MBA Admission 2022: Which Application Form to fill ? How to choose MBA Colleges

MBA Admission 2022: How to choose MBA Colleges: Which Application Form to Fill;


Many top MBA Colleges are open with their admission process even after the close of application process for IIMs, NMIMS, XLRI, FMS and others. You may be wondering which other B-schools you should apply as most top MBA colleges like SPJIMR, MDI have closed their MBA Admission 2022. As CMAT 2022, MAT 2022 application process is open, there are many top MBA colleges which are open for admission 2022. This MBAUniverse.com article will help you decide which B-schools to apply using 10 criteria points that have been well researched by our editorial team.

Importance of MBA Application Process


Before we go further, please note that you must treat relevant B-school MBA Application Process as seriously as preparing for CAT/XAT/CMAT or other top MBA exams, because if you don’t apply to the right B-school, you will not get admission even if you have scored 99%ile! Also, each Application Form Fee for each MBA college admission is between Rs 1500-2500, so, if you apply to wrong college, you have wasted time and money. You need to plan your MBA Application very carefully.

Now comes the question — how to choose the right MBA College which is the best fit for you? What are the key parameters that you should consider before making the right choice.

10 Points Guide to Select the Best MBA College  


Use our step by step guide to decide your MBA College. Evaluate MBA colleges systematically based on following parameters:

  1. Exam Accepted & their Cut Off: Check your eligibility
  2. MBA Vs PGDM: Select type of MBA College carefully 
  3. Fee: Calculate Total Amount you will spend, not just Tuition Fee
  4. Placements: Check Average Salary and Top Recruiters
  5. Ranking & Accreditation: Trust only the best
  6. Faculty: The most important criteria, research wisely
  7. Location: Either prefer Top Cities for MBA, or Top Colleges 
  8. General MBA or Specialized MBA: Match your aptitude
  9. Legacy & Alumni Base: Network Matters 
  10. Infrastructure & Facilities: Good Ambience aids Great learning

Let’s begin our journey and understand each of the above parameters.

1. Exam Accepted & Cut Off
The first and foremost in choosing the MBA College is your eligibility criteria. Different B-schools accept different National Level or State Level or their own Entrance Test scores for which a minimum overall (sometimes even sectional cut off) is prescribed. For example, IIMs prescribe minimum CAT sectional cut offs in the range of 70 to 85, along with the overall cut offs in the range of 80 to 95. Many other top colleges like MDI, IMI, IMT consider overall cut offs. Others like SPJIMR focus more on academic profile and achievements, instead of simply considering the entrance exam scores. Most other B-schools also accept XAT, MAT and CMAT Scores.

So, before moving forward to make your choice of MBA College, check which exam that you are applying for, or have applied and whether the B-school will accept its score for admission and what is the expected cut off. To make your decision easier, brief division of MBA colleges accepting different exam scores with cut off guide, is given here:

MBA CollegesExam AcceptedCut offs
20 IIMs, SPJIMR, MDI, FMS, IITs, NITIECAT conducted by IIMsCheck here CAT Accepting colleges with cut offs
XLRI, XIMB, IMT & other Xavier InstitutesXAT conducted by XLRICheck here XAT Accepting colleges with cut offs
NMIMS Mumbai & other 50+ MBA colleges in India & AbroadNMAT by GMACCheck here NMAT Accepting colleges with cut offs
16 Symbiosis Institutes in Pune, Bangalore, Hyderabad & other citiesSNAP conducted by SIUCheck here SNAP Accepting colleges with cut offs
AICTE Approved 1000+ CollegesCMAT conducted by NTACheck here CMAT Accepting colleges with cut offs
300+ mid-tier MBA collegesMAT Conducted by AIMACheck here MAT Accepting colleges with cut offs

Apart from the above exams, some of the top exams are TISSNET (for Tata Institute of Social Sciences) and IBSAT (for 9 ICFAI IBS Colleges).

2. MBA Vs PGDM: Choose Your Program
Out of so many B-schools there are different types of MBA colleges operating in India. You need to make a choice which type of MBA College & program you wish to choose out of them. An MBA degree program is offered by University B-school recognized by UGC, while PGDM, equivalent to MBA is offered by the AICTE approved B-school. The flexibility of curriculum is more in PGDM program. Following type of MBA colleges offer MBA and PGDM programs:

It may be noted that broadly there is no difference in offering of MBA or PGDM programs as both have equal recognition except the difference in nomenclatures. Read more about difference between MBA and PGDM programs. 

3. MBA Fee: An Important Factor Deciding RoI
A moderate fee structure with good placement that can assure you about your career prospects is what you might be looking for. So, it will be better to compare the fee structures of different B-schools and the benefits of learning arising out of it before finalizing your MBA admission decision. 

You should calculate total fee and expenses for 2 years at the MBA college and not just the tuition fee as the tuition fee could form only 50-60% of the total expenses. If you add the expenses for laptop, other study material, boarding & lodging expenses, other deposits at the B-school, the total fee will be much higher. 

There are MBA colleges with different fee structure. For example, IIM Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Calcutta have a fee structure above Rs. 22 to 24 lakhs whereas the total program fee at FMS Delhi is less than Rs. 2 Lakhs. The MBA fee range at some of the best MBA colleges is shared below to help you make a choice:

3.1 MBA Colleges with Fee Range above Rs. 20 Lakhs

3.2 MBA Colleges with Fee Range between Rs. 15-20 lakhs

3.3 MBA Colleges with Fee Range between Rs. 10-15 lakhs

3.4 MBA Colleges with Fee Range between Rs. 5-10 lakhs

3.5 MBA Colleges with Fee Range below Rs. 5 lakhs

4. MBA Placements
Before making a choice, check what are the average placements over the years in the B-school? Which MBA program gets higher Placement? Who are the top recruiters? These queries need to be answered before you make huge investment to your MBA programme.

The division in average placements could be made in 3 categories – Highest Placement B-schools like older IIMs, High Placement B-schools like IITs, TAPMI, Moderate Placement B-schools like BIMTECH, LIBA, Jaipuria among others. You should compare the fee and placements of the B-schools and then choose the right MBA college:

4.1 MBA Colleges in India with Average Placements: Rs. 20+ LPA

4.2 MBA Colleges in India with Average Placements: Rs. 10+ LPA

4.3 MBA Colleges in India with Average Placements: Rs. 5+ LPA

5.1 The top five MBA Rankings or B-school Rankings in India are:

All these rankings help you make an informed choice to select the best MBA college

5.2 National & International Accreditation

National and International Accreditations awarded to the B-schools reflect the quality of education including curriculum as per Global standard and industry requirement, pedagogy, high quality of faculty and research, facilities at the institute which are prominent parameters to choose the best MBA college. Following are the prominent International and National Accreditations that you should look for, before making a decision on your preferred MBA college:

5.2.1 Top 3 International Accreditations:

5.2.2 Top 2 National Accreditations

6. Faculty & Learning Experience
It is of utmost importance to find out how qualified and experienced the faculty is at the B-school. Every B-school publishes its faculty profile area wise on its website. You must read faculty profiles carefully and do area wise research especially for the MBA program you wish to pursue and look for following qualities:

If the B-school has not published on its website the details of faculty profile, you should be cautious and avoid such MBA college. Core faculty at the B school decides the learning experience in imparting the education at the institute and is the main factor in providing adequate mentorship to the students. 

6.1 Faculty-Student Ratio 
The better is the teacher student ratio, the better will be the mentorship at the institute. A teacher-student ratio of 10 students mentored by 1 teacher could be considered as good one. If there are fewer good faculty members and the ratio does not remain good enough, it may affect adversely the learning experience at the B-school.

7. Location
Location preference needs to be exercised, if you do not get admission in one of the top MBA colleges. If the MBA college is located in, or near an industrial hub with high career prospects like Delhi NCR, Bangalore, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Calcutta you could opt for the best available MBA college in the city as per your eligibility for admission.  

8. General or Specialized MBA: Choose Judiciously
You need to decide whether you wish to pursue General MBA and take some specific area of specialization in the second year or want to do specialized MBA right from the beginning. There are many top MBA colleges which offer General MBA and very few specialized MBA programs while many other MBA colleges offer specialized MBA programs also, like MBA Finance, MBA HR, MBA Business Analytics, MBA Rural Management among others. The choice has to be made before taking admission.

So, if you are interested in MBA Finance and the B-school does not offer specialization in it, there is no point of opting for the said MBA college. You should first figure out what is your career goal and which is the relevant MBA program for you to help you achieve your goal. If you go to an MBA college offering MBA Marketing while you wish to pursue MBA Finance or some Industry aligned MBA, you will be wasting your investment and 2 precious years of life

9. Legacy & Alumni Base
The older the B-school, higher is its alumni base that leads to better career path due to global network of its old students. How true it is, you will know simply by comparing the 20 IIMs where the older ones complete their placement as early as in February with high salary packages and newer ones struggle till late. Recently, some of the new IIMs have also been completing their placements as early as in February.

FMS Delhi, the oldest B-school offering MBA,  has a legacy of more than 60 years. Its alumni base is spread all over the world. Candidates get placed within a few days when campus placement starts.

The truth that Old is Gold has not yet gone wrong when deciding on the B-schools. The legacy not only reflects its position on placement year after year but also proves the sustainability and growth of the institute over a period of time. The learning experience from well learned experienced faculty is another advantage that students of an older B-school get according to changing market trends.

10. Infrastructure & Facilities
Good management institute is supposed to have good, well equipped classrooms, library, auditorium, residential accommodation for the students on campus so that they can make best use of the library, labs and get mentorship from their professors when they feel like.

There is no point running for the brand, but choose the one B-school where you can expand your wings not looking at your average scores but making it big in good learning environment

Ready to Choose! Check MBA Colleges Admission Dates & Application Form
Depending upon your likely scores in CAT and other exams, and other parameters above, now you need to search which MBA options are open for you now. List of key MBA colleges with MBA admissions 2022 application status is shared below.  You can click on the links in front of each college to know more and apply

Top CAT Colleges

MBA CollegeCut off percentileLast Date to Apply
FMS Delhi97+Closed
NITIE Mumbai93+Closed
SPJIMR, Mumbai85+Closed
MDI Gurgaon90+Closed
IIT-Delhi, Bombay, Kharagpur, Madras90+Closed
XIMB, Bhubaneswar90+Closed
IMI New Delhi90Closed
IMT Ghaziabad90Closed
Great Lakes Chennai85Open | 
TAPMI Manipal85Closed
K J Somaiya Institute of Management, Mumbai85Closed
FORE School of Management85Closed
MICA Ahmedabad80+Closed
IRMA Anand80+Closed

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