MBA Admission Process: How to Get into Top Business Schools in India
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Now that you have decided that doing an MBA is the right decision for your career, you have narrowed down on the industries and companies you would like to join post your MBA, and you also know which MBA specialization you would like to pursue, your next step should be shortlisting the business schools and understanding their MBA admission process.
Almost all top business schools in India follow a similar process for selecting their new batch of MBA students. Let’s discuss the process of how to get admission in an MBA programme.
MBA admission process: Standardized admission tests
Every candidate needs to first appear for an MBA admission test. These tests are standardized in order to judge all aspiring candidates on the same benchmarks. Different business schools in India accept scores from different tests. Some prominent schools organize their own tests and solely use scores from these, while other schools accept one or more of these existing tests or those organized by independent companies like the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC).
The IIMs hold the Common Admission Test (CAT), which comprises of a series of objective questions aimed at evaluating candidates on their quantitative aptitude, verbal ability, and data interpretation and reasoning skills. Apart from the IIMs, FMS and MDI Gurgaon are other prominent schools accepting CAT scores. Similarly, XLRI conducts the Xavier Aptitude Test (XAT), which features questions on decision making and general knowledge in addition to the segments covered in CAT. Business schools such as IMT Ghaziabad, XIMB, Goa Institute of Management, and MICA, accept XAT scores too.
Another popular MBA admission test in India is the NMAT exam, organized by GMAC. It also assesses the candidates' language skills, logical reasoning, and mathematical ability. But unlike CAT, XAT or any other major test, which are held only once every admission cycle, the NMAT allows you two retakes within the same cycle, making it a more student-friendly test. NMAT scores are accepted by over 40 schools in India, with NMIMS, KJSIMSR, and SDA Bocconi Asia Center some prominent names on the list.
The GMAT exam is the MBA admission test of choice for all foreign business schools and its scores are accepted by over 100 business schools in India too. The Indian School of Business (ISB) solely relies on GMAT scores for admissions while AICTE has now selected GMAT as one of the six ratified admission tests, along with CAT, XAT, CMAT, ATMA, and MAT, for all full-time and executive PGDM programmes in India.
MBA admission process: Shortlisting of candidates
Once the business schools have received the concerned test scores of all applicants, they begin the process of shortlisting candidates for the next round of the MBA admission process. The schools use the overall test score, sectional score, academic performance in high school and undergraduate college, diversity of individual profile, and previous work experience, among others to select candidates. The admission test scores usually carry the highest weightage, but the exact weightage varies from one school to the other. So does the weightage assigned to other factors.
Some of the top business schools in India like ISB also require MBA applicants to answer short essay questions and use the responses as part of the selection process for further rounds, a practice similar to foreign business schools. These essay questions are usually based on the candidates' learnings from their previous experience as well as their post-MBA career goals.
MBA admission process: Final round
MBA candidates shortlisted in the previous round are then invited for the final round of the admission process, which involves interactive exercises such as group discussion, extempore, written ability test (WAT), and personal interview. Again, business schools differ on the choice of activities they use for final evaluation
For example, most of the IIMs use a combination of WAT and personal interview, while a few of them also hold a group discussion based on the WAT. The likes of MDI, XLRI, NMIMS, XIMB, KJSIMSR, MICA, and Goa Institute of Management make candidates go through a group discussion and personal interview (GD-PI) round. FMS and IMI also use this GD-PI combination but add an extempore and a psychometric test, respectively. ISB and IMT Ghaziabad only conduct a personal interview for MBA candidates.
The group discussion round puts a small group of candidates together and gives them a topic to discuss while members from the business school's admission team observe. The topic could come from current affairs, abstract topics, business and economic affairs, or social issues. Through this exercise, candidates are evaluated on skills that successful business managers should possess, such as general knowledge and awareness, critical thinking, communication, leadership, teamwork, social interaction, open-mindedness, and time management.
NMIMS does things slightly differently. Instead of a general topic, they make a group of students discuss a case study, thus emulating an MBA class or even a real-life business situation. The benchmarks for this case discussion exercise remain the same as a general group discussion.
In a written ability test, candidates are given a topic, similar to ones used in group discussions, and immediately asked to write a short passage presenting their views. On the other hand, if your target school holds an extempore, it will just be an oral counterpart of the written ability test.
The personal interview is an essential component of the MBA admission process and gives the applicant some one-on-one interaction time with the admissions committee. The aim of the interview is to understand more about your personality, experience, career goals, and motivations to do an MBA. Don't be surprised if you get some questions on current affairs and brain teasers thrown at you too. Through this discussion, candidates are judged on their ability to think under pressure and articulate their thoughts effectively.
As part of the preparation for a personal interview, every candidate should do thorough research about the business school (their academics, student clubs, placements, alumni, and achievements), revise every detail about their past academic, extra-curricular and work experience, brush up on their general awareness, and practice personality-based and behavioural questions.
Once the final round of the MBA admission process is complete, business schools prepare a composite score for each candidate based on all the parameters – admission test scores, academic profile, diversity, work experience, and final round performance – and make admission offers to those deemed suitable.
Curious about the future of the MBA in India? Read more about what the pandemic may mean for your MBA plans.