Blog Shifted

Dear all,

This blog has been integrated with my other (main) blog. From now on, all the updates regarding MBA can be found in my blog here.

I am happy to share all information that is coming my way with you. Keep visiting my blog for updates and news regarding MBA and many other things which i generally blog on. Find out more about me at my blog here.

All the best to everyone. May God make all your dreams come true!!

Cheers
NoeL

BusinessWeek 2008 Rankings Are Out!

BusinessWeek released its much awaited biannual, full-time MBA rankings. The rankings showed slight movement: Columbia went from #10 in 06 to #7 in 08. Wharton went from #2 to #4. Kelley climbed from #18 to #15.

Frankly, don't pay too much attention to the absolute ranking or even slight movement. Take advantage of BW's rich, informative database and fantastic resources for applicants. Then choose what's important to you and do your own ranking.

Top 30 U.S. Programs

1. University of Chicago
   
2. Harvard University
   
3. Northwestern University (Kellogg)
   
4. University of Pennsylvania (Wharton)
   
5. University of Michigan (Ross)
   
6. Stanford University
   
7. Columbia University
   
8. Duke University (Fuqua)
   
9. MIT (Sloan)
   
10. UC Berkeley (Haas)
    
11. Cornell University (Johnson)
    
12. Dartmouth (Tuck)
    
13. NYU (Stern)
    
14. UCLA (Anderson)
    
15. Indiana University (Kelley)
    
16. University of Virginia (Darden)
    
17. UNC - Chapel Hill (Kenan-Flagler)
    
18. Southern Methodist (Cox)
    
19. Carnegie Mellon (Tepper)
    
20. University of Notre Dame (Mendoza)
    
21. Texas - Austin
    
22. Brigham Young (Marriott)
    
23. Emory University (Goizueta)
    
24. Yale University
    
25. University of Southern California (Marshall)
    
26. University of Maryland (Smith)
    
27. University of Washington (Foster)
    
28. Washington University (Olin)
    
29. Georgia Tech
    
30. Vanderbilt University (Owen)
    

Top 10 Non-U.S. MBA Programs 

1. Queens University
   
2. IE Business School
   
3. INSEAD
   
4. Western Ontario (Ivey)
   
5. London Business School
   
6. ESADE
   
7. IMD
   
8. Toronto (Rotman)
   
9. IESE
   
10. Oxford (Saîd)
    

BW bases its rankings on employer and student surveys as well as school research output or "intellectual captial." This year for the first time, in a nod to the economic crisis, it is also including a ranking based on ROI  and years to recoup the MBA investment. Not surprisingly, European schools, which tend to be one-year programs, are at the top of the chart. More surprising: HBS ranks 50 out of 50 in this chart. I guess assumptions matter.

Cheers

NoeL

ISB: Practising what it preaches

The pitch is unique. “we have scripted our version of a T20 victory,” is how Ajit Rangnekar, Deputy Dean, Indian School of Business (ISB), broke to students the news of the young B-School making it to the Financial Times list of Top 20 B-Schools in the world late in January this year. Later, reflecting on the impact of the ranking on the school, Dean M. Rammohan Rao told Business Today: “The FT ranking has led to a lot of interest in the school.” Such publicity is particularly welcome as ISB seeks to attract more international students (it is targeting 8 per cent in its next batch, compared to 4-5 per cent at present) and more resident faculty (31 now)... 

“The challenge has been to market the school globally,” says V.K. Menon, Senior Director, Admissions, Financial Aid & Career Advancement Services, at ISB. And by the looks of it, it is already getting there. “Last year, our students were placed in 23 countries around the world,” says Menon...

To read more:- Business Today - Indian school of business: Practising what it preaches

Cheers
NoeL

MBA Preparation

Dear all,

I plan to aggregate links on MBA and related topics here, whenever I stumble upon one.

General Reading

1. Mergers & Acquisitions
2. When the bubble burst - An Article on the present Financial Crisis

Admissions

1. Full-Tuition Fellowships from Top B-Schools
   
2. Accepted Admission Almanac - MBA Scholarships
   

GMAT

1. Beating GMAT & Beyond

Related

1. What Blog Men! (Blog of PaGaLGuY Admin, Apurv)

Keep visiting for more...

Cheers

NoeL

I will be updating this post as and when I stumble upon a new Blog / Link!

MBA Student Blogs

INSEAD

1. Moving on....to INSEAD!

Chicago GSB

1. Run Forrest, Run (There is a post on good B-School Interview Tips)
   

HEC Paris

1. RAMBLINGS OF A FREE MIND

Asian Institute of Management

1. The Missing Piece
   
2. The AIM Blogger

NUS, Singapore

1. NUS MBA Buzz
   

Cheers

NoeL

I will be updating this post as and when I stumble upon a new Blog! Meanwhile, you can also viist www.pagalguy.com for MBA related information.

Last Updated :- 18/11/2008

Mukesh Ambani to bring international faculty in IIM

Mumbai: Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries, has expressed interest to foot the salary bills of international faculty at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Bangalore, reported Business Standard.

At the institute's recent board meeting, Ambani, who is on the governing board of the premier IIM, insisted that the institute recruit international faculty to attain a world class standard, said a source. However the institute could also approach the board members to raise funds for the purpose....

For more : Silicon India

NoeL

GMAC Vs ScoreTop.com Scandal

Guys,

If you are a GMAT aspirant, the following news will be important for you.

www.scoretop.com, a website that was providing online study materials for GMAT was sued by Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), the owners of GMAT. Scoretop, through their VIP membership, was supposedly distributing copyrighted material of GMAC.

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia has issued a default judgment awarding the damages in the amount of $2.3 million, attorneys’ fees, court costs, and other relief in a copyright infringement case brought by GMAC against Lei Shi and other operators of the U.S.-based web site known as Scoretop.com.

GMAC goes on to say "... if individuals have violated its testing policies through their participation in Scoretop. Violators may have their GMAT scores canceled, and business schools will be notified of those cancellations..."

So, if anyone among you have/had subscribed to the VIP Membership at www.scoretop.com, be careful. Also, praying to all the known Gods will be a good idea.

More on this can be read at the links below.

• Courts Give Graduate Management Admission Council Domain Name Ownership, Hard Drive in Copyright Infringement Suit
• GMAT Cheating Controversy Grows
• Shutting Down a GMAT Cheat Sheet
• GMAT Cheating Scandal: Answers from GMAC
• PaGaLGuY - CAUTION NOTICE to all GMAT section users

NoeL

Trivia: The famous 1000 series (1000SC, 1000RC, 1000CR) used by many for preparing for GMAT was compiled and distributed by www.scoretop.com

An interesting Calculator!

Guys!

Check out the link below. This tells you what your chances are for making it into the various B-Schools in the world. What you need to enter there is your CGPA out of 4 and your GMAT score.

Are your GMAT scores competitive?

If only getting into a B-School was this easy...!!

NoeL

Scant Pay Growth for Business Grads

Scant Pay Growth for Business Grads
An early look at 2008 graduates finds average starting salaries leveling off for business majors
by Alison Damast

College seniors watching the economic downturn might be feeling anxious about their hiring prospects as they search job boards in coming weeks. And business majors are feeling it more acutely. A report released Apr. 16 by the National Association of Colleges & Employers (NACE) found that for business professions starting salaries have remained almost flat, and cutbacks in the financial sector are dampening optimism for the months ahead.

Overall, however, the news is a little bit better, helped by a boost in salaries offered to liberal arts and computer science majors, NACE said. For all 2007-2008 grads, starting salary offers are on average 5.3% higher than last year.

Despite the doom-and-gloom in the financial pages, the NACE report found that college seniors remain optimistic and appear to be selective about accepting job offers that have come their way. In a survey of students who had received job offers, 75% had not yet accepted the position, a figure that surprised Edwin Koc, NACE's director of strategic and foundation research. He said that strong recruiting in the fall set the tone for the year. But he cautioned that the spring may be a different story. "I would have preferred more students accept the job offers they got," he said.

Starting Salaries Barely Budge
Fueling much of the reported salary increases are offers to computer and information science graduates, who are seeing average salary increases of 13%, according to the NACE report. Seniors with majors in software design and development are the most sought-after of all college graduates, with the average starting offer coming in at $65,379. Liberal arts students, as a group, saw their average salary offers rise 12.9% to $35,378, though data in this area for individual majors "still remains limited," according to the report.

For business majors, who had enjoyed some robust starting salary increases in recent years, the data are sobering. Business students' salaries barely budged this year, a combination of a slowdown in the economy and major financial firms cutting back on their hiring classes (BusinessWeek.com, 3/20/08). For example, accounting graduates saw no change in their average salary offer of $47,429, while business administration/management starting offers inched up just 0.3% from last year, to $44,195. In 2007, by comparison, accounting grads' salaries had increased 2.7% from the previous year, and business administration/management majors had posted 7.5% starting salary increases. "Where the slowdown really hit is with the business majors," NACE's Koc said. "There is really no increase in their salaries. They're flat, dead flat, which is very unusual."

Andrea Koncz, a NACE spokesperson, also warned that the data capture early hires of the most promising students from the current senior class. In general, those students obtain higher offers than the rest of the class.

From this point on, things might be more challenging. Elise Gould, a labor economist at the Washington (D.C.)-based Economic Policy Institute, predicts that college seniors who haven't yet secured jobs will see a trickle-down effect from the economic slowdown as they conduct their searches in late spring and early summer. For example, students may not have as much leverage in negotiating their salaries and it may be harder for them to secure perks such as health benefits. "Employers are not making as many offers, so they can pick and choose who they want for their potential workforce," she said. "Those new to the labor market won't have as much bargaining power as in previous years to bid up their average wage and benefits. They'll just be happy to get a job."

More on this can be read at the Source Link below.
Source: Business Week

NoeL

GREAT LAKES INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT: PLACEMENT REPORT 2008

The placement season for the fourth batch of Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai ended on a high note and once again highlighted the increasing prominence of Great Lakes as one of the top B-Schools in the country. Students were jubilant with the kind of offers they got both in terms of remuneration as well as roles at the end of the current placement season. Interestingly, Great Lakes flagship one year PGPM course has been providing placements much better than many conventional two year courses and is steadily creating a name for itself among its much publicized peers.

Snapshot of Current Batch: 2007-2008
Keeping up with its reputation of providing business ready managers, Great Lakes current batch has an average work experience of 37 months. The current batch at Great Lakes is one of the most diversified batches among B-Schools in the country as students have come from different industries right from IT, Medical, Consultancy, Marine, Education and even Defense.

Work experience of current batch

Profiles offered
Great Lakers were offered choicest of profiles by companies which were as diverse as Consulting, Investment Banking, Corporate Finance, Corporate Planning and Strategy, Product Management, Brand Management, Manufacturing, Supply Chain Management, Equity Research, Banking, Risk Management, Financial Modeling and Treasury. Senior positions like Associate Vice President and other fast-track leadership roles were the most-coveted profiles that were grabbed by Great Lakers.

Recruiters at a glance
Great Lakes saw an encouraging 40% jump in the number of recruiters over the last year’s number of 61 companies visiting for placements with about 27 new companies visiting Great Lakes. Some of the prominent recruiters in different fields who participated in the placement process at Great Lakes are:

Banking & Finance: HSBC, CITIBANK, KOTAK, Tata Capital, IL&FS, ABN-AMRO, India Bulls, IREVNA, Pioneer Investments Corporation

Manufacturing, Energy & Operations: Caterpillar, BAYER, Larsen & Toubro, Cummins, Genpact, TVS, Tata Communications, DSCL, BGR Energy, BIG FM, Reliance Retail, Infosys BPO, ITC Foods

Sales & Marketing: Reliance Retail, Godrej, Henkel, Tata Communications, Big FM 92.7, MARG Constructions, Coca Cola India, Reach Technologies, LG India, ConnectM Technologies, Shaadi.com

Consulting: KPMG, Technopak Consulting, Monitor Group (Grail Research), Frost & Sullivan, Accenture, Cap Gemini, Infosys, Mindtree Consulting, Wipro Consulting

IT/ITeS: Accenture, Cap Gemini, ADP, Wipro, TCS, Cognizant Technologies, Infosys, Mphasis EDS, CSC, HCL, Satyam, VistaSoft, ITC Infotech, 3i-Infotech, Inautix, L&T Infotech

Sector wise break up

Placement Snapshot

The Average salaries based on work experience of the current batch are as follows:

Less than or equal to 2 years of Work experience – INR 8.17 Lakhs p.a.
Between 2 to 4 years of Work experience- INR 9.52 Lakhs p.a.
Greater than 4 years of work experience – INR 12.1 Lakhs p.a.

The average salary of the offers made at Great Lakes for the PGPM program of 2007-2008 stands at INR 9.70 lakhs. Remarkably, more than 60 students have become millionaires at the end of the placement season!

Placement highlights
Great Lakes in its four years of existence has not only been growing at an exponential rate but is also being increasingly recognized as a B-school to reckon with. With the current placement season ending on a high note, the future of students at Great Lakes is looking increasingly bright.

GREAT LAKES, The choice of professionals!
Placements clearly demonstrated that how choosing GREAT LAKES has worked wonderfully well for entry as well middle level professionals. GREAT LAKES which considers professional full time work experience as highly desirable for its course has provided an economical alternative to those professionals who want a high professional return from their management course. Quoting specific instances, Shalini Chandran, who had prior experience at DE Shaw walked away with a coveted Banking role in HSBC with a 7 digit package. Students like Sahana.J.V., a software engineer, and Karthikeyan, an automobile engineer both having 10 months of work experience before joining the program have ended with offers well in excess of 10 lakhs from a leading bank and an international manufacturing company respectively. Even people in higher bracket experience, have rich praise for the 1 year PGPM experience at Great Lakes. Students with more than 5 years of work experience were able to get coveted roles such as Senior Manager, Senior Consultant, Business Development Manager etc. Srivas Ramgopal, who was a tech lead in an IT major and had a work experience of 6 years will now be joining a telecom company in a Senior Management role at an attractive package. Students were also offered better profiles and higher roles by their previous employers. Overall, students of Great Lakes just didn’t get better profiles in their previous industries but were also able to switch to new industries. Indeed an indication of the value added by Great Lakes in this one year.

Career shifts at Great Lakes
One of the interesting features about the placements this year has been the success of Great Lakes in providing career shifts to a large number of students. Close to 90 students out of a batch of 164 students have opted for a sector change from their previous sectors. This throws an interesting insight on how management graduates are willing to experiment and try out new things in this exciting phase of growing economy. Varun Sardana, a software engineer from TCS made the move to Investment Banking, grabbing offers from IL&FS and Vistasoft. Anil Daga, who was earlier with the Citigroup Services, has been offered to lead an Investment Banking wing at Pioneer Investment Corporation. Students were also able to make shift from core sectors. Ashfaque Vohra who came from manufacturing with more than 4 years of experience is now going to join the sales function of the leading consumer products major LG.

Impact of world renowned faculty
The support of world renowned faculty to Great Lakes has played key role in the success of placements. Great Lakes students have been taught by stellar line up of faculties like Prof. Bala V. Balachandran , Dr. Goldratt, Prof. Seenu Srinivisan, Dr. Marti Subramanian, Mr. T.N Seshan, Prof. Nirmal Gupta, Prof Paul Prabhakar, Prof. Anantha Nageshwaran, Mr. Santosh Desai and many more who come from reputed schools like Chicago Graduate School of Business, Harvard Business School, Kellogg School of Business, IIMs, NUS etc. The pedagogy of this stature is one of the prime drivers behind Great Lakes beating its last year’s record in spite of the ongoing IT slowdown, sub-prime crisis and downsizing by IT companies.

Needless to say, pursuing management course from Great Lakes has turned out to be a smart decision for these professionals and if placements are any indication to go by, then Great Lakes has truly arrived in the big league.

College URL: Great Lakes
Source: Glakes Placement Report 2008

Dream MBA

Guys!

I have decided to start this blog to assimilate the placement scenario from various MBA colleges in India. An MBA aspirant (I am one) wont be required to go to individual college sites anymore.
This is the whole aim of this blog.

Hope this helps.

NoeL