By April, most of the Management colleges declare their converts list. With this, many aspirants are buoyed with joy as they get the college of their choice, while many others are left to choose between two almost equally good colleges. While rankings consider many different parameters to judge a b-school, comparing placements is the single most important factor for aspirants.
In case of Tier-1 colleges; placement figures, profiles offered, sector details, specialisation-wise package and also work-ex details are available easily on their respective websites.
But when aspirants compare Tier-2 colleges on the basis of placement data, they face greater difficulties. Most of the Tier 2 colleges don’t disclose their placement figures with as many details as Tier-1.
Here's how you can understand the average package with more clarity:
1. Median vs Average: A few companies in Tier-2 colleges offer very high packages, due to which average is pushed very high. However, these companies recruit very few people. A better scale to compare to is the median package. How to get the median package figure? All the top colleges under NIRF management ranking 2017 have disclosed their median salary offered, which can be checked at https://www.nirfindia.org/ManagementRanking.html. By comparing the median and average, one can easily get an idea of outliers. Many a time, b-schools include international placement in average calculation by converting them to the Indian rupee, which shoots up the average.
2. Package by Profile: Packages offered in b-schools vary as per profile. A fresher might not get the top-notch consulting role while someone with 4 years of IT work-ex may find it difficult to get a sales role. Specialisation also creates a major impact on placements. Say, you are looking for an Operations career but you are choosing a college famous for Finance, then you might not be able to get top packages/profiles offered in that college. So 'average or median' might not be the totally correct parameter. One must drill down into placement report for profile similar to theirs. But it is almost impossible to find a placement report tailored for different profiles.
Few ways by which an aspirant can inquire better:
1. Contacting the Right Person: Nobody can give you better information about a college than a person studying there. As per ’Frigyes Karinthy' there is only six degrees of separation in this world. So using social media, one can easily catch a few seniors. A good mix to take advice from would be, people similar to your own profile. One should also take opinion from people who have graduated recently, a year or so. They would give you information and opinion from perspectives which current students might not have as dots can be connected only backwards.
2. Alumni Network: Undoubtedly, one of the biggest strength of any b-school is its alumni network. Career progression of Alumni can also tell you about, how certain profiles would land you in 5 years or so. This is where you can use LinkedIn to maximum potential. These alumni might give you information which can be at times more valuable than the ‘average package’ you were looking for.
Best of luck for making an informed choice.
About the Author
Sachin_Mandot is a student of PGDM 2016-18 batch of IMT Ghaziabad. His area of interest includes Marketing and Consulting. He follows Politics of India with diligence and often writes about it. He has also written on various issues that MBA aspirants face in India. Prior to IMT-G, he has worked with US based Syntel Pvt Limited as a Software Engineer.
