Words of wisdon for thee O’ MBA aspirant…
You better be ready to cough up some dough…
‘Coz the good ol’B-schools, and the new…
Are running the most profitable business of whom the bait are you…
40,000 INR: The sum that my parents have spent so far to make sure that I at least fill out a few good colleges and keep my chances of getting admitted into a premier B School. These included the various examination forms, and then the individual ‘program and college’ forms of a handful of ‘good’ MBA colleges. I wonder how a talented but economically poor MBA aspirant will ever be able to afford ‘management’ education! They can only dream of getting into the IIMs by spending 1400 bucks on the CAT form as all the other top colleges close their application form sale and submission dates before they can actually give the exam, and the other colleges are not far behind, ending their dates before the results are announced, thereby depriving us, of our right to make an informed choice. Confidence is perhaps what the colleges test! But, if confidence means shelling out anything between Rs.1000 to Rs. 2000 for every single course, then it sure is expensive.
Now suppose you do apply in a few colleges, then if one gets the ‘GD&PI call’, there is the obnoxious scramble for train and air reservations and the dilemma of which GD&PI to attend in case dates clash! The troubles just don’t end here. Some colleges declare their results before others and their last date for ‘fee’ payment is also before the other results are out! Dilemmas galore!
In the midst of all this ‘rich’ misty haze are the state level exams like UPTU and Mah CET. Everything is centralized, you don’t have to shell out extra money for every college you want to apply too, and there is no confusion with respect to results as the counselling is not for specific colleges and the results are declared on one date.
Now, the point is why can’t the premier, private/semi-government/government institutes and universities that accept CAT, XAT, MAT, SNAP, etc scores have a centralised process?
It will help economically weaker students by giving them a wider choice at a fraction of the cost, and also not sideline competent candidates who may miss the deadline for one college. Colleges too will benefit. Cost of conducting a centralised process will be lesser and they will have access to a larger pool of talented (though less rich) candidates. The only thing that will hurt them is the colossal amount of money that these institutes collect as application money! Yes, it’s a loot out there and no one is listening to our complaints. We can’t boycott these institutes as these are some of the best in the country; yet, ethically, these institutes need to look inside and remember that they are ‘not for profit’ (which they actually are not apart from a few). And if they don’t(which they are), then it is high time the HRD Minister Mr. Kapil Sibal does something about this whole issue, as well as the farce that is “not for profit” or we’ll only see a much bigger edition of ‘Amazing Education Loot” …
Syed Mohd. Zain Inhonvi
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