Your Coaching Institute is Lying on Your Face , Do You Know ?

Prabhat, a young undergraduate, walked into a renowned coaching institute with his friend Aman. 

Both had very high hopes that with proper coaching and guidance one day they will be able to crack CAT ( Common Admission Test ) and get into one of the IIMs or one of other Top MBA Institutes in India, settle their career and fulfill their dreams. 

Also Read : How to Get Internship at Google

They got counselling, got promised about making them ready to secure a seat in IIMs, a lot of dreams were gifted to them by institute and they obviously made it sound like a piece of cake. 

They got admission too, and what happened in later months, was totally unexpected to them. 

Wish, they could have known the things, they know now before entering the coaching institute.

But its not their fault. The truth, which they realized after 8 months in coaching ins MBA aspirants, who realize the truth later, when almost a year is lost. Only very few could realize the truth at right time. 

The truth, that everyone must know before getting admission in a CAT/MAT coaching institute : 

Their  CAT coaching Institute is making fool of them. 

The institute has been lying on their face since the day they walked into office for very first time. 

They have been nothing more than a bearer cheque of Rs. 70,000 to their coaching institute. 

Here Prabhat shares their experience in their own words. 

"I was a B.Tech final year student while Aman was pursuing his B.Com those days. We were childhood friends, and had our plans. 

Counsellor looking towards me asked, "So what are do you doing ?"

"B.Tech. CS, 7th Semester " I replied. 

"Oh that's great. MBA after B.Tech is a great combination you know. 

Its amazing career choice. 

My boy, IIMs are made for you and students with though process like yours are made for IIMS. 

We will teach you how to get into IIMs. Its very easy with proper guidance from experienced faculty like we have. They are the best. 

Also, there are no benefits of getting MBA from any other B-School other than IIMs. "

"So, is there no scope for B.Com graduates ?" Aman asked. 

Now counsellor got his attention. "So you are doing B.Com ? That is also a great choice. "

"With MBA after B.Com, the sky is the limit ...

He started in a flow, like a recording, with no desires to be interrupted, srepeating the same things that he told me couple of minutes before. 

Later on we realized that, even on that day we could have said any things as our current qualification ( all the degrees from Graduation to Post Graduation ), it could have been a perfect combination. 

After a detailed discussion of 40 minutes, we found ourselves discussing the fee structure for coaching. 

We expected to get it done in 2-3 minutes, but to our surprise, a long rate list was waiting for us. 

"Please wait a minute, Ma'am will explain you the fee structure." he said. 

A young lady had appeared there introducing herself and the counsellor walked towards some new faces who has just entered the office. 

"Look, we have weekend and weekdays batches. Which one would you like to have ?" She asked. 

We expressed our desire to know about both. 

" For weekdays, you need to pay Rs.29,000 only. 

But if you are willing to go for weekend classes then it will cost you Rs.32,000."

It was way to out of our budget. We expressed our inability in paying such a high fee. After all both of us were from a middle class family and this was a huge amount for our parents. 

"Not to worry, you are lucky that, we are offering Discount of Rs. 2000.00 for all admissions this month. You can avail that, but for that, you need to pay the complete fee before end of this month. You can register yourself in offer by paying Rs.5000 as registration amount.  fee at the time of registration." She said. 

But yet, arranging Rs.27,000 in 20 days was not easy. We said sorry, and started getting up while saying, "we will come later. "

Hay, wait wait. We understand you are talented and have dreams. We love to support young students like you.
We have a group discount offer. If you take admission in a group of 3-5 students fee will be Rs.25,500 per student." and the fee will be paid in 3 instalments. Its all that I could do to help you. 

Today we think, they are the people making real money without any MBA. 

( Indirectly, I was giving a business of Rs.1,27,500, to get a discount of Rs.15,00. )

Finally, we got admission, got batches allotted and received our welcome kit with some books and cards etc. 

First day of our class, we entered the room with full enthusiasm and zeal to study hard. 

Couple of days passed nicely, but these days were not going to last forever. 

One day, one of the counsellors ( marketing executives, we had understood by now ), entered the classroom just before the class was about to start. 

He introduced a program : Earn While You Learn.  "We have launched this program to support you guys only. " He said. 

All you have to do is to refer your friends and you will be entitled to get Rs.500 - 700 for each admission. 

( For every business of Rs.25000, you will get Rs.500. Damn !) 

But it just didn't  stop here. 

More programs were launched, all nicely packed to look as they are helping us. For eg : College ambassador program, Coach your juniors program, Boot Camp Program etc. 

Suddenly we had become their marketing executives, and we never understood it. 

Counsellors started visiting our hostels, using us as pass to get it. Meeting our college mates, convincing them to get admission for CAT prep, even when they were planning GATE. 

Our studies at both places was getting full of distractions and we just couldn't see it. 

At institute, the classes never remain constant at particular schedule.

Sometimes the classes were scheduled in such a way that, we needed to take off from college. 

Studies at both places were suffering. 

Time flew by and the date of CAT was near. Our MOCK tests had started. 

Many of us were unable to perform well. With bad scores, most of us had sad faces. 

Well, how we could had scored well, as being a student, we had a lot of work to do other than studies. 

The subject teachers started scolding and the counsellors started convincing us to drop and enroll for next year coaching in new batch. 

All the earlier promises suddenly changed - 

"Everyone cannot go to IIMs."

"Focus on getting into one of top 100 B-Schools. " 

( What happened to me going in IIMs only ) . 

But we didn't give up, pulled up our sleeves and focused on our studies. We started going to coaching only for mock tests. 

But all were not like us. Some, gave up and started focusing on getting into B-Schools other than IIMs and other top 20 B-Schools. 

And, new offers launched to create more distraction : 

“Provide 2 students and get a MAT application form free."

“Provide 4 students and get a MAT + CAT application forms free."

“Provide 6 students and get a MAT+ CAT+FMS application forms free."

And so on, all indirectly forcing students to bring more students. 

All the time, they kept lying and distracting their own students. Treating them nothing more than a money making machine. 

Even in the desperate times, when they could have guided students to study, to focus, they promote them to get involved into money making activities for institute. 

The day was here, we had appeared in test and the result was about to be declared. 

Most of us had scored terribly bad. Even we, after putting all our efforts of las 4 months had been able to score between 75 percentile to 80 percentile. 

Some hadn't been able to cross 50 percentile too. They were the ones who had earned highest in the referral programs. 

We had a feeling that after such a terrible result, finally the institute will take a lesson. But no, they started offering the same students Marketing executive jobs in the institute. 

It was actually worst than it sounds. 

The institute representatives were suggesting students, to join institute as sales and marketing executive.

In their own words, "we can help you in funding your coaching expenses. We have some positions open and you can join us. You will be paid monthly salary and you can fund your coaching fee from that.

To girls, the positions like telecaller, receptionist, counsellor etc. positions were available. 

Today I think, how bad the MBA coaching industry has become. "

Prabhat, stopped here, looking towards the neon glow board of a CAT coaching institute, just opposite the coffee shop we were sitting in. 

But it doesn't ends here. There is alot that Prabhat told. Will share that in another post. 

Prabhat took a break and made to one of the prestigious B-Schools. Today he is starting his own business. Aman too had to struggle but, now he is earning well and doing market research to start his own business. 

Based on experience of Prabhat, we talked to some more students and a lot of shocking facts came to light, including : 

- How you become a bearer cheque to Rs. 70,000 and more for your coachign institute. 

- How you end up paying approx Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 20,000 in a year, to your institute without even knowing that, you are paying. 

- How coaching institutes make sure that you follow the path of "How not to get into IIMs". 

After all, the above is only the beginning. 

Have you experienced something same. Share with us.

Wish you the best.