Top Five MBA Schools in India

College management was good. The administrative processes were seamless in terms of admissions, communications, hostel management, placements and day to day operations. The

XAT 99.8 Percentile Choose because of brand name, small batch size, excellent placements and social life. Feedback from alumus was really good and there were numerous alumni in top industry positions

The course curriculum was very rigorous. The first year of study did not have electives and everyone had to take the basic courses in all the business disciples like Finance, Operations, Marketing, Organizational Behavior, Strategy and technology. The second year was a year of specialization where students choose which stream to go in deep and was mostly electives. Research focus was heavy and each course had a project component (~30%) which has focussed on practical application of the concepts learned.

Yes, XLRI runs a robust internship program. The average stipend is around ~60000 INR. The process is very seamless and all students are placed in 2-3 days. Companies span finance, strategy, marketing, HR and operations. Top Companies are Mckinsey, BCG, Deloitte, HUL, P&G, Mondelez, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, etc.

Excellent placements. Placements are normally over in 3 days. Process has both lateral and final placements. Around 30% of the students get a PPO. Packages are on an average ~16-17 Lakhs INR. Top companies: Mckinsey, BCG, Deloitte, HUL, P&G, Mondelez, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, TSMG, TAS

The biggest sports fest in XLRI used to be XL-IIMC meet which has been a legendary sporting fest. It was replaced by Vallaha which saw participation from IIMC, IIML and XIMB. Apart from this, there are different fests organized by the different committees every year. These are more focussed on Academic streams like finance, operations, marketing and HR. However the biggest of all is called Ensemble which is the cultural cum business fests which sees participation from over 20 different colleges with a footfall of >2000

Like any MBA school, the fees was expensive. The total expenses for the 2010-12 batch came out to be ~14 lakhs for the 2 years (hostel/food included). Fees is normally collected in installments every year and the SBI loan facility syncs with the college fee schedule. While it is expensive, the good placements make up for it and students are normally able to pay off a full loan in 2 years

XLRI has some good scholarships that are available externally. Also students with weaker financial backgrounds can avail some select scholarships. SBI provides a very good loan facilities for all students

The gender ratio in XLRI is very good primarily because of the HR program. Male:Female will stand around 60:40 overall. In terms of diversity preference is given to people from different backgrounds. We had doctors, lawyers, engineers, natural science graduates, humanities graduates all in the same class. Diversity is also visible in the number of India states represented. All major Indian festivals are organized by the students. The institute is also very heavy on business competitions like b-plans, financial trading, etc.

Hostel Life was good in XLRI. In our batch the forst years had double rooms while the second years had single rooms. It is completely residential institute and everyone stays on campus which helps in collaboration. The mess food was surprisingly good with changes everyday. The mess is run by students and menus were decided by a democratic process of voting by students

College seniors are for the most part very helpful. The first year internship program is run by the seniors and a lot of guidance is given to the juniors. the alumni network is very strong in India with annual alumni meets in all the major cities.

Exams structure is very hectic as in every other MBA college. A trimester system is followed and the primary exams are mid term and end term. Apart from these all courses have their surprise tests and presentations (at least 4-5 for every course). Depending on the course exams range from extremely difficult to mild The scoring is done on a grade system basis on a scale of 1 to 8 and any gpa more than 6 is considered good

The admission process was two folded. We had to write the XAT exam. In 2010 XAT consisted of a section in Verbal and another section in Quant/DI. We also had to write a short 250 words essay on a given topic. XAT exams in 2010 was held during December. Post XAT, candidates were invited for the personal interview rounds based on percentile scores. For the Business Management course there was no Group Discussions. The personal interview normally had 3 panel members and we were judged based on previous experiences, motivation to do an MBA and general business awareness. Both the XAT scores and Personal interview scores are combined to come up with the final list of candidates to be offered admission

XLRI being more than 60 years old, had some of the best management faculty in India. The faculty was very tenured and very invested in the development of students. The faculty is involved in a lot of Industry consulting which gives a lot of opportunities to to learn from Industry leaders