There's no scurrying towards an MBA

Students should have unmitigated cognisance about their prospective professions before the completion of their undergraduate courses. Moreover, there must be unstinted desire to add more value from them in whatever they choose as their profession.

Master of Business Administration or MBA is a professional track. But ‘how’ and ‘where’ you complete your MBA programme plays a vital role in your professional career. The course can be a catalyst for helping you develop your entrepreneurial spirit and skills. If you want to mount the corporate stepladder and ground a top MBA job, a B-school is your unsurpassed option.

The MBA degree is premeditated primarily for students who are considering a career change or hoping to advance in their careers, therefore, implying that an MBA is a “terminal degree.” Not only is the MBA degree commonly considered one’s “last stop” in education, but also many MBA students actually pursue an MBA after having completed an advanced degree, e.g. master’s or doctoral degrees in another discipline.

It is an entrenched reality that students select an MBA degree not just to supplement their graduate education, but also to get better salary packages. Often, you do not mind completely altering streams after getting the degree in order to accomplish that purpose.

Thus, it is important that you take a balanced and well informed decision while choosing an institution.

Students who want to pursue an MBA have to follow the right exploration approach to choose an MBA institute. They generally inquire with their friends, colleagues, guardians, research about the colleges through online forums or talk to the placement officer over phone about the B-school. Students ought to visit the B-school campus to take a detailed gaze of the college infrastructure and make sure that it meets their standards and expectations.

Having a discussion with the current students will give you an insight of how the institute is doing at present and discussing with alumni will help you to know the college endeavour in placing the students to their desired sector and profile.

Placement is the most important aspect for students while deciding on a college. Often, this becomes their only decision making measure.  Confirm the placement data provided by colleges on their websites. It might be festooned up for publicity purposes.

Besides audited placement reports provided online, students should investigate to the recently graduated batch to get an idea about the placement scenario. It is quite common with almost all institutes that most B-schools do not furnish the latest batch placement records. Moderately, they pool together the highest packages their students have ever received since the inception of the institute or in the last two or three batches.

ROI (Return on Investment) is the payback period of your investment for pursuing MBA. On an average, the period of ROI of a B-school is three years or less from the completion of MBA programme, but it should not be stressed upon so much before you join a B-School. It depends upon the attitude, condition and preference of an MBA aspiring student.

Faculty
Faculty members of the institute are the core strength and the moral fibre of any institution. Students must know how many faculty members have industrial experience and how many of them are pursuing research. Aspirants must verify whether the library of the institute has a good number of books and management-related magazines.

For a successful MBA student, proficiency and fluency in English is quintessential. One has to make sure that there is a language lab with a language trainer in the institute. A well-equipped computer laboratory with internet service is required for accessing immediate information.

There must be a separate incubation centre to nurture and develop communication skills, interpersonal skills and negotiation skills, which are of paramount importance in one’s pre and post MBA Life. Also, verify if the institute which is offering MBA is approved by the All India Council for Technical Institute (AICTE).

(The author is assistant professor, Human Resources, Postgraduate dept of Management Studies and Research Centre, Siddaganga Institute of Technology, Tumakuru.)