The typical process for getting into an Indian business school is relatively simple and straightforward. The steps below are fairly standard for full-time 2 year MBA programs. The one year executive and accelerated programs have a slightly different format, which is at times more aligned with the admission process for US business schools. You can read through the types of MBA courses to understand the difference.
Admissions to top Indian B-Schools like IIMs are the most competitive in the world! Share on XStep 1: Choosing the Business Schools you want to Apply to
You need to choose which business schools you want to apply for based on the rankings of the various MBA colleges in India. Remember applying to business schools in a tedious and time-consuming as well as expensive process so it’s a good idea to select which B-Schools you will be applying for and focus only on those business schools. If you are unable to select which business schools to apply for, you can use our counselling service to help choose business schools based on your profile.
Step 2: MBA Common Admission Entrance Exam
Almost all good business schools use an entrance exam as the first level of filtration of potential MBA candidates. Some colleges use the (American) GMAT, some use the (IIM’s) CAT, while some use other exams like XAT, NMAT, JMET etc. Most of the times, a single exam’s scores are used across a wide set of colleges like CAT and JMET. However, in some cases like FMS, an exam’s results are good enough to get you admission into a single college only.
Having to give multiple MBA entrance exams may seem daunting and it is painful for an MBA candidate in India to give so many exams, each having a difference fee, timing and format. However, the good news is that the preparation needed across all these MBA exams has a very high overlap.
These MBA entrance exams are multiple choice tests conducted either online or on paper. You can go through the list of MBA entrance exams.
Guide for MBA Entrance Exam Preparation (Coming Soon)
Step 3: Personal Interview & Group Discussion
Process for in-person evaluation for MBA Admission
Once, you are shortlisted based on your entrance exam score, you are called for an in-person evaluation. Some colleges also use your 10th, 12th and graduation GPA as criteria to shortlist students. Of late, even work experience has started gaining weightage in the overall shortlisting process.
In Person evaluation consists of a Group Discussion, Personal Interview and in some colleges, a Written Essay round of evaluation.
In the written essay round, you are given a topic and asked to form an opinion about that topic and write an essay on the same.
For the group discussion, you are placed in a group of 6-10 students, given a topic and your group is asked to speak about the topic, each person stating their own opinion and outlining facts and reasoning on which the opinion is based.
Finally, there is the personal interview, where the evaluators look at your complete profile like your academic background, past work experience, your achievements and awards, your communication skills, your knowledge of current affairs etc and assess your suitability for being admitted in their college.
The reading material below is immensely useful in preparing for the MBA interview.
Guides for MBA Interview Preparation
- MBA Interview Preparation Tips and Guidelines
- MBA Interview Etiquette
- List of items to carry for the MBA Interview
- MBA Interview dress code
- Handling stress interviews
- How To Prepare the ‘Tell Me About Yourself’ Interview Question
- Answering The ‘Why MBA?’ Question
- How to Answer the tricky ‘Which IIM will you choose?’ Question
Step 4: Final Results
Based on your performance in the entrance test and the in-person evaluation, you will be given an acceptance or rejection decision for admission to the business school that you applied for.
Summary
In summary, you need to spend time first understanding what your target schools are, then register, prepare for and clear the entrance exams for those schools, again prepare for the MBA interview and finally get acceptance to one or more of your target schools. MBAClub.in offers services from IIM alumni to help you succeed in this journey. You can purchase these from Career Counselling and MBA Admission Services.
Let us know your questions on this MBA Admission Guide for India in the comments section below.