IIM OBC list creates confusion galore

Bangalore / Ahmedabad

Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Bangalore, on behalf of all the six IIMs, has sent a letter to Human Resources Minister Mr. Arjun Singh suggesting three dates when they coould announce their first list of selected candidates without the OBC quota.

"We are ready to release the first list. In case the government recommends inclusion of the OBC quota, it can be done in the subsequent lists. We have to release the first list at the earliest to ensure that the academic session is not disturbed," IIM Bangalore Director Prakash Apte said.

"We have submitted three dates, and April 21 is one of them. We have given the government enough time to respond," he added.

An IIM spokesperson said that the IIMS may be forced to release the list this year without the quota list if a decision was not made by the government or was not possible for the government to make a decision in time.

The government had asked all the centrally-governed elite institutes such as IIMs and IITs to implement the 27% OBC quota. The IIMs had decided to do so in a phased manner starting this academic session. However, last week the Supreme Court put a stay on the law implementing the quota on the ground that the government had no clear data on who comprise OBCs.

If the IIMs release the first list on the suggested date without the OBC quota candidates, about 1,350 candidates would get a call from the 6 IIMs, put together. A number of students will soon face another tricky question – the other b-schools they may have applied to will soon release their results and they may be forced to pay the fee there.

Preparing for CAT 2007: Reading Comprehension section

I have always found the Reading Comprehension (RC) section the most intriguing of the various sections in the CAT and other MBA Entrance Test. Now, here are a number of questions, where the answers lie right in front of your eyes. Yet, the RC section troubles those preparing for CAT like nothing else.

If there is one area of the CAT, for which the faculty, students and other experts (not excluding the idiots at the various top coaching institutes) have devised the maximum number of tips and strategies, it’s this R.C. section. 30 CATs have gone by, and CAT 2007 is just a few months away. Another new CAT, yet the same old question still lingers in every student’s mind – What’s the best strategy for the Reading Comprehension section?

I think the answer to this conundrum lies in the fact that it’s still an unsolved mystery – if after so many years, there is still no well-defined answer to this question, then chances are there is no well-defined answer. Just because the experts are supposed to give you an answer, they do.

Then, what should a CAT writer do in the Reading Comprehension section? My suggestion is – don’t listen to anyone, or if you do, don’t agree to anyone. Hear them all out, if you must – but find your own answers through your own experiments.

If there are 5 passsages with 5 questions each, try all these RC strategies and see what works for you.
·

- Do them as quickly as possible, and try and answer as many questions as possible. Objective of RC Strategy No.1: Maximize attempts.

- Do the passages as quickly as possible, and answer the questions which you are sure of /easies ones. Objective of RC Strategy No.2: Maximize passage and question scanning but filtered attempts.

- Scan passages and do the 2 or 3 that you like. Objective of RC Strategy No.3: Filtered attempts

So, while RC Strategy 1 will work towards attaining maximum attempts, it’s assumed that your accuracy levels will be lower. But since there are more marks for a correct answer than negative for an incorrect answer, if you can beat the odds sufficiently, this will work in your favour.

(Attempting 24 and getting 12 wrong leaves you with a net score of 44. on the contrary if you are choosy and do only 14 questions, and get 10 right you score 39)

Similar calculations can yield similarly better answers for each strategy. What will work best for you can be decided by only one person – you. But you will need to make an effort, after all getting it right means making it to the IIMs, so I guess it sense to put in that bit of work.

B-School Ranks: Top US Business Schools

United States B-School Rankings : Top Schools for your MBA

Rank 1: Wharton, University of Pennsylvania
( Rank 1 in Financial Times B-School Rankings and Rank 2 in Business Week Top MBA Schools 2007)
Wharton, founded in 1881, besides being the best place to do your MBA in the US is also the best in the world। This school places emphasis on solid grounding in the basis principles of management and as such the first years’s curriculum provides an intensive foundation in general management skills. Students can choose from a variety of dual and joint degree programmes.

Average GMAT Score = 713
GMAT score range = 660 - 760
No. of full-time MBA enrollments: 800
Percentage of female students = 36%
Percentage of Asian students = 22%
Average age of student = 28 years
Average work-experience = 5.8 years
Application Fee = 215 $ (Credit card only)

Rank 2: The Stanford Graduate School of Business
Stanford Graduate School of Business offers an MBA Program that is a two-year, full-time residential program, focusing on the academic facets of general business management, a Ph. D Program and the Stanford Sloan Program, a ten-month general management program for mid-career executives, leading to a master of science in management.

Average GMAT Score = 711
GMAT score range = 530-800
(GRE score may be accepted in lieu of GMAT score)
No. of full-time MBA enrollments: 749
Percentage of female students = 32%
Percentage of Asian students = 11%
Average age of student = 28 years
Average work-experience = 4 years
Application Fee = 245$ (Credit card preferable though you may pay through checks and money orders in US currency)

Rank 3. Harvard Business School
This home of the “case-study” method of teaching offers a two-year, full-time program that starts in the fall with the summer off between the first and second year. Harvard also offers a number of short-term courses for working executives.

Average GMAT Score = 707
GMAT score range = 600-800 ( TG Guessestimate)
No. of full-time MBA enrollments: 907
Percentage of female students = 35%
Percentage of Asian students = 10-14%
Average age of student = 27 years
Application Fee = 237 $ ( by credit card only)
Average Work Experience = 4 years 6 months
( No minimum work-experience criteria)

Rank 4. MIT Sloan School of Management
Sloan offers a Full Time MBA and Executive Programs. Sloan offers a Doctoral Program leading to PhD in management and an

Undergraduate Program leading to a Bachelor of Science degree in Management.

Average GMAT Score = 702
GMAT score range (middle 80% range) : 640 - 760
No. of full-time MBA enrollments: 328
Percentage of female students = 31%
Percentage of Asian students = 23%
Average age of student = 27.9 years
Average Work-experience = 5 years
Application Fee = 230$ (payable by credit card only)

Rank 5. Kellogg School of Management
Kellogg School of Management offers full-time, part-time, executive and international executive MBA programs. Kellogg is organized into six academic departments and each area offers individual Doctoral Programs

Average GMAT Score = 703
GMAT score range (74% of students) = 650-740
No. of full-time 2 yr MBA enrollments: 506
Percentage of female students = 38%
Percentage of Asian students = 28%
Average age of student = 32%
Average Work experience = 5.2 years
Application Fee = $ 225

Other Top Business Schools in the United States:

- GSB, University of Chicago
(Rank 1 in Business Week Top MBA School Rating)

- University of Columbia
(Rank 2 in Financial Times Top B-Schools 2007)

- Dartmouth College, Tuck

- New York University – Stern

- Yale School of Management
(FT B-School Rank 2007: 10)

Disclaimer:
Unless mentioned, the data given is for the full-time MBA program in each college. Wherever possible, we have tried to use the official websites and the prospectus as the source for the information, else we have employed other credible sources. However, we suggest that before taking a decision, you cross-check this information with at least one more source. Most of the data given above is dynamic and may change within a given range over a period of time.

The Tent People of INSEAD

A humorous documentary about two students at a top 10 business school who lived in tents with no electricity while pursuing their MBA, contrasted sharply with the housing situations of other students.

Oxford MBA Michaelmas Term 2006

Planning to do an MBA from Oxford? You may like watching this video then - it captures moments from a student's term at this prestigious college in the United Kingdom

B-School Ranking: UK Top 5

Rank 1: Oxford - Said Business School








Rank 2: London School of Economics

Rank 3: Warwick Business School

Rank 4: University of Cambridge - Judge Business School

Rank 5: University of Bath - School of Management