MBA is one of the most popular and the most opted professional degree after graduation and the only reason for its popularity is that it provides easy access to be a part of a dynamic corporate.
But are we sure that every B-School offering management education is surely a good choice to go with?
My answer is a big NO.
Let's talk about the 4 Important Pillars of a good business school.
1) Faculties:- Big names don't adjust in small quarters and that's true with faculties as well. We know that faculties are the most important part of an organization. Those people who have an industry experience of 12-15 years, want to enter into academics as a corporate faculty and since they are forgoing their present senior designations they further look for the status of the college.
From a student perspective, one should see how many faculties the institution has and how much industry experience the respective Faculties have so that you stay assured that the kind of practical understanding you are aspiring for, the college will surely provide you that. So don't go on just Ph.D., Industry experience matters too.
2) Institutional Background:-
As a career counselor, I have observed that opening an educational institution is very easy now but the only question I ask on their behalf is that do these colleges have the capacity to provide proven quality education? My recommendation to every other student out there is to check some of these essential things:
Who are the people running the college?
Do they have experience in academics?
Are they connected to renowned corporations to provide the placement opportunities?
Is there any corporate support from the industry?
If you get the positive answers to all the above-mentioned questions, go for it!
3) Alumni:-
Where will you be? depends on where you start from and for that, it matters where those people who started from the same place where you are planning to start. Confused?
Don't worry, this is something short and clear. Checking the alumni's strengths, their feedback, their journey and what college provided them matters a lot. The best way to communicate with them is through connecting platforms like LinkedIn.
But you still can have one question, does that actually matter?
My suggestion and experience say "YES".
So connect with Alumni, make your network strong and make it worth it!
4) Location:-
When I talk to students they ask me this same question every time: how does location matter for B-School?
Management education is getting more complex each passing day and its understanding can be provided to students when they have access to not just academics but the industry as well. They need to participate in Live projects, they need to understand the market behavior with the help of surveys, the students should get several training programs under the corporate professionals and all this is possible when you have a good pool of companies around your campus. That is why, my recommendation is to target colleges in metro cities like Delhi NCR, Bangalore, Mumbai, Pune etc.
Thanks for reading. In case you have anything to share write me at ranjan@accustudy.org or text me on WhatsApp at +91-8595087375.
Abhishek Ranjan
Director
Accustudy LLP The writer is a leading career counselor in India with an experience of 7+ years in higher education counseling.
