If there is just one thing that peppers most conversations today, it is the pervasiveness of Artificial Intelligence (AI). It is an undeniable fact that AI has major advantages; however, it is the negative fallout of AI, especially the loss of jobs today and opportunities in the future, that has caught public imagination. Amidst such depressing news on the employment front, what is cheering up MBA aspirants is that most top business schools are reporting healthy increases in both job offers and salary figures. This uptick in placement figures bears a great testimony to the strength and relevance of MBA – it not only can withstand the AI onslaught but is able to thrive even as there is a perceptible decline in both jobs offers and salary figures in other streams of higher education.

India is home to more than 3,000 management schools. Given this huge number, you, as an MBA aspirant, may have two pertinent questions:

a. Which of these b-schools should I apply to?
b. If I can get admission into some of these b-schools, which one should I join to study for MBA?

While these two questions are pertinent, the answers depend on a mix of three key evaluation parameters: the aspirant’s ability (based on academic proficiency and aptitude), academic and financial background, and her/his broad career objectives. As the answer may be different for different individuals, MBA aspirants would have to look at the possible set of ‘good’ schools to begin with and then apply their individual conditions onto this set to choose the schools that best fit their requirements. It is important to avoid being influenced by other people’s choices as their evaluation parameters may differ.

As we know, this is no easy task, given the multitude of claims by b-schools and, in some cases, their alumni. These claims should not be taken at face value and should be vetted thoroughly before making them the basis for taking a decision. This vetting exercise is equally important in the case of b-schools. You should not blindly accept a b-school’s placement claims, including those placed in the higher rungs.

Amidst all this, it is important that you understand the key parameters while evaluating b-schools. Once these are understood, one needs to look at b-schools for their performance on these parameters and arrive at a list of good schools after having some understanding about the veracity of their claims. This is a complex process as it calls for a great deal of information about the schools. One would also need some expert understanding about b-schools so that the data available can be used correctly.

To help you make the right choice without going through this complex process and without getting trapped by the false claims made by the b-schools, T.I.M.E. has, for several years now, been publishing its annual list of ‘India’s Best B-Schools’.

T.I.M.E.’s ‘India’s Best B-Schools’ list is the culmination of months of extensive research and data collection and is prepared by experts who have more than three decades of experience in guiding students on MBA admissions.

METHODOLOGY

How is the list arrived at?

T.I.M.E. uses the strength of its country-wide network of experts who have been mentoring students for the b-school selection process since 1992. T.I.M.E.’s B-School Categorization process is the result of an elaborate multi-step process where due weightage is given to the data available about a school in the public domain and the opinion of experts at T.I.M.E.. This blend of expert opinion and objective data is what makes this list the most accurate b-school categorization available.

The key parameters used are: (a) placement data (b) cut-off score in entrance exam (c) location (d) school’s age (e) programme fee

An elaborate scoring system is devised for each objective parameter, reviewed and modified by an expert panel. Data from each school is collected and verified, and scores are assigned based on authenticated data. Only two-year programmes with at least one graduated batch are considered.

OBJECTIVE PARAMETERS

(a) Placements

The wide-ranging career opportunities that an MBA provides in the short- and the long-term, the speed of career growth it offers, the variety of roles it can help one can get into, etc., should be the main reasons for pursuing an MBA. Salaries are only a concomitant factor and should not be the only reason for one to get into an MBA programme. However, as the other parameters can only be visualized and objectively measured long after one graduates from the MBA programme, salaries at the time of campus placements are used as an indirect measure to gauge the ‘quality’ of the MBA programme.

The advantage with salary data is that such data are broadly objective – one can lay a finger on them and come to a general understanding about the quality of placements at a b-school. The data becomes especially important as students at b-schools invest not just two valuable years but also a considerable amount of money (in fee). To expect a commensurate return from this high investment – more of time than money – is only natural. The salary data, hence, reflects the ‘quality’ of returns.

Many b-schools resort to statistical (and other kinds of) gimmickry while reporting salary data. While some schools may not release any placement data, some list only the names of companies that visit the campus for recruitment without revealing other info (like salary and job profiles offered). Some carry historical data on the names of companies to create an impression as if all of them visited the campus for the recent round of placements.

While inflating salary figures is old style gimmickry, adding ‘signing or joining bonus’ or ‘variable pay’ into the reported pay packages is becoming commonplace. Most schools do not reveal the percentage, or the number, ofstudents who do not secure jobs. This kind of manipulation is fairly common. As such, one needs to be careful while trying to understand the placements at b-schools.

Unfortunately, there is no standard procedure for reporting placement data that b-schools are required to follow. Any such requirement could have put a stop to making false claims and would have rendered the picture on placements clear.

The Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA) took the initiative of putting in place a set of reporting standards called the Indian Placement Reporting Standards (IPRS).

T.I.M.E. greatly admires the transparency that a reporting standard like IPRS can bring into the system, especially because it mandates that b-schools have their placement report audited by a third party. As one of the very few companies in the world which gets its results audited by a third party before going to town with them, T.I.M.E. understands the kind of honesty and effort that goes into ensuring the quality of such an audit. This laudable initiative by the IIMA has, unfortunately and not surprisingly, found little traction among other b-schools. We have, hence, as part of the categorization exercise, accorded positive credit to the schools that report their placements in line with the IPRS.

Surprisingly, some top-rung b-schools that embraced the IPRS methodology initially, have now stopped following them. Also, there are many schools which have not released their placement reports, not just for this year, but for the previous year as well. This, we believe, happens when schools do not want to reveal a drop in placement figures. Keeping this factor in mind, we ensure that schools that do not make their placements data public are penalized during our categorization exercise. Further, schools that do not release their placements data for two consecutive years attract a higher penalty.

(b) Cut-off Score in Entrance Test

Good quality of students helps strengthen the b-school brand while the b-school’s high brand value in turn helps the students get ahead faster in their career. It is only natural for the schools to select the best students while the brightest students would wish to get into only the best b-schools.

It is also important to note that the quality of students directly impacts the quality of learning, especially as the amount of peer learning that happens at a top b-school is quite significant.

In this context, cutoff percentile, therefore, is a strong indicator of the quality of the students at a b-school – the higher the cutoff, the better the quality of the students.

Some b-schools give significant weightage to other important parameters like academics and work experience. In such cases, they could have lower cutoffs. However, these lower cutoffs need not necessarily

mean that these schools are inferior to others that may have a higher cutoff. We give due weightage to adjust for this factor.

(c) Location

The location of a b-school is not a straight-forward parameter to handle. There could be an excellent school in a relatively remote location or vice versa. However, please remember that location plays an important role in attracting faculty and industry (for placements) to the campus.

The brand strength of an school can counter the effect of location to a large extent. A good brand can attract faculty and industry even to a relatively less popular location. This is the primary reason why some of the New IIMs, despite their ‘remote’ locations, have been able to earn the respect of both the academia and the industry in a short span of time. But, as one moves down the categorization list, particularly outside the top 50, the brand strength wanes, and the influence of location looms large.

(d) Age of the Institute

While the b-school’s age may not have much to do with its performance, it is a major contributing factor to the b-school’s brand strength or the lack of it. Many b-schools, particularly those with a good pedigree, tend to perform well over time. Top b-schools like IIM Indore, IIM Kozhikode, and IIM Shillong are good examples. However, at the time of their inception, a significant number of students preferred other non-IIM schools over these schools. Of course, that’s not the case anymore. In fact, this also happened in the case of the six New IIMs. A decade after their inception, the New IIMs are giving a good account of themselves.

(e) Fee

Fee is not a direct indicator of the quality of a school. You should not rate a school high just because of its fee nor should you trash a school solely because of it. Many top schools (like the ‘Older IIMs’) charge a high fee of over ₹20 lakh while a few top schools charge as low as ₹1 lakh. As fee cannot be an independent parameter to evaluate a b-school, it should be used in conjunction with parameters like placement record and brand value of the b-school.

RoI (Return on Investment) needs to be considered carefully, particularly when the fee level is high. This would mean that unless a student gets a pay package of a certain value, the fee expense doesn’t make much financial sense. RoI becomes a significant factor as one moves down the list of b-schools, particularly in schools beyond the top three categories (Top Ten, AAA+, and AAA).

(f) Other Factors

The quality of faculty and the quality of infrastructure are two other vital factors to be considered while checking out a b-school. Necessary care should be taken while reading into these data points, as some things are not quite as straightforward as they seem.

Claims like the number of PhD faculty and visiting faculty should not be taken at face value as some of them may not actually be teaching at those schools.

One may be tempted to consider the lack of infrastructure as a severe handicap. However, it is to be noted that some of the new b-schools, which have a good ‘parent’ brand, have been able to overcome the infrastructure handicap and have performed well. The New IIMs (Kashipur, Raipur, Ranchi, Rohtak, Trichy, and Udaipur) and IIFT Kolkata are prime examples.

What the list contains and what it doesn’t

We have considered only two-year MBA/PGDM programmes for categorization. We bring any eligible school into consideration only after it has completed two years of operation, which would mean that the school’s first batch would have graduated. This is probably the best way of assessing the school in all the parameters that we consider for our categorization.

Also, the categorization considers only the flagship programme of the schools. For example, for IIM Ranchi, the flagship PGP is considered. While IIM Ranchi’s PGP-HR may not be at par with the flagship PGP, it benefits significantly from the rub-off of the flagship programme. These non-flagship programmes should be evaluated considering such factors; the brand value of the parent brand is a strong factor to consider.

Some sectoral b-schools, like TISS Mumbai and IISc Bengaluru, need to be specifically understood. TISS, for example, has been included in the list despite its MBA being sectoral (specific to HR); however, the school has an excellent reputation and provides high-quality career opportunities to its students. For the same reason (i.e., related to opportunities), IISc Bengaluru, has been included despite its very low batch size.

T.I.M.E.’s India’s Best B-Schools Categorization

The list contains seven broad categories:

Top 10 category features world-class schools, like the IIMs and XLRI, where every student aspires to secure admission. Many of these schools are comparable with the best in the world. Indeed, some of them regularly feature in the lists released by international business magazines. These schools invariably have a 100% placement record. Even the not-so-academically-good students at these schools manage to get good jobs due to the ‘rub-off’ effect of the school.

AAA+ & AAA: along with the Top Ten, round up the Top 30 schools in India. They offer high quality education, faculty, and infrastructure. These schools have a 100% placement record. A significant number of the top students at these schools secure placements that are comparable to those offered at the Top 10 schools.

AA & A: categories of schools offer high quality education, faculty, and infrastructure facilities. A good number of students at these schools get placements which are much better than the placements of the lower half of the categories above (Top 10, AAA+ and AAA). These schools are successful in providing high quality placements to their top students, especially those who have effective communication skills.

BBB+, BBB, BB: categories of schools are well regarded by the industry and are generally successful in placing their students. Some of these schools were strong brands in the past and were pushed down the list only because of the addition of the New and Baby IIMs in the last few years. This shows that most of these schools have held their ground successfully and that students can rely on them to give a boost to their career.

B+ & B: categories of schools enjoy a good reputation in the business world. These schools may not provide too many national-level placement opportunities but are generally successful in providing placements to many of their students with prominent companies – local and national.

Apart from all these, we have also listed b-schools under the ‘Others’ category. These schools may be found to be lacking in one or more of the following: (a) infrastructure; (b) industry interface; (c) faculty; (d) alumni network; (e) curriculum, and (f) placements. However, we believe that these colleges are better than the hordes of others that do not feature on our list. You are, hence, advised to get thorough information about these schools (by visiting the campuses and speaking with past and current students) before making any decision.

In short, the above categorization would mean that the top 50 schools—Top 10, AAA+, AAA, AA, and A categories—would be the schools to aspire for.

How will the B-School Categorization help you?

The first question you should address is: ‘How many b-schools should I apply to?’ The answer will depend on a few factors.

The first factor is your budget. With the cost of the application for each school being in the range of ₹1,000 to ₹3,000, you may not want to look at more than 10–12 schools. But whatever the number of schools you wish to apply to, it is always good practice to select schools across categories to ensure that even if your performance in the entrance tests (like the CAT and the XAT) is below par, you still can get admission at a good school within your score range.

The second factor is what you are doing currently.

(a) Pursuing final year of graduation: In this case, you may be keen on getting into a management school but can afford to try again if you do not get into a school of your choice. So, you may apply rather selectively.

(b) Completed graduation in the last academic session, not pursuing any higher studies, and not working either: In this case, you should try get into a reasonably good school. So, the number of schools that you apply to should be higher than in the case of the first category.

(c) Completed graduation and currently working: You can be selective unless you have been working for more than 3–4 years in which case, you may not want to lose further time in getting into a management school.

The third factor in deciding the number of schools to which you should apply is your performance in the entrance exams. Depending on your performance, you may want to hedge your risk by applying to more schools – particularly, to schools across categories.

After deciding the number of schools you wish to apply to, you should look at how you will go about deciding the types of such schools. Here, the cardinal principle is to safeguard your interests and reduce your risk; so, you should apply to schools in at least three different categories.

Lastly, it is always a good idea to apply to as many b-schools as possible, based on one’s budget, to maximise your chances of making it to a good b-school as there is no certainty about the criteria that a b-school may use to shortlist candidates (for its GWPI programme) and to admit (for the MBA programme).

Key Points to Note

The presence of a b-school in a particular category is determined by a combination of factors. You may find a school, listed in a lower category, doing better on a particular parameter. However, when all the factors are considered together, the schools listed in the higher category are better overall than the schools listed in the category below.

Within a category, the schools are listed only alphabetically, i.e., no ‘in-category’ ranking has been made. Assigning individual ranks to schools is not objectively possible and is also not totally fair to the b-schools. We arrive at category sizes keeping in mind that the schools in a particular category should broadly be equal. You would observe that the grouping categories do not have uniformity about the number of b-schools per category. This was done to ensure brand homogeneity across parameters (like placement and cutoff) within a category. Also, if you wish to choose between schools within a category, we advise you to find more information about the specific schools.

Using AIMCAT Performance to Select B-Schools

Depending on your AIMCAT performance, you can estimate the possible percentile that you may achieve in the CAT. You need to apply to b-schools both above and below the expected percentile to cover for any jump/drop in the final CAT percentile. T.I.M.E.’s ‘India’s Best B-Schools’ list will help you compare schools and pick the appropriate ones. Also, you may want to hedge your risk by applying to more schools – particularly, to institutes across categories that we discussed above.

It is a good practice to apply to schools in three different categories – 50% of the schools in the category where you are likely to land calls for the second round, 30% of the schools in an aspiration level (typically one level above your expected range), and 20% in the level below the expected range to safeguard your interests in case of a bad performance.

Work hard, stay focused!

Best Wishes from all of us at T.I.M.E.!

India's Best B-Schools