Should Work Experience Be Made Mandatory For MBA Aspirants?

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Whether work experience should be made mandatory for MBA aspirants is a highly debatable issue. This question has evoked many thoughts in students who are pursuing their MBA and those who are about to venture to do the same. MBAupdates would like to categorize the two significant schools of thought most accepted by the MBA communities in general. One is the old school thought which believes that what matters the most is your basic education till graduation, your grades, your essential scores of GMAT and CAT along with your final dash of group discussion and the personal interview that could help you grab the seat! The second thought promotes the added advantage of work experience to the aforementioned factors in your resume.

First of all, why do institutions want the students to have work experience? The major reasons for this could be the desire for candidates who are more serious. Those having already worked and come for an MBA course portray a rather determined attitude than a college graduate out to maybe merely complete his post-graduation for the sake of it. However, what is important here is to note that the numbers of students are increasingly proportionate to the growing population and thus, this also means that students are applying for MBA programs at a younger age. A trend very discernible and quite upsetting is that students go in for work experience before their opting for MBA and then forgo the actual MBA program because they are too settled at work and are already earning. And yes, it is fact that the process of quitting a well-paying job and coming back to studies after a few years is an ordeal and not quite motivating as the inflow of cash that the person is accustomed to, suddenly experiences a halt. Now imagine, even if an institution does persist on allowing entry to only experienced students what do they actually gain? Yes, they gain more motivated, determined and focussed students who can and are willing to go the extra mile to adopt strategic management practices as they have already worked and know how to segregate the practical from the impractical and the gauge feasibility of actual theory into practice as they already have some ground-zero familiarity.

Thus, MBAupdates, after seeing the basic premises supporting each side of the argument concludes that this is a purely contentious question that is highly subjective in nature. Even if an institution does look for experienced professional to make students of MBAs it really cannot hole up students who desire to pursue further MBA studies right after graduation. However, one really cannot deny that practical work experience does aid classroom learning experiences and other knowledge centres helping you to get even better salaries than you would have got being a fresher. Some institutes ask for work experience whereas some don’t. Most of the IIMs do not. Even the Indian Business School in Hyderabad does not enforce the work experience criteria on the aspirants.

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B-Schools Taking ‘CSR’ Very Seriously

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The world of workplaces has undergone dynamic changes in the past few years with ethical, moral, environmental and sustainability issues doing rounds of the busy and ambitious corporate corridors. A company or an organization no more stands for mere products, sales, and revenue. It stands as a brand today. The value of this brand is dependent on many factors and amongst them Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is turning out to be a game changer. B-schools design and focus on training their applicants in a way that would give them options when they step out into the tough corporate world.

CSR reflects the onus of the organization, corporation or company to imbibe and respect the principles of ethics, morals and sustainability to the employees. The treatment meted out by the employees to a great extent affects the fabric of the company and consequently affects the brand name or image. B-schools have been stressing on educating the students about CSR and have managed to receive good responses from the same because of two important factors. With the created awareness about the CSR issues, there are many students who are willing to take off-beat career paths with non-governmental organizations and CSR departments of major companies.

Another riding factor is that most of the organizations, be it small players or multinationals today are willing to invest in CSR as their image is associated with it. Hence, students don’t mind taking this path as corporates are ready to pay huge sums of salaries to CSR employees and heads in their organizations. There is a lot of scope for work and growth in the CSR departments of organizations leaving students with no complaints for entering this sector. Business schools are taking up CSR seriously as the demand for CSR specialized students have been increasing and so are the companies’ demands for accountability, responsibility and transparency.

CSR departments offer students with a totally new set of responsibilities. It is no more about charity and visibility of an organization in the world, but rather a strategic move that can dictate investor relations and employee performances as well as company targets and achievements in all spheres. Philanthropy is just a part of the many activities conducted by CSR employees. It includes involving ancillary industries along with employee social and economic benefits in the final game plan of the company.

Amongst the good international B-schools offering good CSR courses to MBA students are Stanford, Harvard and Wharton. In India, some B-schools offer detailed two year MBA programs in CSR and ancillary field assisting students to develop a career in them. Amongst the few sought after B-schools in this field include the Narsee Monji Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS) and the Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India. 

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Cracking the SNAP Test 2012

13:10 | Labels: ,


Since 2009, SNAP has followed the same pattern. The number of questions also increased from 2009 as compared to the previous years’ question papers. Moreover, the overall paper format also became quite predictable. However, it is strongly advisable to keep in mind that it would not be a smart move to approach the test assuming that the format would remain the same this year as well.

Let’s have a look at each of the sections of the SNAP and analyze on the basis of the previous years’ papers mba.

The Quantitative section more or less covers the topics like Time and Work, Ratio and Proportion, Percentages, Time and Distance, Averages, Profit, Loss and Discount. The Data Sufficiency was present in 2008, absent in 2009, present in 2010 and again absent in 2011. Thus, if the alternating trend is considered, it would be wise to practice a few DS questions just to be on the safer side. Again the presence of Geometry and Mensuration has been very prominent in 2011. Thus, it is advisable to revise the formulae for area and volume of common geometrical figures. The Data Interpretation constitutes of a formidable proportion of the section. The questions are not as calculation-intensive as the ones in some other tests like XAT or IIFT.

The LR section is considered to be one of the most important sections in the SNAP and is scoring as well. However, the real challenge is to select the right questions to attempt as they come in sets. The fact that the simplest of questions are scattered over the different sets makes this even trickier.

The Critical Reasoning questions are not very popular in the SNAP but they usually appear in the LR section. In 2011, about 30% of the LR section constituted of such questions. This is a very significant considering each question was worth 2 marks and there were only 30 questions in the section. Bottomline? Revise these questions very well.
If the previous tests are looked into, the RC is not very predominant in SNAP mba. However, it is advisable to focus on Vocabulary, phrases and idioms, spellings and grammar which are very important in this test.

The General Knowledge section in SNAP is considered to be very tough and aspirants are apprehensive about the same. However, here are a few tips that SNAP test takers can consider:

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Should there be an age limit for doing an MBA?

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 Education should not be restricted in anyway, neither by caste, creed, gender or religion and neither by the age of a person. Knowledge is to be shared and hence it should be accessible to all. Thinking about an age limit for students aiming to do an MBA course, let’s think why should there be a limit in the first place? What sense does it make? Is there any logic to stop a person from gaining admission into a top business school because of nothing but an inconsequential factor called ‘age’? Age does not affect any credentials required to pursue any program. It does not require physical fitness to study and neither does it require pretty young looks to fetch good ranks and enrollments in high ranked business schools.

The current trend witnesses an increase in the number of younger students admitted with some major B-schools letting go off the criteria of work experience while choosing candidates. Harvard Business School has started recruiting young scholars for their MBA course. They aim for students having completed 3 year of basic graduation. The average age of students in MBA programs has fallen to 26. Earlier, the norms were slightly different with candidates desiring to earn a solid and credible work experience of at least 2-3 years and only then apply for good colleges with the GMAT or the CAT scores. Thus, did things go wrong when older students were given admission? The answer is no! Older students have their own maturity levels; their grasping power is more as they have a few years of work experience. That lends them practicality at work making better students for reputed B-schools.

There are many other important guiding factors regulating the debate of whether should there be an age limit for doing an MBA.  For example consultancy positions are out of question for very young MBA graduates thus making older MBA students are fairer choice in the deal. Another very essential factor why age limits should be strict no-no is because institutions must consider human and monetary factors. As known, MBA courses are expensive and hence one cannot deny students who hold the possibility of pursuing MBA later in life after personally having earned the resources to afford one. Some students could have also gotten late for an MBA program due to unforeseen personal reasons.

MBAupdates sees no reason or logic as to why should there be an age limit for students who desire to pursue their MBA. The research done by MBAupdates show only positive impact of the students acquiring such degrees at older ages and has found nothing adverse to advocate age restrictions.

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Does The Easy Availability Of Loans Encourage MBA Aspirants?

11:18 | Labels:

A few decades back, higher education was not an easy option for many, mainly due to the steep financial factor that it carried with it. Thus the willingness to opt for the same was not very high from the students’ or for that matter the parents’ point of view.

With education gaining focus and importance in lieu of the good it does for the growth of the country, the government has started dedicating higher chunks of their planned expenditures and budget outlays for education, higher and technical alike. At the same time, the government has offered students with many tools not only in the form of scholarships, funding merit prices but also the provision of education loans by banks and financial institutions in the country.

Yes, the easy availability of loans has definitely encouraged MBA aspirants. Today, there is no student in the country who does not have the resort of taking an education loan from the bank for his higher education and costly MBA programs. Students do not have to depend on the traditional money-lender or a rich uncle for sponsorship of his/her education program. 
Organized lending for banks at reasonable and student friendly interest rates is doing the rounds making the education of any category accessible to all classes of the population. The paper work is simple, precise, heavily documented and fully transparent and accountable making it exceedingly reassuring. The point to be noted here is one cannot deny that most post graduate programs are more expensive in nature than a simple three year basic degree program in any stream. Thus, getting funds for these could be a tough task. But, that’s not the case anymore. In fact, banks and other financial institutions provide education with a whole lot of option that makes it very simple for the student to just apply for an institution of their choice and commence with it with great zeal. Some loans ask for the payments to begin to only after the course program is over while some ask for nominal interest payments while the course in on. Most the time parents pay the interest monthly and students pay the entire sum back to their parents’ one they start earning. Some good institutions even have their own personal tie-ups with banks that offer funds to the students the moment their names are listed on their admission lists.

Even institutions do not want to miss out on good students these days and therefore they go all the way, even beyond their trustee charity scholarships to offer their new set of students the comforts of a luxurious MBA without monetary issues of any sort. Now, why wouldn’t the easy availability of loans encourage MBA aspirants?

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Test-Taking Skills Important To Crack Any Test

11:30 | Labels: ,


Taking tests before competitive exams is actually a skill; a skill that has to be developed to get the feel of the actual paper and the atmosphere. Test-taking, often known as Mock tests are the best way to gauge which questions to attempt and whether it is the right one. However, the selection and filtering may differ from person to person. Many students tend to take the test very lightly. However, when taken seriously, there is a lot to derive from the same which will make the actual test experience a lot better.

What can one gain from mock tests?

Firstly, they offer you the real atmosphere of the examination hall with students around you. It prepares you for the day when students would be even more conscious and stressed than during a mock test.Secondly, they give a real-look of the paper and repeated mock tests get you so acquainted with the entire idea and feel of test-taking that the actual paper doesn’t scare you when it comes. Thirdly, it helps you filter your strengths and your weakness helping you to decide the areas you should on concentrate more as far as studies are concerned and where to focus as far as questions and their markings are concerned. Fourthly, and the most importantly it helps one know where they stand as compared to the rest. That is the real cause and point of the test. Now as far as the skills of test-taking are concernedMBAupdates would like to give all aspiring students some pointers to gauge their skills.

Check the accuracy. You can do this by calculating the questions answered and marking the ones that have been answered correctly. This helps in knowing the questions you can answer in a set period of time. Always time yourself on the basis of the time you are going to get during your actual paper of MBA.

Always work out the unanswered questions. This not only helps you decipher why you could not get to the right but it also helps in learning it and deciding whether you can solve it. As far as the answered questions are concerned, solve them as well. It will help you revise the logic you have used while solving the mock test. Try and measure what is going wrong and if you are probably not getting answers right due to silly mistakes, or time constraints making your hurry into incorrect answers.

Test taking can also help you to sieve the unanswered questions and probably why they are left unanswered. Is it because you did not understanding the way the question was framed or because you have had conceptual errors in understanding the question? The skill to analyze the tests could lead to beneficial results thus upping your final score to help you score over the rest!

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Cracking the GK section in SNAP

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With the SNAP test around the corner, the preparations for it are in full swing. The General Awareness section in the test is often dreaded by candidates. Having been an examinee of the competitive exam mba, there are few tips that I would like to share with all. The GK section is actually one of the easiest sections to score but the question is how does one do that? There is no one text book that can suffice for this section and definitely no last minute reading that can help you sail through this section. Cracking the GK section with speed to save more time for other more brain cracking questions can be effortlessly done with memory training. The tips you are about to read are memory training tips for the strong willed, the determined and steadfast willing to endure a slow paced constant life to achieve the maximum in the easiest section in competitive exams for mba.

The Real Way to Read the Newspaper
A newspaper is one of the simplest tools to fight this section with ease. However, one should be careful about how to read it. For example, a highly recommended English newspaper is the standard edition of the Times of India (TOI). The first front page, the first two pages of the Nation section, the first page of the International section and the headlines of the sports sections are more than enough to give a thorough read. The rest of pages can be scanned for only top bold headlines. Do make sure to glance through the headlines of the entire newspaper.  Another highly endorsed newspaper is the Economic Times standard edition assists as a good business news surfer. Again, make sure you read the headlines. Make sure to remember latest appointment of heads, changes of heads of institutions and organizations and other major changes of policy changes and documents.

Note the News
News picked up from any medium, be it, major newspapers, radio, business magazines, snippets from libraries that one visits and other smaller mediums should be noted on a notepad or maybe even on your phone for a quick note down. The reason why one should note it down personally is because writing things down always makes it better to remember easily. That’s a trick that was taught in school, but well a tip remains a tip to be used even at later stages in life.

TV Is Not That Big an Idiot Box, Radio can be used too
The television can be used as a real high utility medium to gain the correct type of knowledge. Check with your cable operator for channels like Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha to watch sessions that are extremely valuable. National and regional state channels offer programs targeted at competitive exam students for general knowledge and awareness. From other mainstream channels the debates held on channels like NDTV 24X7, Times Now and CNN-IBN offer insightful sessions that are visually impactful on the mind helping to decipher the real democratic machinery and its latest happenings in India. The All India Radio (AIR) has evening sessions specially aimed for their competitive exam student listeners. Mobile applications of newspapers can be downloaded in case you wish to cover the GK section while travelling.

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