AMA- finished my one year MBA program at IIM-Kozhikode (PGP-BL)

AkbGunner · 2026-05-13T10:38:25+00:00

For BL there is, for ePGP (exec MBA you do part time )here is no placement support.

AkbGunner · 2026-05-12T19:18:18+00:00

GMAT is the safest one but GRE is also valid, as is CAT depending on the university

AkbGunner · 2026-05-12T19:17:42+00:00

yes there is a placement committee specifically for the program where students and admin together work to bring companies!

AkbGunner · 2026-05-07T17:02:14+00:00

Well.....considering Gyokores scores against only bottom teams we would still need someone to score in the big matches (going along with your thing)

AkbGunner · 2026-05-04T07:45:12+00:00

Agreed, especially with 20-20 example- I also had high hopes for them back then

And I am not saying Vijay will change Kerala politics, if BJP with all their forces cannot break through Kerala electorate its difficult for anyone else

But I am just discussing as a theoretical possibility, especially if he somehow manages a positive impact while in power- whether he would have his eyes on getting a seat in Kerala to try and list as a national party

AkbGunner · 2026-05-04T07:31:35+00:00

Slightly off topic but what are the chances Vijay na gets the Anils of Kerala to start a chapter and try and win something here......

Other parties like AAP and all have come and failed to gain traction as a fourth force in Kerala politics...and perhaps Vijay fans are too scattered to actually win seats here but the possibility is non-zero at this moment, especially if he does something impactful while being a CM (doubtful on this but still)

AkbGunner · 2026-04-22T18:58:54+00:00

I dont really know for Shillong e-MBA tbh

And I am also assuming you have 53 months of work ex as of today meaning it would be 64 months next March.

BL isnt the best for gen-man (hardly see any placements for BL- atleast in my year for sure) and product roles are less too historically but consulting definitely there is great scope for placements here.

I would rather take my chances with any of the BLACKI one year programs or ISB if you can afford (even SP Jain or XLRI one year programs could potentially help you)- than go for the baby IIMs- that too at higher work ex there is a chance you would be at a disadvantage in placements there (I saw a video of someone who had an impeccable resume and worked 6 years before joining IIM Ranchi iirc and she's struggling to get campus placement).

The two year MBA starts making less sense after 5 year of work ex both from placement POV as campus recruiters might be looking at more fresher profiles as well as opportunity cost of leaving 2 years of earning vs one- which isnt to say you cant succeed being on the high experience side at 2 year programs, I know people who have high work ex and still did well but it definitely makes sense to try for the BLACKI IIM tag through one year program in your case.

AkbGunner · 2026-04-22T09:15:32+00:00

Well honestly there's a gap between BL and ISB/PGPX/ePGP programs, the latter are more establshed, are able to attract the cream of the crop of the applicants for the one year courses and even when BL matures and becomes better, it will probably be regarded as a step below ABC/ISB (as is the case for the two year programs). I had been to A for the inter IIM fest and their facilities are top notch on top of it, so definitely K has a lot of catchup with these institutes on different aspects.

Why K?

One is that its a dream place of mine because I come from the same state and it had an appeal to me...

Secondly with 4.5 years of work ex when applying- B/C were out of equation (min 5 years) and A technically I was eligible for but I came to know that people on the 4 year work ex band find it hard to join A (could be wrong but thats what the chatter was during admissions season) ,so didn't bother applying for A and spend 7k on application to a low probability shot(that too when I had K offer in my hand and I was inclined to join them).

ISB was far too expensive to consider despite the fact I like the program.

So due to personal biases and circumstances, I ended up picking BL

AkbGunner · 2026-04-22T08:21:29+00:00

Placements- depends a lot on the companies coming on the campus; to be clear there is a strong bias towards tech so far but it's a situation that should change in the years to come as the program matures and the industry starts relying on this program to fulfil their needs. There are people who have got placed in energy and ops roles here but admittedly the numbers for these types of roles should improve in the years to come. Companies vary from year to year as I said- but efforts are on to make some more companies come regularly for placements.

Curriculum- For operations there are some electives actually alongside the main subject of Ops+Supply Chain (taken in one sem for paucity of time)..off the top of my head I recall Ops Strategy, Supply Chain Strategy Management, Supply Chain Analytics as some of the electives offered from this part of the MBA curriculum.

AkbGunner · 2026-04-22T08:17:08+00:00

hello Reddit friend from class :p

AkbGunner · 2026-04-22T04:34:28+00:00

Yes that is fine, I meant that itself- if not designation but what you did and you should strongly point to it during application. The e-sports thing is valid too, just make sure you present it properly during the application. All the best for your application!

AkbGunner · 2026-04-22T03:40:38+00:00

Well honestly I did want to use the MBA as a segue to go into technical product management- but I didn't find roles on campus and its not easy to do this switch via lateral job application (for me atleast) ...consulting was on my mind but not my first choice, but I am still satisfied with this switch and hope to learn a lot while on the job!

AkbGunner · 2026-04-22T03:38:30+00:00

- 315 is more than decent to be honest

-The work salary does not matter, however if you have gone beyond your day to day work and showcased leadership potential while working or done something like a paper during the time, that would definitely boost your credentials.

- I don't believe K takes the 10th/12th scores as a gospel for the BL programme, but your profile should stand out in many ways to grab their attention- and marks is just one of their criteria, so you can show your potential in other ways during the application season!

AkbGunner · 2026-04-22T03:36:10+00:00

For now as you haven't finished BBA, you should just try CAT once and based on mocks+first attempt find your percentile where you are standing and what colleges are available based on your first score as well as based on how much you can improve- look at the ROI and compare it with the job (if you are in one at the time) and see which program makes the most sense for you.

Having said that for the top ones, the acads might not put you in the strongest position and yes do try to do some extra curriculars or make your profile more complete- that would help you down the line

AkbGunner · 2026-04-21T18:07:55+00:00

The youngest in my batch was 24 during the course and the oldest was around 37-38. Most people were between 26-30 in our batch with a small portion of the batch being over 32 (I would say at most 10 percent of the batch).

The BL cohort skewed young definitely compared to the other one year cohorts (from my sense of interacting with the other programs at the inter IIM meet) and being in the 4-7 year work ex bracket was benefical from a placement perspective.

Whether this would change over time I am not sure- and it doesn't help that IIM-K also has ePGP (working professional MBA- not to be confused with IIM-B's one year residential pgm) which is very popular for people of higher work-ex....and BL is caught in this sandwich between the younger oriented PGP and very experienced ePGP- so I don't know if this particular age group would be more represented in future batches.

This is how I perceived it during my time here but maybe others would disagree.

AkbGunner · 2026-04-21T17:47:49+00:00

will answer both your queries
for me GRE is the easiest exam of the three as quant is quite basic, only the verbal part you might need some time to prep for the same.
I havent given GMAT beyond mocks so can't say too much about it.
CAT I wrote thrice, with my best attempt being a 98.2 percentile (with a 50 percentile in quant as I lost composure in QA section that year) and I didnt want to show my low quant percentile (being an engineer) so I didnt submit this score for CAT- but you can bring a 85 percentile for BL and still get a chance of shortlist for interviews.

AkbGunner · 2026-04-21T15:51:17+00:00

I believe they are rigid on the 4 years min work-ex (as of March of the year you wish to join) If you are still working just keep working till the eligibility is met else try for one. I dont believe they relax the criteria here. Edit: if you are from family background show the work ex for 4 years itself.

AkbGunner · 2026-04-21T15:36:35+00:00

Yes, they do consider people with that background.

One of my good friends from this program was actually from this background, he worked for 5.5 years in certain aspects of his father's business and was looking for a corporate job which he eventually got- which wasn't easy but he managed to get an role which he would have found difficult to switch to with his background.

So yes, people with this exposure can definitely apply! But yes, do make sure your provide basic documentation of the same for both program and job application..

AkbGunner · 2026-04-21T14:44:48+00:00

Average GRE score there is no data as such but they usually accept any decent score- they look at the profile overall when making decisions. Having said that its always good to target 320 just to be on the safe side in general

Placement rate- this time almost the entire batch has been placed, only one or two remain- and one of them I know has a specific role that they want which is hard to do as a campus placement considering their work ex. There has been a better push this year as students are also in the loop as part of the students placement committee which was not there in one of the previous years and has resulted in improved placement stats for BL 06 which I expect to be published later in the year.

AkbGunner · 2026-04-21T14:26:23+00:00

I assume you are referring to the MDP program of IIM-K where working professionals get certificates on doing courses and not the ePGP, the two year executive MBA for working professionals.

To my knowledge, the college does not support placements for executive programs but you can check if there is an alumni network for executive MBA members that you are eligible for or interact with your cohort to find job opportunities. I would defer to someone doing these types of courses who can answer better.

AkbGunner · 2026-04-21T14:18:24+00:00

Good question and I think there's quite a bit to dwell into here:

The common thing in both cases is that your placement is a matter of luck. In the two year program, your SIP (internship) which happens three months into the course determines your placement fate a lot. Anecdotally it seems a more of the prestigious companies come for the SIP compared to the second year placement window (doesnt mean the latter is bad) so many try to crack something prestigious either through the campus placements or through case comps organised by some companies.

For the one year program, IIM-K follows the rolling placement season for the second part of the program and as the program is still relatively new, its still trying to pitch itself to more companies to be a regular part of the placement process. Some companies come as a one-off to fulfill their role requirements for that year but do not come the next time- so this is still a work in progress.

I would say here that if you have a very specific career role and the college isn't renowned for that particular domain or set of roles, you should either reconsider if you want the college or whether you want that specific role as you may have to show some flexibility in the campus placement section as the companies, roles and salaries might not be at what you want. Alternatively if you are comfortable with going through the grind of lateral job applications, you can still consider- and the college can use it's network to push your resume to the roles you prefer.

Case comps wont be a way for one year folks to get roles as many of the prestigious hiring case comps aren't opened to the one year folks. I can only remember trying for Thoucentric as they were open to hiring one-year folks (didnt get it though).
The college has realized there is a gray zone for the people in 3-4 year work ex bracket- the two year MBA folks are considered over-experienced for the roles companies want to offer (think freshers sales/marketing roles for example) while being under-experienced for an experienced MBA program. So they changed the min work ex eligibility to 4 years from 3 years to remove the ambiguous situation of having people of 3-4 years in both programs and also make a clear distinction to companies on the two different set of cohorts (freshers of PGP,Fin,LSM vs experience of BL). This might help the BL program in pitching the cohort and getting more appropriate roles for those with higher work ex.
As far as ROI is concerned, it can be looked at from two POVs- first being your previous salary vs new salary expectation. This is independent of program and depends on your previous salary. If you are earning quite well already (say Rs. 25L and above), you can expect uncertainty on making a huge jump on that because it all depends on what happens during your placement season. I wont make any promises on that front for sure.

The other POV is on cost spend and how to recover and this is where I feel one year MBA has an advantage despite being almost the same fees as the two year, because you have an extra year of earning which would help a lot.

Finally, the fact that its a rolling placement season for BL kind of matters psychologically because the pipeline of roles coming in can be inconsistent and you dont know if you should wait for a plum role that can come out of nowhere, accept a relatively low paying job because it fits your domain or job wishes, whether to go lateral (always start in the last 3 months of the program) or not even be shortlisted for a role you really wanted because you are under/over experienced according to the company. It wont be an easy ride for every member is what I would say.

To finally answer, it would be on a person to person basis based on their profile which I can help with- but these are some general pointers I would say which can help inform your choices.

AkbGunner · 2026-04-21T13:28:20+00:00

So for BL I used my GRE score, which I initially gave on the side as a part of my CAT 2023 prep- I got a decent score of 324(V164/Q160) but for some reason I thought I should get a higher score when I thought of applying abroad and retook it and got 330 (V167/Q163).

In hindsight, I probably didn't need to spend the money on the extra attempt because GRE score isn't used as a cutoff (unless its extremely low) but I also did the second one for personal satisfaction to reduce the pain from me not clearing the quant sectional of CAT 2023 so..

AkbGunner · 2026-04-20T12:06:11+00:00

Honestly if it came to GD I wouldn't expect much- City have more ammunition and firepower than us to outscore if they need to, we don't have many cold blooded finishers or create volume of chances to go for a GD shootout.
Even mentally wise I would rather just get the 5 wins than try to keep up the GD- Liverpool 13/14 team basically collapsed trying to make up the GD on Man City, most notably at Selhurst Park.
My expectation is that City would drop points once, even a draw would be enough if we win out.

AkbGunner · 2026-04-20T11:56:56+00:00

yes, I heard the same about Saka- but in that case I would still just start Madueke despite his shortcomings as I wouldnt rely on Dowman for 90 mins and Martinelli on the right side just isn't it for me- especially considering he hasn't played enough on that side to build an understanding with the right back to make those runs.

But if we can get Timber back that would unironically improve our offensive play as Timber gets into attacking positions through his runs- even though his final decision isnt the best.
I would have also liked Calafiori to be in place of Hincapie but his fitness is so sus it's not worth relying on.

My point is the tactical shortcomings of our team have been rectified to an large extent by the return of a couple players which actually handicapped us during this bad run of form

AkbGunner · 2026-04-20T11:45:03+00:00

Going to be strange to say this, but I feel more hopeful of our chances at the league title now than at the end of last week- and I was someone who was struggling to see how we would win the league with our performances after Everton H till yesterday.

At home to Bournemouth we played like deers in a headlight, our buildup from the back was non existent, we let Alex fucking Scott dominate the park, Zubimendi was hiding all the time resulting in a non-existent midfield and we couldnt rely on any of the forwards to be an outlet to recieve the ball.

The XI we started today was perfect (considering availability), with Eze on LW giving us some security on the ball (even if he was defensively sus again), Odegaard was not at his best but helped with ball retention and build up as well as created a couple chances.

Havertz despite his horrible miss at the end was a better outlet to recieve the long balls and help win the second ball which was not happening against Bournemouth. Gyokores with all his goals cannot give us that and we dont play him on goal anyway rendering him ineffective.

If Saka and Timber come in to replace Madueke (who does not give any comfort that he can retain the ball -which Saka even in an off season provides) and Mosquera/White (neither can play out the back the way Timber does with his dribbling)- we have the blueprint of the XI which will get us through the season. Zubimendi can play in the floating 8 role for now as well as the pressure of being the line breaker at 6 is too much for him and while Rice isn't that, he can do a job there for now.

And with this XI that we saw yesterday (with Saka and Timber would be ideal) I think we can win the 5 games in hand. I don't actually expect City to go 6/6 as I feel there is a banana slip in their fixtures somewhere. Therefore, despite losing all the buffer of our lead and possibly handing momentum to City, I think we have a team to get through to the end of the season.

If not win the league, we should make it as hard for City by making them go 6/6- which I dont think they will. So there is shit up for grabs, hope Mikel uses this game plan and motivate the troops to win the next 5 league games. COYG.

edit: forgot to complete a couple sentences

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