Well, I am not going to defend Great lakes and rebut the claims of insider. One thing i can say is whatever information has been posted in the blog is public information. I just thought i will give some arbit gyan and my two cents on criteria or parameters on which you choose your Bschool.
a)
The placement Stats -
The most important thing. I totally agree coz everyone does an MBA to get a shift in career. In my case i wanted to get out of coding and do what i do best - TALKING. for others it could be to do analytics, financial modeling, trading in stocks, consulting etc.
Average Placement figures in majority of instances are misleading. Its a case of my Bschool is the best. If Z comes out first with a report with %$#^$#^ rupees as average, then Y comes out with a report with %$#^$#^ + 10 %, then X comes out with a report with %$#^$#^ + 10 % and the cycle goes on. Its similar to what our real estate industry is going through. everything is notional. How else do you find out that when you talk to bchoolers who have passed out that their sal invariably happens to be less than the college median sal.
So how do i choose?
You know your Background. PM students who have similar profile like yours and find out what they have got and i am sure you will get a clear picture. In the US it always happens . students mail students to get a picture of the aid scenario and grants before joining a MS course. That kind of due diligence must be accorded here also . after all you are investing quite a bit of money and time and most importantly its your career.
what about ROI?
The biggest myth is i should get a 100 % hike from my existing salary after an MBA. guyz please stop. that ain't happening. Reason - earlier only MBA salaries of top b schools were increasing because of fewer schools and fewer positions. now ain't the case.
when i got an IT job in 2003 my sal was close to 2 lpa and at time of quitting in 2005 it was still the same. no hikes. Compare it to now fresher sal starts at 3 and in two years its grown to 5or 6 . so when i talk abt % increase of my MBA sal over my prev sal its understandable, but now thats not the case. The difference between what non MBA's and MBAs earn has significantly reduced.
So why do i do an MBA if i dont gain much in salary?
The call is completely yours. some do it to change fields, some do it to change profiles in the industry and some to get a significant sal hike. People really need to research on how much significant sal hikes they can get. if you are already in the 6-8 lpa bracket chances of significant rise are limited and MBA is an experience of a lifetime and you are able to take a break from your work and monotony which gives you so much intangible benefits that we really dont ascribe much value to it. you need to take such factors also into account. if you start calculating ROI at 25 years and keep postponing it it is just going to be an never ending process.
Each bschool is good in certain aspects you need to concentrate on that and aim for those schools . I would say that FMS,KJSom are great in marketing, IIMC and A stud in fin, IIMK good in systems, symbi in HR and so on.
Try to find your industry and see whether the bschool offers decent profiles in your preferred sector. Profile comes first and salary next guyz.
Once you start working - the golden MAXIM is "
Grass always seems greener on other side"
b)
Class Profile -
if your class has a good profile and is heterogenous chances of you learning more from them as well as leveraging their positions 15 years hence is going to be a great factor. if harvard is so famous as it is now, alumni form a major factor. So see whether the Bschool alumni are proud of their alma mater and are distinct . Alumni 10 years down the line are going to shape the bschool future. I know many engg colleges languish despite getting the best students from their respective states because of a lack of alumni cooperation. IITs have done it wonderfully , so have IIMs. Look for the bonding quality and see how diff: that bschool is w.r.t others and whether you see yourself as a proper fit into that bschool culture.
c)
Quality of faculty
Placements are the end goal but the learnings imparted in class as well as the fundae we learn are so important that it serves as a good foundation for you becoming a complete MBA. When people discuss economics and finance it is this learning which enables you to be on the same page as others and not look totally lost as is the case of majority of engineers including yours truly when somebody questions them abt the fundamentals of their specialisation.
Certain Hard hitting facts
- Majority of People(60-70%) from the best bschools in india with 2-3 years post MBA workex still make only 10-15 lpa salary.
- The CTC is markedly different from what you get in hand. After tax, majority of bschoolers get something between 40-60k monthly take home.
- You cannot place people in US directly after bschool as you need to apply for H1 and H1 process is a lottery which most of you know.
- As for UK foreign placements you can send a person to UK on long term only when they complete 6 months in the company. in other words he has to be offshore for 6 months.So if you leave out UK and US the only other option seems to be singapore and HK.
- The wage difference between MBAs and non MBAs has drastically reduced and in cases non MBAs with similar work ex make more money than MBAs.
- a 120k sal in NYC is equivalent to 70k sal in New Hampshire. there is so much variation in cost of living. You end up saving the same.
- at the age of 28
priorities change, career takes backseat and then you know that all this career shift, high salaries and other things become secondary. have quite a few stud friends who have passed from creme de la creme and i know how they have metamorphosed.
- 70-80% of the time we crib abt work and you know that you are not alone. IT guyz, fin guyz,mktg guyz everyone cribs.
- Very few have clear goals before joining a bschool as what to achieve after MBA, for the rest its a herd mentality. You learn what you really want to do only after 2-3 years in the industry and there are roles in every industry which would suit your profile and we just need to be patient. frequent job hopping defly does no good.
Finally the call is yours guyz. Do your research properly and if you feel the bschool is not a proper fit dont join. I am sure you all are intelligent and self aware and know your strengths. So leverage on that to arrive at the best desicion.
cheers,
Prashanth
Help
!) students. I being from north India, know how many students are aware of the institute. Only a handful.. When i told my friends that i am applying to GLAKES, thy asked me 'What is that':whatthat:!! 
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