Selection process while admitting MBA aspirants in B Schools. Time to try something different.

There are more than two thousand B Schools in our country. While the top 100 B Schools are more into producing core managerial job opportunities for the cream students, more than 1900 Business Schools are actually the major supply line of bottom level and medium level workforces in the country. And unfortunately they are following the same ageold process of the monotonous GDPI to select students for their Institutes. And in the process considering the low or average CAT, XAT, MAT scorers and compromising quality openly and giving a wrong signal to these average talents that the Institute is open to accept the ordinaries provided they can afford the course fee. And this is where these Business Schools are demolishing their brands.

The IIMs, XLRIs, XIMB , FMS, Symbiosis, S.P.Jain, ISB, Great Lakes and the B Schools of the same league can justify the point of giving importance to the score of the competitive entrances like CAT, XAT or IBSAT perhaps. Because these are the business schools which are in the rat race of producing future Managerial Brands in the Corporate world and they are logically running after the top level students with better aptitude level. But after spending 18 valuable years in the education sector, one question haunts me every day and night. What is the real justification for the rest 1900 business schools to follow or duplicate the same selection criteria followed by the top 100 Business Schools ? When you know that you have to deal with the average or medium level students and work much harder and put more efforts behind these raw talents than the top league Business Schools do with the brighter and better brains to brush up their qualities, then why don't you have a different selection criteria whereby you can identify the basic qualities of these raw materials ? 

What is the justification of still considering the average scorers of CAT, XAT, MAT or IBSAT like entrances ?

 And then you make them sit for the same GDPI process followed by all 2000 business schools and thus making it a farce and making it less important to the MBA aspirants these days. I have seen end number of Business Schools hiring costly banquet halls of 3 star hotels in different cities and keep waiting for the candidates to come and appear for the GDPI. End of the day, they cut a sorry figure with hardly 2-10 candidates appearing for the GDPI. 

So let's try to talk something different today.

I am just sharing my personal opinions and rectify me and challenge me logically if you find somewhere I am wrong.

If I am the decider of the entire admission process of some X, Y, Z 2nd category Business school, I will try to implement the following steps.

1. Irrespective of the CAT, XAT, MAT scores I will ask all the applicants to appear for a standalone  entrance exam in one particular date. 

2. If there are 600 applicants, and 450 appearing for the entrance, I will select the top 300 students on the basis of their entrance scorecard and reject 150 candidates straight away. This will help us to select candidates as per our own aptitude criteria.

3. We can arrange a 3 days pre MBA training program for these 300 students and ask them to mandatorily attend these sessions. This will help us to take a fresh look at tbe talents we have selected and this will also serve the purpose of a campus tour for these students and they can interact with our faculty members. This will also serve the purpose of expectation management at both ends.

4. This Pre MBA training session will include the basics about Communication skills, MS Office, Power Point presentations, how to make business ideas and projects, basic selling skills, handling objections and crisis situations supported by live projects. 

5. After the 3 days training program, only selected candidates will be called for the interview process. Understanding their interaction level and their willingness to learn and from their capacity to learn while doing, let their be a rejection of 30% students after the 3 days training program.

6. If 200 candidates appear for the final interview process, then go for a rejection of 30% students on the basis of the following steps :

A. Presentation of Business Ideas through PPT.

B. Extempore rounds.

C. Solving situational case studies related to handling crisis situations.

D. Selling skills 

E. Small video clippings of advertisements and expression of objectives and ideas.

7. Now select the top 70% students for admissions. Even if you get just 50 admissions, you actually end up getting 50 good quality raw materials whom you can polish according to your own process and make them.eligible for premium placements.

8. Now repeat this same process at the most for one more time or two more times during the whole admission period. 

This process will help the business school to screen the real good or eligible talents from a crowd of averages. 

Also consider minimum 60 percent marks in final year graduation and althrougout in his career. 

This process will ensure the Business School to find students who are good in communication skill with very good ascertiveness, perseverance, appearance and presence of mind and the willingness to learn with good observation skills. This will help the B School to identify ordinary or average students having fire in their belly and are willing to struggle for the next 2 years with prectical expectations in their mind and not an inflated one.

Yes,  you need a lot of guts to follow and implement this process. You will end up getting less, but quality students who will majorly contribute to create a high placement level.

This process will also prove your Business School different in the eyes of the MBA aspirants and will indirectly enhance the brand value of the Business School.

Let the ordinary talents feel that they have earned an opportunity to learn MBA through their talent and not by the power of their paying capacity.

This is ofcourse going to be a revolutionary step which will actually contribute towards cleaning the septic tank of today's MBA world. 

Pardon me if I am wrong. This was just my dream.

Currently I am working in Karnavati University, Gandhinagar, Gujarat. Karnavati University  

Any of you who reads my blog can contact me at 9831137124 for a decent discussion on this topic over a cup.of coffee.