Previous

Page - 6

Though most of an MBA aspirant's efforts would be on preparing for the entrance exam(s), it would be wise to know what makes it worth all the effort and how to make the best choice in choosing a college. An MBA ensures a better pay alright, but how much better a pay can it be?
Well, it depends on where you do your MBA and what you make of the course and also what the school makes out of you. MBA courses may be offered by umpteen number of colleges, but only a few promise the best jobs. CAT, MAT, XAT and JMET for MBA decide that the best students go to the best schools. Which are these best schools and what makes them better than the rest?

It is well-known that the IIMs are the best bet for the best MBA. A recent recruit from IIM Ahmedabad made news when he was offered a starting salary of close to Rs. 70 Lakhs per annum. There are, however, a breed of many private colleges that are as good if not better than the IIMs. "I aspired to get into one of the IIMs. Now that I have gotten into S. P. Jain, Mumbai, I can see why it is considered one of the best MBA schools," says Tushar Cherian, an MBA student. A good B-school is not just about the placements that students there manage after graduating. "Placements are all important but there are other aspects too like course content, faculty, corporate interface and infra structure," says Niranjan Ananth, a student of IIPM, Bangalore. "Corporate or industry interface is the interaction that the college provides the students with the big names in the concerned industry. Today an MBA is done to get a push or a great start in one's career in terms of not just the salary but also the job profiles or the companies one gets to work for," elaborates Tushar.

"The faculty is a potent influence on the students, hence, experienced faculty who know the subject well enough to have authored books or are well-known in their fields are essential," he adds. These are the aspects that prepare a student to be sought after by top companies. Recruiters can tell from the confidence of the candidate whether the school he comes from is top class. Although the college they come from, course content, marks, etc., matter, the difference between a student from an average college and one from a good school shows in his superior interaction, communication and presentation skills," says an HR Consultant. "Better communication and presentation skills in a candidate who is recruited would show the standard of the company to a client, therefore, increasing the value of the candidate," she adds.

Another HR Consultant agrees with these points and goes on to say that there are many students who have an MBA degree and the syllabus in many of the schools is also similar, but the exposure that the college provides a student make a big difference to his confidence. The purpose of entrance exams in this context is to get the best students and groom and train them further.

Next

* Contributed by -
Oumkar Umesh,
Senior Correspondent - The Observer of Management,
Article Published in Vol. 1 Issue 12 December 2006.