Most aspiring B-school candidates are through with
their group discussions and interviews and management institutes have begun
making their final admission offers. A lucky few will get offers from top-notch
institutes and will be spoilt for choice. Given the reputation and credibility
of the top institutes in the country, whatever choice they make will generally
work out fine.
However, for the
majority of students, who have offers from the middle-rung and lesser known
institutes, they will have to be extremely careful about choosing which
institute they finally join. They should ensure that they make an 'informed
choice' after a thorough verification of several parameters. In fact, there is
a mix of different factors that decide the merit of a B-school. This article
discusses some of these.
Placements
This is what appears
to matter most to many students -- ultimately they look at the pay packet and
the career prospects that an MBA degree/ diploma offers. My advice to students
is to make sure that the institute offers credible campus placements. There are
two points to be kept in mind here:
a) Do not look only at salaries. Look also at the number,
nature, reputation and variety of companies that come to campus for placements.
This is because if you wish to specialize in a particular stream and work in
that field (example: marketing or finance), there should be a sufficient number
of reputed companies in that field that recruit from campus.
b) Verify that the
placements that the institute claims are actual on-campus placements. Some
institutes do advertise placements that their students have obtained -- but
these may be due to the students' own efforts, not the institute's! A related
point is that you should check as to which companies actually visit the campus
on a regular basis ie almost every year (and not just on some ad hoc
occasions).
One caveat here: Try
and verify the placement data/ salary figures that various schools claim from
independent sources/ past students of that business school; don't just believe
the figures you see on various websites/ in the press blindly.
Go through the faculty list on the institute's website
or in their brochure/ prospectus. Check whether the business school has
renowned full-time, qualified faculty. Try and check if the faculty that the
business school claims to have are actually full-time and not mere visiting
faculty/ guest lecturers who may or may not be available at all times for
students.
Quality
of students
This factor is
extremely important, though often neglected by students. I strongly feel that
you can learn a lot from your colleagues and peers, besides the faculty and the
institution itself. Fellow students of high academic calibre, varied interests
and diverse backgrounds can contribute a lot to your all-round development.
The two-year full-time MBA course in most institutes
requires you to do a summer internship for a few weeks/ months. Once again, see
if the institute offers campus placements for this internship. It is not easy
to run around trying to obtain an internship for yourself.
Factors such as the
location of the B-school and its industry contacts/ partnerships help in
ensuring that students get to do interesting and knowledge-enhancing
internships.
Another related
factor is the opportunity for 'live' projects with reputed companies. These
projects are part of your course curriculum in top institutes are vital.
Importantly, they will help in your obtaining your final placement as well.
Guest lecturers (including visiting faculty)
Check out the kind
of guest lectures delivered at the institute and who host these. Along with the
quality of internships/ 'live projects', as mentioned earlier, this parameter
could be very good indicator of the kind of placement opportunities available
to students since it reflects the level of interaction that the particular
institute has with industry.
Infrastructure
Good management
institutes have at least the basic infrastructure in place. This helps in
disseminating the pedagogy effectively and ensuring that students are
well-versed in modern-day management tools.
Accordingly, a
well-equipped computer centre, libraries, projectors, seminar rooms for guest
lectures etc are a must. Once again, it is a good idea to verify all this
rather than merely rely on the institute's website or marketing brochure. Speak
to alumni of the B-school or try to visit it yourself.
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