Thursday, November 4, 2010
Ethics of MBA Admissions
A decade ago life for a B school aspirant was relatively simple. You gave the CAT, CET and XL entrance - then hoped to get in somewhere.
Now, the sheer multitude of entrance exams, procedures, interviews, GDs - simply boggles the mind. Add to that admission deadlines and the ensuing decision dilemmas that candidates face. Because B schools can't follow student-friendly policies.
Some announce their admissions as early as February, others in April. Students who pay up at B schools which close their admissions early end up losing anything from Rs 50,000-100,000 even though they withdraw their applications a full two months before the start of the academic session.
The vacated seats are invariably filled up by wait-listed candidates.
Nilesh Gupta, an FPM student at IIM A decided to take up the matter and knocked the legal doors. The strange bit is Nilesh is doing this not because he himself lost any money but because he feels justice must be done.
Many students have faced this 'non-refund' problem. It's a problem that prevails at a multitude of institutes.
This sort of discrepancy is prevailing in the refunds process, but I was really amazed at the amount they deduct. It is painful that these highly reputed and respected institutes can stoop so low. Deducting a part of an aspirants fees is ok, but returning a bare minimum really pains. They should be allowed to deduct the amount that is spent in the counsellings and selection of a candidate. Even the government should step in this matter and if possible bring a legislation regarding this anomaly.
The plight of aspirants is miserable who had to part with a major chunk of their moolah. It is in students interest that such issues should be highlighted so that institutes do not rob the students of their money.
Most of the policies which the top B-Schools in India follow are a replica of IIM's only.
Seems it is a serious case of Selective Understanding . Its absolutely not justifying that a person who is in want of "better things" in life deprives many people of a place which they deserve.
Expecting any changes won't happen all of a sudden, but at least there will be no false "We-are-a-non-profit-concern.." hogwash any more. This is not the only thing that's not correct in this system. I can telll you that even the admission process of several top B-Schools is at best questionable and at worst highly biased.
Its a pity that any system which becomes popular finds it impossible to stay pure and the top ones are guilty of fleecing poor students, what with their 1000Rs plus forms. Add to that TBL costs of exams. And they talk of providing scholarships to meritorious students. But that can happen only if one is lucky enough to get in one of them after spending at least 10000 bucks (conservative estimates!). How does a lower middle class afford that!!... Would have been more apt had that the Education Ministry raised the entrance fee & refund issues than the semester fees at IIMs.
If we take on an average of 1000 bucks for a form with even 10000 applications it works out to be Rs.100,00,000. Its 1 crore !!!! No college would need 1 crore for just printing of prospectus and forms. The cost of conducting the examinations can easily be borne by this mullah that they have collected with the applications.
These are the institutes that teach the students about leadership and ethics. They themselves have to lead by example by not fleecing the students' of their parents' hard earned money.
At the end of the day, these are educational institutions. If they feel that they don't want mayhems because of students withdrawing, then why do certain institutes have walk-in wait lists who get admitted if some students don't show up without intimation on the starting day of the session. There are ways and means of controlling a situation but robbing students of the money, that they havent even earned yet, is surely not one of them.
The admission procedures DO cost the colleges, money wise and of course student wise.. as they sometimes end up losing some brighter students.. who eventually opt for a better college when an option opens up.. so if they have no such regulation in place, a student would go mad hopping from college to college and hence disrupting the whole admission procedures.. The student is not unjustified when he / she does so, but there should be a regulation to the fickle minded state that the students are in when going through the admission procedures..
Bottomline: At the end of the day, its the students who pay for being managed and not the Management !!!!
Now, the sheer multitude of entrance exams, procedures, interviews, GDs - simply boggles the mind. Add to that admission deadlines and the ensuing decision dilemmas that candidates face. Because B schools can't follow student-friendly policies.
Some announce their admissions as early as February, others in April. Students who pay up at B schools which close their admissions early end up losing anything from Rs 50,000-100,000 even though they withdraw their applications a full two months before the start of the academic session.
The vacated seats are invariably filled up by wait-listed candidates.
Nilesh Gupta, an FPM student at IIM A decided to take up the matter and knocked the legal doors. The strange bit is Nilesh is doing this not because he himself lost any money but because he feels justice must be done.
Many students have faced this 'non-refund' problem. It's a problem that prevails at a multitude of institutes.
This sort of discrepancy is prevailing in the refunds process, but I was really amazed at the amount they deduct. It is painful that these highly reputed and respected institutes can stoop so low. Deducting a part of an aspirants fees is ok, but returning a bare minimum really pains. They should be allowed to deduct the amount that is spent in the counsellings and selection of a candidate. Even the government should step in this matter and if possible bring a legislation regarding this anomaly.
The plight of aspirants is miserable who had to part with a major chunk of their moolah. It is in students interest that such issues should be highlighted so that institutes do not rob the students of their money.
Most of the policies which the top B-Schools in India follow are a replica of IIM's only.
Seems it is a serious case of Selective Understanding . Its absolutely not justifying that a person who is in want of "better things" in life deprives many people of a place which they deserve.
Expecting any changes won't happen all of a sudden, but at least there will be no false "We-are-a-non-profit-concern.." hogwash any more. This is not the only thing that's not correct in this system. I can telll you that even the admission process of several top B-Schools is at best questionable and at worst highly biased.
Its a pity that any system which becomes popular finds it impossible to stay pure and the top ones are guilty of fleecing poor students, what with their 1000Rs plus forms. Add to that TBL costs of exams. And they talk of providing scholarships to meritorious students. But that can happen only if one is lucky enough to get in one of them after spending at least 10000 bucks (conservative estimates!). How does a lower middle class afford that!!... Would have been more apt had that the Education Ministry raised the entrance fee & refund issues than the semester fees at IIMs.
If we take on an average of 1000 bucks for a form with even 10000 applications it works out to be Rs.100,00,000. Its 1 crore !!!! No college would need 1 crore for just printing of prospectus and forms. The cost of conducting the examinations can easily be borne by this mullah that they have collected with the applications.
These are the institutes that teach the students about leadership and ethics. They themselves have to lead by example by not fleecing the students' of their parents' hard earned money.
At the end of the day, these are educational institutions. If they feel that they don't want mayhems because of students withdrawing, then why do certain institutes have walk-in wait lists who get admitted if some students don't show up without intimation on the starting day of the session. There are ways and means of controlling a situation but robbing students of the money, that they havent even earned yet, is surely not one of them.
The admission procedures DO cost the colleges, money wise and of course student wise.. as they sometimes end up losing some brighter students.. who eventually opt for a better college when an option opens up.. so if they have no such regulation in place, a student would go mad hopping from college to college and hence disrupting the whole admission procedures.. The student is not unjustified when he / she does so, but there should be a regulation to the fickle minded state that the students are in when going through the admission procedures..
Bottomline: At the end of the day, its the students who pay for being managed and not the Management !!!!
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