence to this survey.
They haven't given any details regarding survey method, except that it follows Nielson's winning brands methodology.
I doubt whether the approach used to assess the strength of Consumer brands is a meaningful way of assessing B-schools; Not everybody can procure the services of B-schools at what ever price.
Given admission restrictions, I wonder how relevant is the approach adopted by BT! People who can't/ didn't get admit from one school but got admit from another would tend to view the first school negatively and the second school more favourably! I believe there could be serious methodological issues here.

Originally Posted by rishikesh15

Is this ( corporates not preferring 1 year MBAs ) something we should worry about? 1 year MBA at this stage of career is a big decision... any thoughts?

[MBAMatters2008]

A lot has been said (both good and bad) about both PGPX and ISB. And I guess everyone is right. You will have to make your own call.

I completed PGPX earlier this year (PGPX 3) and had a great experience. My GMAT was 760, 6 years experience in US --- primarily Mgt. Consulting, MS from US top School. Had admit to both ISB and PGPX. Selected PGPX for a number of reasons already discussed in many of these posts. I had visited the ISB campus and talked to some of their alum/students before making my decision. One thing I can tell you is one has to go beyond the hard-to-miss optics in choosing PGPX over ISB (I am taking about very nice ISB campus --- better than Kellog/Ross and all the other razzmatazz which ISB will do thru website/media to convince prospective students.)

I am very happy with PGPX ------ we had some really great guys in the class, rich academic experience, great profs, and a lot of hard work. I can absolutely bet that I am stronger and better off for my PGPX experience.

Could ISB have been better? Well you know what, I do not know as I did not go to ISB. Will PGPX help me reach my goals? I am sure the experience/network/brandname will. Did I learn enough? Absolutely yes (maybe more than most schools including ISB/US Schools).

Look both are good schools ---- at the end it is on the candidate to learn, absorb, introspect and deliver. You will find students in both places who did not enjoy the experience/placement, at the same time you will find students in both programs who have done extremely well. I think the question one should ask is what you want to get out of the program and whether what you are asking for is realistic?

Last year I have seen the same debate on these web-sites. Some of us came to PGPX and found it challenging in terms of work-load and the placement (recession driven). Few others went to ISB, enjoyed the nice infrastructure/international profs/global ranking and ended up with no jobs (if i remember right, on graduation they had less than 50% placements). Does this prove one program is better than other? Maybe not.

My personal assessment is from the fifth batch of PGPX (your batch), a lot of the hard work which has gone in different areas (like course design, recruiter relations, program branding, visiting faculty, program ranking by FT etc.) will start showing results. I guess most of you are not too young to not remember the first 3-4 years of ISB.

So dont get swayed easily ----- have confidence in who you are, what you want, what you are capable of and decide which is the best school for you. You have all the facts/information ------- you do not need more data/discussons to get to the answer. The answer is in you and what you are comfortable with.

[dsr for MBA]

One more opinion on IIMA PGPX vs ISB ( This is from ISB thread some ones advice to me on ISB vs IIMA PGPX)

QUOTE=1-year MBA;1719043]Given that you have an admit from PGPX, I'd assume you have 8+ years of experience. If so, I wouldn't have any regrets if I were you. ISB's good for younger candidates, but it's not geared for those with experience. They probably rejected you because they realized during placement season last year how badly they struggle to place those with more experience.

From what I was told by friends who were in ISB last year, they found it extremely frustrating because there were no systems in place to help more experienced candidates. They had to compete with those 3-4 years junior to them for jobs that were lower in level than what they had left. All because ISB focused on companies/roles that would get the max number placed, which meant those with up to 5 years of experience were given all the attention.

And this is not the first time it has happened - ISB has regularly shortchanged candidates who have more experience. Even in the class of 2008, when there were plenty of jobs to go around - PGPX had an average of 2+ offers per student - I knew a couple of students who had to graduate without a job because ISB refused to commit resources to helping those with more experience.

My frank advice - be thankful that you didn't get shortlisted by ISB and get tempted to join them because of the hype. And congrats - enjoy the time at IIMA !![/QUOTE]
Originally Posted by dsr for MBA
ISB Slolved my confusion. Just spoke to ISB. All calls (most of the calls) are sent. All rejected /waitlisted mails will come next week.I am a reapplicant .Interviewd last year. I did not get the call this year. consider it is a ding with out interview. Last year panel raised concerns over my post Career (got feed back) .
Have admit from IIMA PGPX. I am from Hyderabad. have a dielama between IIMA PGPX vs ISB. ISB solved it.

All the best Guys.

[Indian_MBA]

Originally Posted by MBAMatters2008

A lot has been said (both good and bad) about both PGPX and ISB. And I guess everyone is right. You will have to make your own call.

I completed PGPX earlier this year (PGPX 3) and had a great experience. My GMAT was 760, 6 years experience in US --- primarily Mgt. Consulting, MS from US top School. Had admit to both ISB and PGPX. Selected PGPX for a number of reasons already discussed in many of these posts. I had visited the ISB campus and talked to some of their alum/students before making my decision. One thing I can tell you is one has to go beyond the hard-to-miss optics in choosing PGPX over ISB (I am taking about very nice ISB campus --- better than Kellog/Ross and all the other razzmatazz which ISB will do thru website/media to convince prospective students.)

I am very happy with PGPX ------ we had some really great guys in the class, rich academic experience, great profs, and a lot of hard work. I can absolutely bet that I am stronger and better off for my PGPX experience.

Could ISB have been better? Well you know what, I do not know as I did not go to ISB. Will PGPX help me reach my goals? I am sure the experience/network/brandname will. Did I learn enough? Absolutely yes (maybe more than most schools including ISB/US Schools).

Look both are good schools ---- at the end it is on the candidate to learn, absorb, introspect and deliver. You will find students in both places who did not enjoy the experience/placement, at the same time you will find students in both programs who have done extremely well. I think the question one should ask is what you want to get out of the program and whether what you are asking for is realistic?

Last year I have seen the same debate on these web-sites. Some of us came to PGPX and found it challenging in terms of work-load and the placement (recession driven). Few others went to ISB, enjoyed the nice infrastructure/international profs/global ranking and ended up with no jobs (if i remember right, on graduation they had less than 50% placements). Does this prove one program is better than other? Maybe not.

My personal assessment is from the fifth batch of PGPX (your batch), a lot of the hard work which has gone in different areas (like course design, recruiter relations, program branding, visiting faculty, program ranking by FT etc.) will start showing results. I guess most of you are not too young to not remember the first 3-4 years of ISB.

So dont get swayed easily ----- have confidence in who you are, what you want, what you are capable of and decide which is the best school for you. You have all the facts/information ------- you do not need more data/discussons to get to the answer. The answer is in you and what you are comfortable with.

Very Prudent post! Thanks for taking off to post in this forum.

Regards,
-Sujai(PGPX V)

[Indian_MBA]

Guys - IIMC PGPEX results are out and I am accepted at IIMC as well. Not IVing for IIMB or ISB anymore. It is destination IIMA for me!!

All the best to puys aspiring for a IIMC slot!
-Sujai

[keerti_p]

Puys,
This has been a useful discussion.

I am still dilly dallying. I talked to ex-students of both PGPX and ISB.

ISB students told me about the difficulty in placing those with higher experience and that the salaries/roles offered to them were at par with the students with lesser experience.But the gainers at ISB are the ones with lesser experience who see a substantial increase in renumeration and roles.

PGPX students were of the opinion that I should not have very high hopes of placement in terms of renumeration post PGPX. With an average experience of 8/9 years, the average salary of 20 L looks a dismal figure.
Assuming there would be many more people below this average, I assume many guys in that experience range also get placed well below this salary.My concern is wouldnt a guy with 8/9+ years already be in that salary range or above it.The average salaries are further jacked by the single overhyped highest offer. He further went on to say that most people were placed at the salary levels before joining PGPX and sometimes even lesser than that.

Any thoughts ?

For those arguing that MBA is not a money making machine would you take a pay cut or go on similar salary post PGPX/ISB ?

PS- do i have to have a google id to join the admits/WL google group.

[rishikesh15]

yes you need to have a google id ..

[MBAMatters2008]

Originally Posted by keerti_p

Puys,
This has been a useful discussion.

I am still dilly dallying. I talked to ex-students of both PGPX and ISB.

ISB students told me about the difficulty in placing those with higher experience and that the salaries/roles offered to them were at par with the students with lesser experience.But the gainers at ISB are the ones with lesser experience who see a substantial increase in renumeration and roles.

PGPX students were of the opinion that I should not have very high hopes of placement in terms of renumeration post PGPX. With an average experience of 8/9 years, the average salary of 20 L looks a dismal figure.
Assuming there would be many more people below this average, I assume many guys in that experience range also get placed well below this salary.My concern is wouldnt a guy with 8/9+ years already be in that salary range or above it.The average salaries are further jacked by the single overhyped highest offer. He further went on to say that most people were placed at the salary levels before joining PGPX and sometimes even lesser than that.

Any thoughts ?

For those arguing that MBA is not a money making machine would you take a pay cut or go on similar salary post PGPX/ISB ?

PS- do i have to have a google id to join the admits/WL google group.

Look do not get overly influenced by the 20L number. When the PGPX3 batch graduated in March, it was really tough. Most of the global big names (includes top US schools) were struggling to place students. The 20L average is a reflection of the times. As far as I remember, the average the year before was 26L and very likely for PGPX4 the number will get better.

However, I would like to add that one might be dissapointed if one is joining PGPX primarily for a salary jump. PGPX in the past has usually worked best for people who have used the PGPX experience to build on their previous career (maybe a change of function in same industry, or different industry but same function). If you have 10 years experience and you change both function/industry, you might not see jump in level/salary. Some people do it and it is fine as long as one understands the implications.

Let me know if you want to discuss this in more detail.