Are you confident to get top B school next year? Judge yourself and sweat it out again to navigate your MBA journey

Updated on April 15, 2016

If your preparation in CAT/XAT has not yielded desired result and you are confident, sweat out again with commitment and devise your preparation plan for MBA 2017

Out of 90 years of your life span, think of the importance of 1 year in your life and as you will spend 35 to 40 years in working domain, should you compromise on low opportunity or work harder to get the best

Do not worry at all, if your preparation for CAT, XAT, NMAT or GMAT has not yielded desired result. Since you are now equipped with a good experience how to prepare well and how to plug the loopholes in your preparation journey for admission to top MBA programme in 2017, sweat out again with commitment to grab the top B-school and devise your preparation plan. If you are a working professional, manage your time to navigate your MBA journey.

If you don’t expect admission in one of the top B schools this year and are a working professional, you might be better off continuing to work rather than incurring the high costs associated with obtaining an MBA or PGDM from a low ranking one as you may get more skills by spending less and still earning than by investing a huge amount. The need will be to manage your time judiciously and prepare hard for entrance exam to get your preferred MBA programme in 2017.

MBA job market has picked up and placement data reveal higher placements in almost all the good B-schools in 2016. Most of the IIMs and top B-schools like FMS, IIFT, XLRI, MDI, IMI, IMT, SPJIMR, XIMB, FORE among others have grabbed 15 to 30% hike in placement packages in 2016. With an upcoming vibrant job market visible for MBA graduates in future, it is advisable to prepare with well devised preparation plan plugging all the loop holes during your preparation journey.

Target top 5000 scorers
You will be surprised to know that the competition for top b schools like 7 older out of 19 total IIMs, XLRI, FMS, IIFT, JBIMS, IMI, IMT, SPJIMR and the like have always remained tough and will continue to remain so irrespective of the fact how many appear in the CAT or XAT every year. Increase or decrease in number of test takers by a few thousand hardly makes any difference. The competition is always among top 20000 candidates who dominate the scene.

If you have scored a CAT/XAT percentile in a range of 75-85, despite qualifying the sectional percentile front, please remember you will get only a second tier B school. If you can improve your performance not less than by 10 to 15 percentile, you may get admission in the top rated B school in 2017.

Another factor you have to note is that the candidates with percentile as high as 99+ can’t be sure of converting the call in an IIM. So think where do you stand? Should you explore admission opportunities in 2016 with low ranking B school or prepare hard to get the top ranking B school in 2017?

The 1 year in your life
Out of 90 years of your life span, think of the importance of 1 year in your life and as you will spend 35 to 40 years in working domain, should you compromise on low opportunity or work harder to get the best. Assuming that you scored 85 percentile in CAT 2015 and 80 in XAT 2016 and also have fairly good academic profile and wish to pursue MBA 2016, the suggestion for another option to prepare for CAT 2016 and take admission in 2017 also exists.

Find out what impact the 1 year of preparation for CAT/XAT could make in your life

Exam	CAT 2015/XAT 2016 Percentile scored-80-85	CAT 2016/XAT 2017 Percentile scored-95-100 (Projected on the basis of 6 month preparation)
Admission prospects	2nd or 3rd tier B school	IIMs, JBIMS, SPJIMR, FMS, MDI, IMT, IMI, NITIE, XLRI
Fee & other expenses	Rs.8 to 20 lacs	Rs. 0.25 to 20 lacs (Tuition fee at FMS is very less)
Learning experience	Average	Excellent
Alumni support	Average	Excellent
Annual average expected placement	Rs.4 to 6 lakhs	Rs.10 to 25 lakhs

The Return on Investment above is not a myth but is a reality. There are number of B schools who are not able to have good placement nor good recruiters visit them. With the same investment level, you may not get even half of the average that might be available to you after a gap of 1 year and in a working life span of 35 years, this one year of preparation may not count much. You can convert it into a great loss or gain depending upon your decision.

MBA Placement 2016 shows great positive trend where highest and average salaries have gone up despite the increase in number of students seeking placement in top rated b schools.

Target top B-schools
If you are not able to make it to top 25 B schools in India, doing MBA may not have much worth. Sometimes it so happens that a candidate with excellent academic profile and work experience but low CAT/XAT percentile of 92 to 94 can convert the call in final admission round whereas a candidate with 99 percentile having above average academic back ground may not be able to convert the call. So when you register for CAT 2016 or XAT 2017, mark your preference of B-schools accordingly.

Make a choice of B-schools before hand
Keep yourself updated when the B schools of your choice open the application date. Try to apply to as many high ranked B schools as you can. You may be considered even if you are wait listed.

All the top rated MBA colleges have weightage for academic profile, work experience, gender diversity and above all your performance in PI round. Some of the institutes even award higher weightage to PI than to CAT/XAT percentile.

Choose the best: Funding no more an issue
Funding the MBA education is not a major problem at least for the good B schools. Then, why the best shouldn’t be chosen instead of compromising on the 3rd tier B school? Give a thought and decide.

Don’t prepare if not confident
If you are confident to score as high as 95 percentile, begin your preparation now, else it may not be a good decision and you may end up incurring 2 way losses on expenses on MBA education as well as losing salary that you are getting from your job.