How’z XAT?

Sanmeet Sidhu

XAT is the test conducted by XLRI Jamshedpur for admission to its Management Programs. The score is also accepted by over 40 other B-schools to select the most appropriate students for the programmes in management that they offer. (For complete list, click here)
The test is conducted in the first week of January, which translates this year into 4th Jan,’09 (XAT 2009).

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Venture Adventure

B. Neelakantan

In his book The Road Less Traveled, M. Scott Peck starts off with a chapter titled “Life is difficult.” In the world of MBAs, entrepreneurship is the road less travelled and what Peck says of life can well be applied to entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship is not an easy road to travel. Having said that, when pursued for the right reasons and in the right way, it can be a more rewarding and satisfying path than any other.

In this article on entrepreneurship, the writer discusses why a biz-grad should, or should not, consider it as an option and the thorny first steps that are inevitable when one decides to walk this path.

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Time-n-Money

Tejaswini Patwardhan

Puja Salgaonkar works long hours and spends more than half of her time travelling. Yet, competitive pressures and ever-expanding job responsibilities mean the Mumbai-based former marketing manager and now a VP of a major pharmaceutical company must constantly upgrade her business acumen. In spite of a gruelling work schedule Puja had to consider the option of studying further. So, last year, realising she could no longer delay the inevitable, Puja enrolled in a part-time MBA programme. Puja is the archetype of a growing number of working professionals who consider a management degree mid- way in their career. But before she took the plunge, Puja needed to figure out how she would manage her time and educational expenses in the process of getting a management education. 

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The Joint Management Entrance Test (JMET) 2009

Mukul Kejriwal, Batch 2008-10, Shailesh J. Mehta School of Management, IIT Bombay
Life@IIT is a dream! JMET 2009 is the written screening round for the coveted two-year admission programme at the six IITs. The focus of these institutes is to admit students with proven analytical skills and transform them into renaissance leaders of the future. This reflects in the high entry barrier set through the JMET which is definitely more difficult as compared to most other management entrance exams. The eligibility criteria for application also vary across the institutes and candidates should check the details on the JMET website.

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Surprises in CAT 2008

The Common Admission Test 2008 conducted by the Indian Institutes of Management for its management programme took place as scheduled on November 16th without  many surprise elements. CAT 2008 had 15 questions more than last year and the focus this time seemed to be the Verbal(English) section with more questions thrown in.

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Tips for D-day!!

Read the instructions very carefully in the stipulated time. Do not try to smuggle into the question paper and cast furtive glances at this juncture. Spend this time to connect with the physical parameters of the paper (like sectionwise format, differential marking if any, extent of negative marking etc), understand its configuration and chalk out an overall strategy.

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The Final Countdown: A Week to the CAT

Six, five, four, three…

You must be hearing the countdown everytime you close your eyes now and listen inwards. The day that you’ve been preparing for, the day that will decide the course of your future career and of so many others, is finally just around the corner. You may be one who has been preparing diligently and systematically over a long time, or you may have given it one hard and honest shot in the last few weeks – regardless of which group you belong to, a certain amount of tension would have gripped you by now. While it is healthy and in fact even beneficial to be mildly tense, it should not go out of bounds.

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Details of Institutes Accepting Different Test Scores

Most of you would remember the cola tagline that took the marketing world by storm some years back and successfully captured popular imagination: “Yehi hai right choice, baby!” As you wind your way through the rather arduous route leading to a business degree of value, don’t you wish you could make the same statement with equal ease and conviction? Practically, however, when it comes to choosing a destination for getting your MBA (or whatever name you call it by), zeroing in on the right choice is far from easy!

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15 CAT and MBA Myths Smashed

Kaushik Mukherjee, an IIM-Ahmedabad alumnus shares his insights:

The Indian MBA graduate has never had it this good. With the Indian economy finally flexing its muscles and big-banner ventures mushrooming every other day, there is a sudden paucity of people to supervise them. Add to this the fact that foreign recruiting firms spare no effort in conjuring up astronomical pay-packages to lure some of the best resources that the country has to offer. Shortage of good managers in the face of growing demand has spurred an unprecedented growth in the quality and quantity of placements. In a country where the media doesn’t bat an eyelid before selling dreams to the millions – whether they are the ramifications of an Indo-US Nuclear deal or an eye-popping seven-digit salary; the media breeds opinions and forms impressions. It also creates demi-gods out of those managers whose salaries see a meteoric rise.

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Why Go For an MBA?   A Personal Perspective

by Shishir Nigam

They came in all types. All six of them eyeing the prey. Planning to shred their prey to pieces. I was waiting. They made their first move. This was my final interview before selection to the PGDM programme of SCMHRD, Pune.
The very first question was, ‘why do you want to go for an MBA?’
It has been years since this event, but even now many get stumped by this simple question. Luckily, I had already given thought to this issue, which saved my day.

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Why should you do an MBA?

by Jaya Deshmukh

This is an invariable question in any MBA entrance-interview. Getting this answer pat right is critically important because it shows how clear you are about your expectations from the course. It is imperative that you answer this question to yourself before you rush to fill up forms for admission to various MBA colleges.

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The Evolution of Management Education

by Ashish Deshpande

The last decade has seen a major shuffle in the world order. Developed countries have seen their markets saturating and have started eyeing the second and third world countries. In this changing world order, the balance of power seems to be moving back and forth. But it will ultimately rest on the nations who have been able to proactively anticipate and manage the change, without doing away with its core competencies. This new world order has had its share of winners and losers. History has shown that institutions, which have been able to anticipate the changes and have been able to accept and adapt to the changes, have survived the test; the others have become a part of the history.

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Location as a criterion in choosing a Bschool

by Kamlesh Sajnani

In India the most important factor for choosing a B-School is the placement opportunities available to the students post education. Physical location of the institute is not an issue in case of the best institutes in the country because they draw strength from their core course to attract the best students as well as the best employers. One of the reasons why
institutes like the IIMs or XLRI have been able to do well is because they have focused on higher learning in management as a core-competency and treated this as a science and an art. These institutes believe in the learning provided and talent created at their institutions, which in turn draw the most reputed organisations for placement from their campuses.

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