of b-schools and b-school surveys

B-schools mean business..and b-schools hav
spawned many new innovative business ventures....

there are hordes of institutions offering coaching for mba ntrance
exams...dozens of magazines for cat prep..and b-school
news is one important segment in many a newspaper.
the number of websites catering to wannabe mbas
is countless.b-school blogs are dime a dozen.

The number of best bschool surveys done every year will
run into hundreds.There was a time when i used to
look at the survey results, with lot of enthusiasm..
when we decided to shift our house, we had
to throw away lots of magazines, that i had
carefully collected over the last several years..
i had nearly half a dozen copies of BT bschool
survey editions, from as many years..a few outlook
aima indiatoday business india editions.


But these surveys have become meaningless.
This years' bschool survey by BT is full of
crap.BT had the gumption to arrive at the list
of top bschools, with a sample size of just 400
odd individuals.there is little solace in the fact that
the 400 ppl are drawn from a pool of mba wannabes,
current mbas, recruiters, functional heads........

As though the overall list is not baffling enough,
individual rankings by current mbas, wannabe mbas,
recruiters are very confusing..the wannabe mbas top ten
includes IMT,alliance,amity and tiss..TISS is a top institute,
but how many UG students want to pursue their masters there??
regarding Amity and alliance, i know of enough wannabe mbas
who wouldnot touch these institutes with a barge pole.In the
functional heads top ten XIM finds a place but not XLRI.
It has k j somaiya,jbims ,tiss,imt but not sp jain,iim k,
iim l....

Sadly this years' survey has not pointed
on niche mba courses..and there is no listing based on verticals.
A top five for marketing, top 5 for finance etc would
have been a greater help.No mention of IRMA and NITIE.

Oddly enough,this years' article moves onto
not so relevant areas like do you need an mba,
will you be at a disadvantage if you dont have a
MBA degree?,where will you be a few years down the line,
after you top IIM A B r C..

These articles make great reading..but BT should
have kept these articles in cold storage ..


LAST WORD:BT this year has not done justice to
IIM I and IIM K.