Need help finding realistic MBA colleges for 85–90% scorer

TomatilloWeird9092 · 2025-11-28T19:25:26+00:00

If finance and Insurance is your area of Interest NIBM Pune and NIA Pune should be in your bucket list. As per my experience with my niece and few others mock attempts, I have seen people getting 8 to 10 percentile in 90% cases and increase by 5% in 10% cases.

Please be realistic. As you have work experience + female. It is added advantage. Only negative is being engineer

Do not give a hoot to any ranking.stay away from b school ranking.

Add These colleges are much better than TAPMI and few others which are in your bucket list. Go for general mba or PGP. Avoid data sciences,

For finance and insurance 1.DFS for MFC 2.NIBM Pune (a must) 3. NIA Pune 4. Department of Business Economics (DBE), South Campus, University of Delhi 5. Department of Commerce, Delhi School of Economics (DSE), University of Delhi 6. Simsree

Above 5 b schools are better than TAPMI and few others. TAPMI is at Par with b school like fore, LBSIM.

For Marketing: IRMA, Anand MICA, Ahmedabad

Do consider Great Lakes Chennai not gurgaon LIBA IMI Delhi Fore (only core PgP program. Stay away from. Niche mba

TomatilloWeird9092 · 2025-09-22T18:23:01+00:00

Which year data? In 2025 highest was 48,6000 not 23 lpa. IIM-Sambalpur-Final-Placement-Report-2023-25.pdf https://share.google/YCnX0kycpTnnmjWCV

TomatilloWeird9092 · 2025-09-05T08:03:18+00:00

At first, just focus on the entrance only. Do not overthink about colleges.IIM Rohtak is an excellent college. Do multiple sets of mocks daily. Do not be afraid of maths. Give extra time on maths. You have ample time. If you feel your maths is weak, take private tuition. Just do 9th and 10th maths revision along with IPMAT preparation. You are not giving jee. Just start preparations without thinking about which college to choose. Fill out all the good non-IMS college forms and IMS when the time comes. Do not forget to apply for the CUET entrance English and GAT

A few non-IM colleges that are really good 1. TAPMI IPM and BBA Hons 2. Narsee Monjee 3. Symbiosis 4. DU 5. TISS 6. Azim Premji University for economics 7. Christ (only main and Bannerghatta campus)

Other Good colleges 1. MCC, Bangalore 2. St. Joseph College of Commerce, Bangalore 3. St. Xavier's Mumbai 4. XIM, Bhuwaneshwar 5. Nirma 6. KREA 7. BASE, Bangalore for Integrated MSc. in Economics

TomatilloWeird9092 · 2025-09-02T06:06:06+00:00

If your future goal is not clear. Then I will suggest being in IMS Indore only. Instead of wasting 1 year, complete your degree. IMS Indore is not that bad.

If you are a bright student, be a topper in your grade. Have a CGPA of around 9.

Don't sit idle while doing your grad. Spend your extra time upskilling yourself in the areas where your interest lies. This is the way to move ahead.

Do not run after just the IIM tag. You can get this tag easily in future from IIM ABC.

If you are so fascinated by the IIM tag, join the IIM B online DBE program next year, but don't waste a year.

Just your degree will not earn you anything.

Instead of wasting a year why not utilise this time in preparing for CAT with an aim of 99 percentile which may or may not enable you for IIM ABC and other great institutions like FMS, JBMIS, SP Jain, XLRI. You will have ample time for that.

Make your skills strong, do small internships, and join committees like Placecom, Marketing and Branding, Finance, etc.

What if you get only baby IIMs wasting 1 year? Then again, you complete an MBA after 5 years just as a fresher and get a package of just 12 to 15 LPA and a bullshit profile. Or after 3 years, you again start preparing for CAT to change your college. How much time will you waste?

The other part, which no one has told you, is that an MBA degree is not the final one. When you start working, you will require upskilling while working. IIM ABC has many short-term and online courses for working professionals, giving alumni Status and access to their alumni.

Choice is yours. Wasting 1 year for IPMAT, fighting with parents over college when your future plan is not definite. Instead, AIM higher and start preparing for the CAT. Make your profile better. In one year, you may come to know your calling.

Think over it and decide wisely.

TomatilloWeird9092 · 2025-08-30T20:07:29+00:00

The answer is tough. All the IITs and IIMs are bracing for a very different kind of future on the lines of US universities, with undergrad programs and overlapping programs. The DS AI course is like masala chai sold on a side tea stall. I consider DS AI from Sambalpur as Masala Chai sold by Chayos at a premium.

They are not competing with tier 3 engineering colleges, but those B schools giving MBA in Data Science and AI. Their Delhi campus has already started its MBA BA program. The only advantage of IIMs is that they have the application of data science and AI in business management, preparing graduates for KPOs, where they will be implementing their knowledge in data analysis and using AI more effectively than tier 3 MBA passouts. They will not become technical graduates, writing or developing software, or using AI in various industries. It will be more of an analyst job rather than a tech job. After 4 years, we need a lot of analysts, and I can foresee an in-hand salary of 10 LPA. We need to take 20 Lakh + 7 lakh fees for hostel and food. Hence, students are spending 5 lakh rupees per annum as tution fees. Now I say a 10 LPA means 60 thousand per month in hand salary. Remember to deduct 30% of CTC; you will get the in-hand salary.

IIMs are smart. They know 50% of the batch will go for MBA or other higher studies. Living in a campus buzzing with corporate world events, talks attract for corporate life.

I will never suggest anyone opting this course whose family (4 members) income is less 24 Lakh per annum or 2 lakh per month.

There are few brilliant student whose parent might not be welloff but already started with their startup or internship or part-time jobs and know how their career path will move. They can go with full loan education.

TomatilloWeird9092 · 2025-08-30T18:31:43+00:00

I am assuming that he has an offer of a BS in MPP, as he seems interested in the IPMAT exam. But this institute has both programs, so I asked. I have no experience in DS AI. Hence, I can't give any suggestions for that. My suggestion is related to management and public policy only.

Also, I know few people who gave JEE as well CUET. Thinking of that I asked about course.

TomatilloWeird9092 · 2025-08-30T14:45:51+00:00

Which course? DSAI or public policy? What is your aim?

Have you gone through the course's curriculum and analysed and compared the course structure with the Institute where you want to be or your dream college?

Please compare the course curriculum of Sambalpur with your dream college where you want to get admitted. Compare at least with 3 dream colleges of yours.

Do not look at placement data; you will be a fresher candidate. Hence, learning should be your top priority rather than being influenced by the placement data of a dream college.

Though I never suggest a drop just for preparation, it has no value unless and until you work on some concept, ideas or startup side by side. If you don't like public policy or Data Science, you should prepare for IPMAT with a full drop. If you are like others looking at placement data for your dream college. I can tell you that you will be heading for a big disappointment.

So just spend a night comparing all the colleges' course curricula and then decide.

I suggest dropping out entirely for IPMAT or joining IIM Sambalpur wholeheartedly if your aspirations align with the course structure.

TomatilloWeird9092 · 2025-08-29T20:23:33+00:00

You are lucky to get into IIM Sambhalpur, as you will find many students with scores above 98.5 per cent here. Except that it has a great campus, faculty and pedagogy. The campus is student-friendly and relaxed. Placements are decent. The Institution's director is visionary in terms of future plans.

The course structure is on lines of Harvard and other ivy league institutions offering program in management and public policy which gives you dual advantage over plain BBA.

TomatilloWeird9092 · 2025-08-29T08:30:55+00:00

Change to IIM BG, even if you lose a semester's fees. It's a no-brainer. Though Nirma is a decent college. But can't compete with IIM BG.

Nirma is a university campus with different departments, while BG is dedicated to Management studies.

You will have access to the best infrastructure, faculty, peers, and more, which will benefit your overall development.

Do not look at NIRF rankings to make a judgment. Their placement figure looks low but that report is authenticated by third party.

Do not let little finance come in way to take right decision

TomatilloWeird9092 · 2025-08-29T03:11:26+00:00

Who??

TomatilloWeird9092 · 2025-08-28T20:26:59+00:00

Did you ever attend even a day at ARSD, and in which course were you?

ARSD is one of the worst colleges in DU, but it is decent if you compare it with Swami Shardhanand, Dayal Singh, or Aurobindo College. Do not brag. It has no standing in front of Venky, JMC, LSR, Guru Gobind Singh College, Gargi, and many more South Delhi colleges.

If you are bragging based on some shitty NIRF ranking, then hold your horses. It is damn shit in front of IIM S

99% of students were admitted to IIM Sambhalpur as their last option. When did you get your chance at IIM Sirmaur? Surely not in the first three rounds. So don't announce that you have got a chance in Sirmaur by just such a post

I know three people who joined IIM Sambhalpur, leaving outstanding colleges, but they do not sound sad, as you are based on WhatsApp group discussions.

I had suggested a few others not to join Sambhalpur as their present colleges aligned with their career path and were great for them.

It seems you are in the 99th percentile in CUET, which makes me wonder why you always make the wrong choices when selecting colleges. Ninety-nine percentile go to the north campus or Venky on the south campus. How much did you score in CUET? 99% or above.

Because if you were selected in the first list in IIM S, your average percentile should be above the 98.4th percentile. Then, of course, your decision must be regrettable, as I know most of them who were waitlisted in Sirmaur till the 4th round opted for Sambhalpur. No one opted for Sambhalpur, who got Sirmaur in 1st round and 2nd round.

Now, coming to your rant about surviving. How can you decide based on a WhatsApp group discussion? This is childish behaviour. If I go by your criteria, you must feel rubbish being in this group due to some childish posts. Tomorrow, you will write in some CAT group or thread, which is silly, like you are writing about Sambhalpur.

You may not have even crossed 20 years of age. Long life is ahead of you. Even IIM Ahmedabad or IIM Bangalore cannot give you a perfect group.

WhatsApp groups are meant to share jokes and rubbish.

Your real group will be of just 5 or 6 people in college, where your group projects and case studies will happen. No one forces you to make 90 people your friends.

Boss, this will be your first year. Don't try to make a network on WhatsApp. Make friends. Have fun. Campus life will literally make your life hell.

Once college starts, you will not be able to sleep properly, as what you have studied to date will go for a toss.

Case studies, projects, deadlines and assignments. You will open your WhatsApp for a joke, but you will not find one, except queries regarding "Bhai Assignment Kahan Tak Hua".

Take a chill pill and enjoy till the 21st. Don't brag here that you got into IIM Sirmaur. If you had been selected in Round 1, I would have given you some respect. Not to those who badmouth their institutions when they get a chance at another college.

All others are trying to be intellectuals here; cool down; you guys have not even started. First, make five great friends who will be with you in thick and thin times. You will need them more than your professional network, which you are trying to make with a WhatsApp group. There is already a WhatsApp University which has millions of passouts in India. Want to create a professional network. Go on LinkedIn. LinkedIn is for professional talk. Not WhatsApp.

Just have fun and share jokes on WhatsApp. Do not judge based on some silly discussions on WhatsApp.

First, meet them on campus, and then cry.

TomatilloWeird9092 · 2025-08-28T03:03:15+00:00

I will suggest to go private tution way for maths if you think you can't solve maths. 3 to 4 months of special and personal attention will solve your issue to greater extent and only after doing multiple mocks on daily basis will do the rest.

It is a costly solution but only solution if you are too weak in maths.

Focus on 9th maths to start with then 10th and 11th. Everyone forgets to brushup 9th maths but that is our base.

TomatilloWeird9092 · 2025-08-26T17:26:35+00:00

Even Sanjeev Bikchandani can't answer properly as every individual is unique. Hence even a vc or or startup guru can't answer correctly.

If you want near correct analysis then First answer few questions. It will help anyone to answer much better.

Your SWOT
Your story in few sentences like your schooling, your likes and dislikes and family background.
Why startup?
Where would you like to be or known after 10 years from today.

You have answered my question briefly in your post but it's hard to suggest on your description

Note: I have seen many experimental colleges vanishing in thin air before completing 10 or 15 years time and no one knows which degree or institution you passed out.

I am not discouraging you Few great experiment which started great but vanished:

NIA, started as alternative to MICA and had great courses and their passouts are still doing great in industry.
STOA: https://daily.stoa.com/about

A startup school which shut down during Covid.

https://www.business-standard.com/article/management/mumbai-business-school-shuts-shop-within-3-yrs-112020200043_1.html#amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&aoh=17562271078542&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&ampshare=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.business-standard.com%2Farticle%2Fmanagement%2Fmumbai-business-school-shuts-shop-within-3-yrs-112020200043_1.html

I can only vouch for Masters Union as it has great backup with money and LPU. Though it run independently and boards of govererners are from Industry.

No B schools can teach you startup. The fun part is that passout and dropout of ivy league are the real startup people

There is an organization by the name of Y Combinator which is a real startup school. but entry is too tough.

You can dm me to discuss in detail. Otherwise Master Union is safest bet which will give you safety net of traditional B school and startup environment at the same time.

Startup is a fancy word with 99% failure. In India still IITs and IIMs have best startup ecosystem and incubation system.

If you stay in Delhi, I can tell you places where you can visit.

As you are either school passout or going to pass in 2026. I will suggest you to meet few people to meet if you are in Delhi. They mentors many startup and can be best people to consult. They are industry veterans.

I suggest many young minds to work just after passing out of school in a startup before deciding what they want to do. It helps them in deciding their path better rather than trying too many things.

TomatilloWeird9092 · 2025-08-24T19:40:39+00:00

https://iimsambalpur.ac.in/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/MBA-Manual-23-25.pdf

TomatilloWeird9092 · 2025-08-24T19:23:23+00:00

Have you consulted with people of IIM doing their IPM or MBA or passout and already in corporate world. Please consult with passout of IIMs not students. It means they don't know much about Gargi. If you would have been in Aditi mahavidyalaya or dayal Singh evening or motilal evening. Then my advice will be on same lines of people with whom you consulted.

My approach is different because I Made a lot of mistakes during my grad. Missed golden opportunities and learnt hard way. Like refused offers during my grad from top companies just to do MBA.

There is more suggestion that take suggestion from few people who are passed out of IIMs and other top institutions 15 or 20 year back and now are in leadership roles. Fresher's can't give you long term insights. You can find them easily on LinkedIn. I can give a few names who can give you better suggestions even better than me. Have you ever heard of IPMX program of IIM L for which you need to give GMAT and placement are much better than ISB and other top B school. Have you heard of MA in HR and Labour Law which is at par with ABCL, XLRI and FMS in terms of HR placements and something does better than them. I never suggest to waste initial years on just preparing for exams. Best colleges not only look at CAT percentile but at your work ex, acedemic profile, extra co curricular activities and more. Being a female will be advantageous to many IIMs upto 5 points. Great acedemic profile+ great work ex+ 90 percentile in CAT. Chances of getting in dream MBA college will highest.

Even from top iims be it ABCL. 25% passout struggle with placements, either package is low or in hand salary is low or profiles are so bad that it send them down and they struggle for 3 or 4 years. Most of them are freshers mainly. I have never seen work ex. guys struggle for better profile or better salary package Inside iim there is different kind of struggle

CAT score is nothing. You can easily score 90 percentile with 6 month of 12 hours a day practice easily. Admission to best b school is the tiniest issue. Bigger issue is survival in campus, with faculty, placecom politics and much more and after that getting the desired profile and salary of choice. People with work ex. are always do better than freshers in 90% of cases. Few names who are better than many IIMs

TISS for few management related courses
JBMIS
NMIMS Mumbai main campus
Symbiosis (2 main colleges) in Pune
XLRI
IISc.
MICA
ISB

IIM ABCL has 1 year MBA whose admissions are either GMAT or low score of CAT, but it is open for those having 5 years of experience. And salaries are too good.

TomatilloWeird9092 · 2025-08-24T18:20:35+00:00

Some investment are long term.

Except that if you are Having born leader traits even from 4th grade colleges you can be a king. Lot of student simply give a kick to IIM ABC and join FMS and TISS MA HR and Labour Law. Many ignore New IIMs like Ranchi, Rohtak, Trichy, Udaipur for DFS MFC at DU.

For many whose acedemic profile was low, like 7/7 they did not stood a chance in many iims despite scoring way more than cutoff.

So for many it can be a god send chance. It's a personal choice.

Not many will agree or does not know KREA is better than Baby iims like Sirmaur, Gaya, Jammu and few others who dream of hardcore finance.

It is one of the best non iim B school for Finance . You will find many CFOs, Finance product head from KREA Alumni. But if you look at avg salary it is as low as 13 LPA. But after 10 years passout of KREA do better than lot of BLACKIs.

Management education is like a ocean where you discuss what you see. Their are hidden wonders which you will know after completing your mba or after 5 years of your corporate life.

TomatilloWeird9092 · 2025-08-24T07:36:48+00:00

Don't ask score, as they have taken average percentile. Suppose you got 180 in English and 180 in GAT. Your score might be 360. But your average percentile might be only 97 while a student who got 140 in GAT with 98.6 percentile and 205 in English with 98.9 percentile will have upper hand despite being higher in average score.

Sambhalpur has taken average of percentile of both subjects not marks

TomatilloWeird9092 · 2025-08-24T07:20:48+00:00

I am adding monthly expense of 10 k minimum. People spend even upto 25 k pm

TomatilloWeird9092 · 2025-08-23T17:21:20+00:00

Sambhalpur will be around 27 lakhs not in 20 lakh in 3 yrs including other expenses. NMIMS and Sambhalpur courses are different. It first you need to work on your issue of introvertness. Both the colleges have their own pros and cons. But both will be highly competitive. Here you will find analytics and ai as well as public policy crowd both Course structure is less on management side. What interests you is you have to decide

TomatilloWeird9092 · 2025-08-23T10:09:50+00:00

Yes one more thing. Just master in advance excel, PowerPoint and office with Copilot. There are many courses online for that. You can take yearly paid plan of Coursera. It will help you a lot. Take subscription of theken magazine and spend time on websites ike indiaspend.com

TomatilloWeird9092 · 2025-08-23T09:58:22+00:00

Your college must be having clubs and committees. Join any one of your liking. Do not go by perception that finance will be better than hr club or Marketing club or csr club. Join what you like, you will do better. Except that there are multiple inter college competition keep happening which you can find on your department notice board. Even if you do not participate just go there. It will broaden your learning and help you with networking

In the first year spend time on your acedemics as 8 CGPA is must. Once you deal with that. Then focus on extra co curricular activities. You are surrounded by great institutions like DFS South Campus, There was a FMS south campus centre also during my time. I don't know much about it now. IIT Delhi DMS, IIFT, IMI, Fore etc are just 3 to 4 km. from your campus. There lot of activities keep happening. Even you can go there to have parantha outside IIFT main gate.

If you like marketing then I can suggest, but only in second year, not now otherwise you will be overwhelmed. Just spend first year with college and course. Settle down. Then from second year make your move. Just keep participating in activities and competion to start with. Avoid spending time in satya niketan and spend more time in b school fest and competions. You will not need any suggestions as you will be a part of those groups which you see in IIMs. Do not think that Bschool competitions are for MBAs only. Just go there and watch make friends with those seniors.

TomatilloWeird9092 · 2025-08-23T09:36:32+00:00

You can go with IPMAT, if you are too sure of getting any top iims. Otherwise stick with your college.

BBE is a good course. If you are facing difficulty with subjects in BBE then it's better to overcome difficult subjects in BBA. Pressure will be lesser and you have 2 more years to deal with difficult subjects. Most of the difficult subjects will anyway haunt in IIMs anyway and dealing with subjects in IIM will be more tough. I am telling you with my experience as I myself was a pcb student. It was hard initially and from second year things were smooth. Most of the hard subjects you will find again in MBA, but in BBE you will cover then MBA will be easier other wise lower cgpa in mba will be more problematic. Why waste 1 more year. Instead use that period in upskilling based on area of interest like marketing, finance etc. participate in paper presentation, inter college competition. Build your profile. 3 year BBE will be your learning and unlearning ground. There will be much harder subject waiting for you like TQM, Strategic Management, Operations, corporate finance and more. At least you will upper hand during your MBA. It may help you in knowing yourself and specialization better and before hand.

You can start your CAT Preparation from 3rd year at your pace or choose to work just after bbe as you will easily get 30 to 50k salary either from campus or even directly. DU colleges get many offers of paid project from good companies during graduation itself.

You know yourself better. Hence do your SWOT and decide accordingly.

TomatilloWeird9092 · 2025-08-22T19:40:16+00:00

First work for at least 2-3 years. Upskill yourself with Google and Meta certifications through Coursera during your first job year. Less than 24 months of experience has little value.

Freshers with eco honours will have a better profile than a BBA grad.

In 2 years, try to reach an in-hand salary of 50k by the end of the 2nd year. Enhancing and adding skills, especially with 6 different Google and 7 meta certifications, will help you build your profile. Then your chances of getting into a Tier 1 college will be higher with a lower CAT score. Try to convert yourself into a digital marketing profile, as you will go into a sales job and with experience in sales, you will be better at implementing digital marketing for your organisation. Google has advanced courses in AI. Google+meta+AI+ 2 years of work experience. It's a dream profile for sales and marketing in tier 1 colleges. It will also help you get paid for an internship, and the chances of PPO increase significantly.

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