Hi All, As we step into another season, and in few months you will be witnessing applications for different exams, different and much coveted B-Schools and lot of ups and downs, we are back with the thread which has been amongst the most he…
Hi All,
As we step into another season, and in few months you will be witnessing applications for different exams, different and much coveted B-Schools and lot of ups and downs, we are back with the thread which has been amongst the most helpful threads for the aspirants.
Here, we help each other to take informed decisions about the B-Schools we wish to apply. It is very important to know how/when/why to apply to B-Schools because many a times candidates have a bad day on the exam day and he can't apply to schools after the results are out and later realize that he missed applying to institutes which were in his range.
Link to last year's thread : [2012] Which B-Schools should you apply to? : CAT & Related BSchools : PaGaLGuY Forums
Here, go my 2 cents on this :
While applying for any b-school , just don't make its placement as criteria. However, this does not mean that you apply in any b-school. ROI is a matter of concern . But , ROI does not refer to immediate placements which we get from campus. ROI refers to the value addition in long term , which a college provides you. 4-5 years down the line , there are people working at same profiles despite graduating from differently ranked b-schools which provided them different packages.
Those worried about Acads while applying:
1. Do not bother much about acads at this stage since acads is past and cannot be changed. What you can do now is focus on preparation and score as high as possible to strengthen your chances of getting the call.
2. Acads can be a constraint to get calls from 3-4 B-Schools but a high score will ensure that you get calls from all other B-Schools. So, do not let constraint of 3-4 B-Schools bother you so much that your chances get spoiled for other B-Schools as well.
Worried about Specialization?
There are many people who are not clear about the specialization . It is always better if we do introspection before deciding to apply for a b-school. There are few b-schools which provide excellent opportunities in finance , others in marketing and likewise... So, we can select a b-school in alignment with the specialization we intend to make our career in.
One thing more which i have noticed. People select even specializations on the basis of packages they will get from college . It is not the right way. Read books , articles , consult seniors to get idea about specializations and try to find area which attracts you . You can enjoy your job only when you love what you are doing and not when you are forced to love something. And once , you start loving your job, career growth and money comes automatically .
Few major pointers on the factors which play a crucial role in deciding where all to apply
1. How desperate or keen am I to do an MBA in this particular academic season? 2.
2. Have I set goals and target colleges for myself? 3.
3. Will I settle for a certain college even though I might want to go any better place? 4.
4. How many colleges should I be ideally applying for and what have I allocated as budgetary expenditure for the application process? 5.
5. Why do I really want to do an MBA? 6. What are my expectations from the B-School to which I am applying?
I would like to clarify that this thread doesn't encourage comparison of B-Schools. Moreover B schoolers and Alumni are requested to be unbiased in their feedback of B schools. Placement figures are something that doesn't fall under discussions of this thread, however B schoolers and Alumni can give a small overview of the overall placement scene in the college. Also, if any B-Schooler is found to be indirectly/directly promoting his/her B-School, the concerned post shall be deleted as soon as possible.
Okay, on popular demand, we have come up with a suggestive list of colleges known for specific specializations!
Colleges that have been considered are:
IIM-BLACKI, FMS, XLRI, SPJIMR, MDI, NITIE, SIBM-Pune, SCMHRD, IIFT-D, JBIMS, NMIMS, SJMSOM, TISS, IMT-G!
There is no specific reason for just limiting the suggestive list to these colleges, to put it in no conflict zone, you may say I was better aware of these colleges and was in a better position to do analysis for these.
It is in no way meant to degrade any other college!
Also, lists under specializations are not in any specific order of merit, they are in alphabetical order! 😃
Finance: IIFT-D, IIM-BLACKI , JBIMS , MDI , NMIMS, SPJIMR , SIBM-Pune
Marketing: FMS, IIFT-D, IIM-BLACKI, JBIMS,MDI, NMIMS, SPJIMR, SIBM-Pune, SCMHRD, IMT-G, XLRI
Supply Chain / Ops: NITIE, SJMSOM, SPJIMR
HR: MDI, SCMHRD, SIBM-P, TISS, XLRI
Also, Consulting is not designated as such a specialization, still for consulting I feel following to be the suggestive list: IIM-BLACKI, NITIE, SPJIMR, SJMSOM, XLRI
Please note that above is a suggestive list based on experience, visits at professional websites and interaction with industry people. Hence, request the aspirant to do research at their own end and just do noT go blindly with above list. Though, it has been tried to keep the above suggestions as unbiased as possible!
Also, following colleges from the list considered above, do not give very high weightage to past acads that they become make or break – IIFT, JBIMS, MDI, NMIMS, SIBM-Pune, FMS ,XLRI, NITIE, SJMSOM, IMT-G, TISS. I have refrained from commenting on IIMs criteria as it rapidly changes every year and it is disclosed too, so you may judge their criteria yourselves! 😃
Admission criteria of IIMs can be checked here:
IIM Admission Criteria 2013 -15 Eligibility, Process, Procedure
IIM A Criteria at A site :
Few Rules:
1. For any constructive suggestions for introductory post, please feel free to PM me and if required, will include them in the introductory post.
2. No polls on comparing shall be tolerated at this thread.
3. Have a healthy discussion without getting into bad words for any college.
4. Any post including mud-slinging or comparison shall be deleted. If required, user will be given a warning to refrain from same. If user still continues to do the same, he/she will be sent on a break.
All the best people!
May you all end up in colleges you deserve! 
Cheers!
VisionJust like every year, a very important thread for most of the CAT Aspirants.
Few pointers -->
1. Don't come to this thread with an intention of comparing colleges.
2. Always try to give your details like expectations, mock scores, specialization of interest, etc so that it becomes easier for the people helping.
3. Don't trust blindly on what is being told here. Do your own homework as well.
I will try to be a regular here.
Feel free to ask any query related to "B-School Application". [Preferably Top B-Schools through CAT/XAT/SNAP] . For MAT, there is a separate thread.
A very important thread.
Helped me immensely last year.
Good to see @avinashkrjha back here.
Will try to help aspirants as much as i can here.
Hi All,
I think this thread can help me in my dilemma regarding specialization. I am an IT guy with 20 mnth IT wrkex with decent acads..90+ in X,XII and 76 in BTech(CSE)..NCOBC..Currently,I have a NITIE convert..which is very good for Ops..but I don't want to go for Ops..I get to know IT scene is also good there ..but considering I will not be eligible for Consultants role (Too low workex). Will it be good idea
to go for NITIE or should i go for retake ? Considering 30 mnth wrkex next time..will that be too much as I have heard a high IT workex is not preferred much.?.Pls share your thoughts.
PS: I understand final call will be mine..just wanted to know perspectives of fellow puys and seniors.
Hello everyone
First of all I would like to thank @visionIIM-ACL sir .. and anyone (apologies as i am not aware about major other people on pagalguy) that might be associated with the build-up process for this 2013 thread. Its a great initiative & i hope All will benefit from this.
I have some few queries of mine particularly related to finance as specialization and the roles offered subsequently ...
I would like to know which B schools in India provide a "Front-End Investment banking Role" in various Investment banks & related firms & the approximate annual compensation in this profile (if possible to tell here). Please note that I just want to have an approximate idea about the compensation and nothing more than that.
Also - the difference between "Finance" & "Finance + Strategy" as an area of specialization to pursue while studying in a b school ... This question bugs me a lot 😛
The profile that RBI offers to students post completion of the pgdm at various IIMs & other top notch institutes where RBI makes its presence.
What are the specific skill sets , areas of study (subjects) & learning trends that a perspective student must follow additionally , apart from the finance curriculum he/she is pursuing , in order to get a research based role in an Invstt. Bank ? (Viz - "associate Research analyst" "analyst-pharma sector" "Head of Reasearch" .. to name a few....)
What are the IT solutions (softwares packages) .. aimed at monitoring real time financial markets' data .. etc , that a perspective student of finance must be aware of ? (like Bloomberg Terminal , Finnacle by Infosys .. etc etc)
Alumni , Perspective MBA students , Current Students ... anyone can help
Thanks
Anmol Puri
How companies recruit in top tier schools: Except for those boutique i-banks or consulting companies, most companies have something like a trainee cohort every year. We know it by different names. Management Trainees, Management Associates, International Graduate Trainees...some have fancier names like Leadership program etc. But all of them are essentially the same thing.
Companies recruit students across all campuses. They are given a lower-mid management level designation but higher pay than their same designation counterparts who are not from top tier schools. Their careers are also fast-tracked in the companies. In most cases, the first promotion is almost guaranteed. So, generally every batch has short stints in various departments in the organization before settling down for a particular department. Also, once they are in the MT batch, there is no discrimination among them in terms of pay and promotion. Everything is based on performance.
How is this relevant:
We get a lot of queries like should we choose MDI over SP Jain? Or IIMK over IIMI? Or MDI over IIFT? The long and short of it is that it doesn't matter! Unless you are exceptionally gifted, there is a high probability that you will land up in one of these MT programs. So, there will be practically no difference from a career point of view.
However, we also get queries such as should I choose a Tier 2 or Tier 1.5 school this year or shoot for a Tier-1 school the next year. This one is tricky. Apart from what has been mentioned above, the same companies also have a trainee batch for people from Tier 2 schools. These people are recruited at a lower salary level and 1 designation below the Tier-1 grads. Now that is already a 2-3 year headstart that the Tier-1 guy is getting. Adding to that, the trainee program for the Tier-2 guys are not 'fast tracked'. So, is it possible that one day the tier 2 guy will reach the same level as their tier-1 counterparts from their batch-year? It is not impossible, but improbable.
So, if age is on your side, do shoot for Tier-1.
And the question of age brings us to another important thing, Work-ex:
There is a perception that workex is bad and freshers are better off in business schools. I think we need a clarification here. Work-ex before MBA is not a problem, be it 3 years or 5 years. In fact, workex is good. The aspirations of such people pose a problem during business school placements. People with higher work-ex should realize that for some roles, companies prefer freshers or people with low work-ex. But when people with high work-ex want to enter such fields (eg. fmcg) then it is a headache for the placecom in such schools. However, there are enough roles during the business school placements where people with workex is preferred over freshers. High work-ex people should be aware of this and should aim for such roles.
Every day I get PMs on Tide vs Ariel, questions like how do you think the placement are in both these institutes, is it good for finance or is it good for marketing??? , I am here to start a series of how to analyze placements or do more than just read through placement reports to judge colleges better .
The above 5 points are crucial when you consider analyzing placement reports
1) Companies Visiting: Companies visiting is the first indicator for a college's placement strength. Better the brands, better is a chance to have a good career. Many organizations don't even look beyond Top 4-5 b-schools mostly Big 4 Consulting firms or IB firms are very specific when it comes to hiring .It really is important for aspirants to read and find out what most firms mentioned in a report do, what are their future strategies, what kind of people they look for. This information is now readily available online. People can start working on their profiles even before they join a b-school.
2) Profiles Offered: Believe me when I say that company names are just not enough to gauge a placement report. Many good organizations actually have totally different set of profiles for different tiers of colleges. Especially when it comes to Financial Firms, they have different set of back end (operational/research based), Middle Office (Risk Management), Front office (Client Facing, Advisory) roles. For People in tier 2 b-schools they mostly start off at Back end and Middle office and Mind you their domain may as well be "Investment Banking" but the work is totally different. So how do you gauge the profile Info? Simple talk to the seniors of that college or go to linked In and try reading the stuff alumni or seniors have written about their summers or Full time jobs. Consulting these days seems to be the buzzword in market and believe me people who copy stuff from Google and make a report are also called consultants and people actually handle large projects are also consultants. I am into IT consulting so if people have any specific queries about IT consulting at big 5-6 IT consulting firms such PWC, KPMG, Deloitte , Capgemini , Accenture and EnY do let me know.
I also see people being really interested in IB when it comes to finance and FMCG when it comes to marketing , there are people who have been there and done that , get in touch with them to understand whether your understanding is line with the market scenario or not. Don't crib later on in life that you made the wrong decision after spending millions on a degree you didn't need or want.
3) %Distribution : % of people hired across domains gives you the best picture regarding the strength of a college . Mostly it happens 35-40% of the batch is recruited into the domain that college is known for. But here is a catch, many placement reports report financial firms under finance but actually they may have given sales profile or a RM profile in that college. So how do you know whether the distribution is correct? Check with seniors and also see linked in for information of profiles being handled by the alumni of that college.
4) Statistical Information: Well the CTCs or the Medians, the average, how do you think you can study these stats better to check whether it all matches up? Umm sometimes simple maths can help you out, sometimes it's just obvious, b-schools which report averages between 7-8 and having highest of 10-11 is almost impossible means that most people in the batch lie between 8-11. I don't want to talk too much about CTCs but it is certain in most cases that higher is the package more is the variable especially when it comes to marketing profiles, variables stands at 30-100% of the CTC. There are components such as a onetime joining bonus or loyalty bonus which you only get after completing certain amount of time in the organization; many even add insurance components to the CTC. As much as I can discuss about CTCs, I think first 3 Indicators are easier for aspirants find info on rather than the last one.
Hope it helps.
PS: Pardon me for any grammatical mistakes post was written at one go 😃
Well i am writing this post as an aspirant...when ever i see people trying to choose between IIMK-MDI,A vs B..C vs A,SPJIMR vs IIFT...XL vs FMS...to speak truth me heart aches...if one goes into any of the top 20 B school..IMO he is in safe hand and has a great career ahead...may be they have the luxury to choose and that's why can leave XL or FMS or any other tire 1 college..but on the other hand there are people trying desperately to make it to any of the good top 40-50...and majority trying for tire-2....we have lot of discussion about TIRE-1...but very less about the rest 20....any one who has a convert in tire1 won't think twice before joining that college...but the real dilemma is for people joining a tire-2 college.A more detailed and clear picture needs to be put about these colleges too.Tire 1 has no risk whatsoever if one joins..but tire-2 is a gamble..and as masters, experienced alumnus,experts,i think these people should also give inputs about the so called other colleges....at the end of day we know if it is salman khan movie everyone would go...but the real fight is for tushar kapoors movie...the latter needs meat to support ..same as tire 2 colleges...just a thought...
Any insights on IIM Shillong and New IIMS esp Ranchi, Trichy, Rohtak and Raipur?
hey all...i'm looking for a gud media marketing and advertising college for my PG...I've applied in many colleges and i'm stuck in a problem to pick between 2 colleges ...Apeejay school of management and Delhi school of communications..can anyone suggest me which one of these 2 would be better for me..waiting for your replies..!!
1) Delhi School of Communications
2) Apeejay School of Management Skip
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If MBA is not a compulsion this year, I will suggest you to prepare well for CAT 2013 and target MICA as it is a top institute for Communications. Generally, it is better to do specialized MBA from well reputed institutes.
If MBA is not a compulsion this year, I will suggest you to prepare well for CAT 2013 and target MICA as it is a top institute for Communications. Generally, it is better to do specialized MBA from well reputed institutes.
but if i've to choose between these two colleges..which one would you prefer?
but if i've to choose between these two colleges..which one would you prefer?
Delhi School of Communications could be preferred. Also, talk to respective seniors to get an insight before joining.
Hi, I'm interested to do my MBA in Finance (Investment Banking). Which all colleges shud I apply to ?
My Profile:
X: 64%
XII (Commerce): 60%
Graduation (BBA 2012): 69%
Work-Exp. (Accounts Executive): Will be 1 yr. & 6 months as on 01-04-2014.
Currently undertaking T.I.M.E.S. coaching classes. Mock tests have not yet begun @ our location.
I'm a domicile of Goa.
Pls help...😃
Hey guys...... any idea abt Great Lakes 2 yr PGDM Core, considering the high fees but considerably lesser batch strength, my other options are KJSomaiya (IB)- WL , Welingkar Core and SIIB.... I am interested in marketing and have 2 yrs wrk ex in the same
p.s.... not comparing b-schools but just need an honest opinion if gr8 lakes is worth joining or nor considering my other options😐
Hey Guys ,,, can you please help me in jotting down a list of best B schools available for me for MBA in FINANCE?
MY profile 10th-82%,12th-75%,BTECH-8.5, 2 yrs experience in IBM currently
CAT 2010 (during last yr in college) - got 84percentile
Also what will be the kind of CAT scores needed for IIMs, if there is chance?
Please help .....
Hello everyone
I'm an ECE fresher and placed in TCS....now a days I'm waiting for my joining and preparing for CAT-2013...I just want to know about different Post MBA profiles...I want to know what I will get as a job after MBA in various streams like FInance, HR, Banking,Operations...I just have partial information about all...can anyone provide me full info about these all...I like technical stuff and want to be in touch with technology or latest trends in industries after MBA...is MBA only about data crunching? so what should I prefer ?
can anyone provide me links for this info..?
Thanks in advance...
Hello guys, i have completed my graduation in 2012. after that i took a gap pf 1 year to prepare for mba. but i did not get very good results. i am thinking of repeating again, without work experience but i am in confusion because as my profile is not flattering, what chances do i have?? i have heard people saying that with gap of 2years, no good college accepts. in cat 2012 my percentile was 74. 95 in english and lr, 40 in quantz and di. should i take the exam again in 2013 or drop the idea of doing mba. plz help.
Hi I am having following acads:
Xth: 71.40 %
XII: 71.83 %
Grad: 58.58 %
PG: 69.15 %
Work ex 3+ years ( when I give CAT )
Specialization: Systems management/ Operations
Do I have a chance in the IIMs given all this ? Which B Schools should I target realistically ?
Dear Sir,My Qualifications are:Class X - 55%, Class XII - 65%, Graduation - B.com [Correspondence] School of Open Leaning, Delhi University - 49.33%, CAT 2012 - 78.04 percentile, MAT Dec 2012 - 91.42 percentile. Which all options for colleges do I have to pursue my MBA / PGDM ?