How to choose MBA Colleges

Before we go further, please note that you must treat relevant B-school MBA Application Process as seriously as preparing for CAT/XAT/CMAT or other top MBA exams, because if you don’t apply to the right B-school, you will not get admission even if you have scored 99%ile! Also, each Application Form Fee for each MBA college admission is between Rs 1500-2500, so, if you apply to wrong college, you have wasted time and money. You need to plan your MBA Application very carefully.

Now comes the question -- how to choose the right MBA College which is the best fit for you? What are the key parameters that you should consider before making the right choice.

Use our step by step guide to decide your MBA College. Evaluate MBA colleges systematically based on following parameters:

1. Exam Accepted & their Cut Off: Check your eligibility
2. MBA Vs PGDM: Select type of MBA College carefully 
3. Fee: Calculate Total Amount you will spend, not just Tuition Fee
4. Placements: Check Average Salary and Top Recruiters
5. Ranking & Accreditation: Trust only the best
6. Faculty: The most important criteria, research wisely
7. Location: Either prefer Top Cities for MBA, or Top Colleges 
8. General MBA or Specialized MBA: Match your aptitude
9. Legacy & Alumni Base: Network Matters 
10. Infrastructure & Facilities: Good Ambience aids Great learning

Let’s begin our journey and understand each of the above parameters.

The first and foremost in choosing the MBA College is your eligibility criteria. Different B-schools accept different National Level or State Level or their own Entrance Test scores for which a minimum overall (sometimes even sectional cut off) is prescribed. For example, IIMs prescribe minimum CAT sectional cut offs in the range of 70 to 85, along with the overall cut offs in the range of 80 to 95. Many other top colleges like MDI, IMI, IMT consider overall cut offs. Others like SPJIMR focus more on academic profile and achievements, instead of simply considering the entrance exam scores. Most other B-schools also accept XAT, MAT and CMAT Scores.

So, before moving forward to make your choice of MBA College, check which exam that you are applying for, or have applied and whether the B-school will accept its score for admission and what is the expected cut off. To make your decision easier, brief division of MBA colleges accepting different exam scores with cut off guide, is given here:

Apart from the above exams, some of the top exams are TISSNET (for Tata Institute of Social Sciences) and IBSAT (for 9 ICFAI IBS Colleges).

Out of so many B-schools there are different types of MBA colleges operating in India. You need to make a choice which type of MBA College & program you wish to choose out of them. An MBA degree program is offered by University B-school recognized by UGC, while PGDM, equivalent to MBA is offered by the AICTE approved B-school. The flexibility of curriculum is more in PGDM program. Following type of MBA colleges offer MBA and PGDM programs:

• 20 Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs): Offer PGP leading to MBA degree now
• MBA offered by the departments at IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Kanpur, IIT Roorkee among others
• MBA offered by Central & State University MBA Departments and affiliated MBA colleges like FMS, Delhi University; JBIMS, Mumbai University; IIFT Delhi Deemed University; JNU Delhi; Panjab University Chandigarh; IP University MBA Department among others
• MBA offered by Private Universities like – NMIMS Mumbai, XIMB at Xavier University Bhubaneswar, Christ University Bangalore, IFMR Graduate School of Business under Krea University, KSoM at KIIT University Bhubaneswar, among others
• PGDM (Equivalent to MBA) offered by Private PGDM Colleges, like – XLRI Jamshedpur, SPJIMR Mumbai, MDI Gurgaon, IMT Ghaziabad, IMI New Delhi, TAPMI Manipal, K J Somaiya Mumbai, FORE School of Management New Delhi, LBSIM New Delhi, Goa School of Management Goa, Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai/Gurgaon among others

It may be noted that broadly there is no difference in offering of MBA or PGDM programs as both have equal recognition except the difference in nomenclatures. Read more about difference between MBA and PGDM programs. Check here MBA or PGDM

A moderate fee structure with good placement that can assure you about your career prospects is what you might be looking for. So, it will be better to compare the fee structures of different B-schools and the benefits of learning arising out of it before finalizing your MBA admission decision. 

You should calculate total fee and expenses for 2 years at the MBA college and not just the tuition fee as the tuition fee could form only 50-60% of the total expenses. If you add the expenses for laptop, other study material, boarding & lodging expenses, other deposits at the B-school, the total fee will be much higher. 

There are MBA colleges with different fee structure. For example, IIM Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Calcutta have a fee structure above Rs. 22 to 24 lakhs whereas the total program fee at FMS Delhi is less than Rs. 2 Lakhs. The MBA fee range at some of the best MBA colleges is shared below to help you make a choice:

3.1 MBA Colleges with Fee Range above Rs. 20 Lakhs

• IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, IIM Calcutta, IIM Kozhikode
• MDI Gurgaon
• XLRI Jamshedpur
• MICA Ahmedabad

3.2 MBA Colleges with Fee Range between Rs. 15-20 lakhs

• IIM Lucknow, IIM Indore, IIM Udaipur, IIM Shillong, IIM Rohtak, IIM Ranchi, IIM Trichy
• SPJIMR Mumbai
• XIM Bhubaneswar
• IMI New Delhi
• IMT Ghaziabad
• Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai
• K J Somaiya Institute of Management, Mumbai
• TAPMI Manipal
• IFMR GSB Chennai
• SIBM Bangalore
• FORE School of Management, New Delhi
• GIM Goa

3.3 MBA Colleges with Fee Range between Rs. 10-15 lakhs

• IIM Amritsar, IIM Nagpur, IIM Visakhapatnam, IIM Jammu, IIM Sambalpur, IIM Sirmaur, IIM Raipur, IIM Bodhgaya
• IIT Delhi, IIT Bombay, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Kanpur, IIT Roorkee
• NITIE Mumbai
• IRMA Anand
• Welingkar, Mumbai
• XIME, Bangalore
• BIMTECH Greater Noida
• Jaipuria Institute of Management, Lucknow
• EDII Ahmedabad
• SDMIMD Mysore

3.4 MBA Colleges with Fee Range between Rs. 5-10 lakhs

• JBIMS Mumbai
• VJIM Hyderabad
• IPE Hyderabad
• JIMS Rohini, Delhi
• SRM School of Management, SRM University, Chennai
• Mody University School of Business, Jaipur

3.5 MBA Colleges with Fee Range below Rs. 5 lakhs

• FMS Delhi
• USMS-IP University
• SIMSREE Mumbai
• PUMBA Pune
• AMSoM University Ahmedabad
• DSE-Delhi University, Delhi.  
• University Business School, Panjab University, Chandigarh

Check here MBA Colleges Fee in India

Before making a choice, check what are the average placements over the years in the B-school? Which MBA program gets higher Placement? Who are the top recruiters? These queries need to be answered before you make huge investment to your MBA programme.

The division in average placements could be made in 3 categories – Highest Placement B-schools like older IIMs, High Placement B-schools like IITs, TAPMI, Moderate Placement B-schools like BIMTECH, LIBA, Jaipuria among others. You should compare the fee and placements of the B-schools and then choose the right MBA college:

4.1 MBA Colleges in India with Average Placements: Rs. 20+ LPA

• IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, IIM Calcutta, IIM Lucknow
• FMS Delhi
• SPJIMR Mumbai
• XLRI Jamshedpur
• IIFT Delhi
• IIT Delhi, IIT Bombay
• JBIMS Mumbai

4.2 MBA Colleges in India with Average Placements: Rs. 10+ LPA

• IMI New Delhi
• IMT Ghaziabad
• K J Somaiya
• MICA Ahmedabad
• Great Lakes Institute of Management
• TAPMI Manipal
• GIM Goa
• FORE School of Management
• XIMB Bhubaneswar

4.3 MBA Colleges in India with Average Placements: Rs. 5+ LPA

• Welingkar Mumbai
• BIMTECH Greater Noida
• BIMM Pune
• KSoM KIIT University Bhubaneswar
• BITS Pilani
• Jaipuria Institute of Management, Lucknow
• LIBA Chennai
• SDMIMD Mysore. Check here MBA Placements

MBA College Rankings help you to decide which MBA College or MBA program you should apply when there are number of options available to you.  Although there are dozens of B-school rankings which are published in India, the creditability and track record of the ranking is most important to get reliable guidance.

5.1 The top five MBA Rankings or B-school Rankings in India are:

• NIRF Ranking Framework by HRD Ministry, Government of India
• MBAUniverse.com Ranking
• Business Today B-School Ranking
• The Week Ranking of B-Schools
• Outlook B-School Rankings. Check here MBA Rankings in India

All these rankings help you make an informed choice to select the best MBA college

5.2 National & International Accreditation

National and International Accreditations awarded to the B-schools reflect the quality of education including curriculum as per Global standard and industry requirement, pedagogy, high quality of faculty and research, facilities at the institute which are prominent parameters to choose the best MBA college. Following are the prominent International and National Accreditations that you should look for, before making a decision on your preferred MBA college:

5.2.1 Top 3 International Accreditations:

• Association to Advanced Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), USA
• EFMD Quality Improvement System (EQUIS) 
• Association of MBAs (AMBA), UK

5.2.2 Top 2 National Accreditations

• National Board of Accreditation (NBA)
• National Assessment & Accreditation Council (NAAC)

It is of utmost importance to find out how qualified and experienced the faculty is at the B-school. Every B-school publishes its faculty profile area wise on its website. You must read faculty profiles carefully and do area wise research especially for the MBA program you wish to pursue and look for following qualities:

• Professional Experience
• Academic Qualification
• Research Area and publications
• Industry engagement

If the B-school has not published on its website the details of faculty profile, you should be cautious and avoid such MBA college. Core faculty at the B school decides the learning experience in imparting the education at the institute and is the main factor in providing adequate mentorship to the students. 

6.1 Faculty-Student Ratio 
The better is the teacher student ratio, the better will be the mentorship at the institute. A teacher-student ratio of 10 students mentored by 1 teacher could be considered as good one. If there are fewer good faculty members and the ratio does not remain good enough, it may affect adversely the learning experience at the B-school.

Location preference needs to be exercised, if you do not get admission in one of the top MBA colleges. If the MBA college is located in, or near an industrial hub with high career prospects like Delhi NCR, Bangalore, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Calcutta you could opt for the best available MBA college in the city as per your eligibility for admission.  

You need to decide whether you wish to pursue General MBA and take some specific area of specialization in the second year or want to do specialized MBA right from the beginning. There are many top MBA colleges which offer General MBA and very few specialized MBA programs while many other MBA colleges offer specialized MBA programs also, like MBA Finance, MBA HR, MBA Business Analytics, MBA Rural Management among others. The choice has to be made before taking admission.

So, if you are interested in MBA Finance and the B-school does not offer specialization in it, there is no point of opting for the said MBA college. You should first figure out what is your career goal and which is the relevant MBA program for you to help you achieve your goal. If you go to an MBA college offering MBA Marketing while you wish to pursue MBA Finance or some Industry aligned MBA, you will be wasting your investment and 2 precious years of life. Check here MBA Courses & Specialization

The older the B-school, higher is its alumni base that leads to better career path due to global network of its old students. How true it is, you will know simply by comparing the 20 IIMs where the older ones complete their placement as early as in February with high salary packages and newer ones struggle till late. Recently, some of the new IIMs have also been completing their placements as early as in February.

FMS Delhi, the oldest B-school offering MBA,  has a legacy of more than 60 years. Its alumni base is spread all over the world. Candidates get placed within a few days when campus placement starts.

The truth that Old is Gold has not yet gone wrong when deciding on the B-schools. The legacy not only reflects its position on placement year after year but also proves the sustainability and growth of the institute over a period of time. The learning experience from well learned experienced faculty is another advantage that students of an older B-school get according to changing market trends.

Good management institute is supposed to have good, well equipped classrooms, library, auditorium, residential accommodation for the students on campus so that they can make best use of the library, labs and get mentorship from their professors when they feel like.

There is no point running for the brand, but choose the one B-school where you can expand your wings not looking at your average scores but making it big in good learning environment

Ready to Choose! Check MBA Colleges Admission Dates & Application Form
Depending upon your likely scores in CAT and other exams, and other parameters above, now you need to search which MBA options are open for you now. List of key MBA colleges with MBA admissions 2022 application status is shared below.  You can click on the links in front of each college to know more and apply

Top CAT Colleges

 Also Read

• MBA Admissions: Know How to get Admission in MBA - Criteria, Eligibility, Cut Offs
• MBA Entrance Exams: Must Read Details about Top MBA Entrance Exams leading to top MBA colleges
• MBA Rankings: know which are the top ranked MBA Colleges and how they are selected
• Hot MBA GD Topics: Check 100+ Latest Solved GD Topics for MBA Admissions 2021
• Distance MBA in India: Courses, Colleges, Fee
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• Online MBA in India: Courses, Fees, Specializations, Scope, Branches, Degree, Admissions