XLRI Jamshedpur Review

XLRI Jamshedpur is the oldest B-School in India. It is also one of the best colleges for MBA in the country and the absolute best college for HRM in South Asia. The placements are at par with the old IIMs in the country for both BM and HRM. XLRI has its own entrance exam called XAT, usually held in the first week of January. The results are out by the last week of January, followed by an online asynchronous interview and essays. The slot for GD and PI needs to be booked from February second week to the third week of March. I found about XLRI through the Times of India. Also, XLRI is the alma matter to multiple CEOs and CHROs around the globe.

HRM has always been my interest and I have been following the various CHROs and their work for a while now. XLRI offers a separate course for HRM and there are almost 40 professors in the college from various domains. The teachers are highly qualified and come from the best institutions. The term exams are fairly difficult and the course involves a number of class assignments, projects, case studies and quizzes.

The SIPs see an incoming of companies like BCG, Bain, McKinsey, Mondelez, P&G, HUL, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Uber, Nestle. The highest stipend of 4-5 lakhs and the average is around 2.2 lakhs (for 8 weeks). Both on and off-campus projects are available. Live projects are offered by companies via the placement committee or the E-cell. The professors also offer on-campus projects as their research assistants for exposure and consulting.

The placements in the college are amongst the best in the nation. Our recruiters include consulting giants like BCG, Bain, McKinsey, and Accenture Strategy. FMCGs like P&G, HUL, ColPal, Mondelez are some other recruiters. IT giants like Amazon, Microsoft, Google also recruit from the college. The highest package is around 50-55 LPA, whereas the average is between 23-26 LPA. The college guarantees 100% placement to every student with the lowest of 18 LPA.

The fee of the course is pretty high, but it takes into consideration the level of placements the students get from college. Loans are easily available from various banks at a nominal rate of interest. Various corporate and government scholarships are also available for the students. Students also get ample opportunity to participate in live projects for a good stipend and experience.

XLRI hosts multiple events on campus as well as other locations. The main cultural and sports fest is Ensemble Valhalla, wherein, more than 10 of the best B Schools in the country participate in over 50 competitions. There are also multiple formal and informal committees in the college on various domains of MBA, Sports, Cultural events and data analytics. Each committee hosts its own events throughout the year. Sir Jehangir Ghandy Library is one of the most extensively stocked libraries and has almost every book an MBA student might need. There is also a multitude of premiere subscriptions available to the students like HBR, Economic Times, etc. Each classroom is equipped with high-speed wifi and charging points. The LCs are fully air-conditioned. There are also multiple study rooms available for study. XLRI also has a fully equipped gymnasium, football court and volleyball court. We also have a student body that is elected by the students and acts as a liaison.

Each student gets a single room with a wardrobe, a bed, a table, and a chair. There is segregation, and the boys are not allowed inside the girls' hostel and vice-versa. However, there is no curfew, and the students are allowed to collaborate anywhere else in the college. The food is of medium quality and non-veg is served twice a week. The mess is spacious, and the mess fees for each term around 18,000. Hostel fee is also charged separately. There is a laundry service, and the whole hostel has multiple internet routers for high-speed internet.

The topic was fairly HR-based and we were asked to discuss the pros of cons of the HRM stream vis-a-vis the other MBA streams. There were around 9 people in the panel and we were asked to jot down our points before discussing the topic for 25 minutes. I prepared for GD by collaborating with other students who were shortlisted and meeting each other for formal GDs.