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 blogged about it here. The strange bit is Nilesh is doing this not because he himself lost any money but because he feels justice must be done.

We at JAM too share in Nilesh's concern for the student community and hence teamed up with him to bring out a detailed and exhaustive story of the many students who have faced this 'non-refund' problem. It's a problem that prevails at a multitude of institutes.

JAM has a 2 page feature on 'Ethics of MBA Admission' in its Dec 15 issue which hits stands shortly.

You can also access the article here. Feel free to share your own views and experiences in the comments section.

There will be more updates on this and other admission related issues, in days to come.