What are the Top MBA Colleges in India? This post provides you with the latest information on the Best B-Schools and the last dates to apply for their courses.
For a detailed outline of the various MBA Entrance Exams along with information about their deadlines as well, check out this article! 🙂 It may help you decide which one to write and aim for, and help you keep tabs on important dates as well.
“Where do I apply for the Non-IIM institutes?”
I get this question (or different variants of the same) quite often.
A lot of students mix up the meaning of applying for an exam and applying for a B-School. There is a difference. By applying for certain exams, you are automatically applying for the colleges as well, like CAT for IIMs, IIFT for its namesake, XAT for XLRI etc.
And then, there are many other private institutions which accept CAT/GMAT scores but their applications are quite separate. The application process for these institutes is different from applying for CAT or XAT, for example. They have separate deadlines, fees, programs to apply for and many other things to take care of.
Hence, to make things clearer, this blog article discusses the top MBA colleges in India, without getting into details such as the cut-offs, fees, CTCs etc. You will find a list of colleges and a short note on how one should select colleges to apply to.
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Colleges have been classified into three tiers namely Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3.
The following lists are in alphabetical order and do NOT provide the exact rank.
Top MBA Colleges – Tier 1
These institutes are top of the line and considered to be the best B-Schools in the country. They have been consistently ranked as the top 15 B-Schools of India and are popular among the recruiters in terms of brand value and quality of education. These B-Schools are highly competitive and are very difficult to get into ( don’t let that stop you! 🙂 ) A student needs to be in the top 1% or 2% to be eligible for an admission call. The following list consists of a good mix of Top IIMs and Private B-Schools.
- Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi (FMS)
- Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, New Delhi (IIFT)
- Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM A)
- Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIM B)
- Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta (IIM C)
- Indian Institute of Management, Indore (IIM I)
- Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode (IIM K)
- Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow (IIM L)
- Indian School of Business, Hyderabad (ISB)
- Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies (JBIMS)
- Management Development Institute, Gurgaon (MDI)
- National Institute of Industrial Engineering, Mumbai (NITIE)
- Shailesh J. Mehta School of Management, IIT Bombay (SJMSOM)
- S. P. Jain Institute of Management and Research, Mumbai (SPJIMR)
- Xavier School of Management, Jamshedpur (XLRI)
Top MBA Colleges – Tier 2
Tier 2 institutes are next in line, having established their brand name and consistent placement records. These institutes are in the second chunk (top 15 to 30) in terms of rankings. Some institutes are old and a few are newly established and promising institutes. These B-Schools are still a very good option for anybody looking to do an MBA from an established B-School.
- Department of Management Studies, IISc, Bangalore
- Department of Management Studies, IIT Delhi
- Department of Management Studies IIT Madras
- Indian Institute of Management, Kashipur
- Indian Institute of Management, Raipur
- Indian Institute of Management, Ranchi
- Indian Institute of Management, Rohtak
- Indian Institute of Management, Shillong
- Indian Institute of Management, Trichy
- Indian Institute of Management, Udaipur
- Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai (NMIMS)
- PGDBA – IIM Calcutta, IIT Kharagpur, ISI Kolkata*
- Symbiosis Centre for Management and Human Resource Development, Pune (SCMHRD)
- Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Pune (SIBM)
- Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai (TISS)
- Vinod Gupta School of Management, IIT Kharagpur (VGSOM)
- Xavier Institute of Management (XIMB), Bhubaneswar
Top MBA Colleges – Tier 3
Tier 3 colleges come next, and are a good bunch. These are still great places to learn and build a career. Do make an informed decision before you decide to join. Some of the colleges in this list have a fantastic return on investment.
- Department of Financial Studies (DFS), University of Delhi
- Department of Management Studies, IIT Roorkee
- Delhi School of Economics (DSE), University of Delhi
- Goa Institute Of Management, Goa (GIM)
- Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai (GLIM)
- Indian Institute of Management, Amritsar
- Indian Institute of Management, Bodh Gaya
- Indian Institute of Management, Jammu
- Indian Institute of Management, Nagpur
- Indian Institute of Management, Sambalpur
- Indian Institute of Management, Sirmaur
- Indian Institute of Management, Visakhapatnam
- Industrial and Management Engineering, IIT Kanpur
- International Management Institute, New Delhi (IMI)
- Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad (IMT)
- Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA)
- K. J. Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research, Mumbai (KJSOM)
- Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad (MICA)
- T. A. Pai Management Institute, Manipal (TAPMI)
- Welingkar Institute of Management, Mumbai (We-B)
Top MBA Colleges – Important Deadlines – 2020
| NAME OF THE INSTITUTE | APPLICATION BEGINS ON | LAST DATE FOR APPLYING | SCORES ACCEPTED |
| IIMs (Along with CAT 2020 Application) | Aug 5, 2020 | Sep 23, 2020 (Extended) | CAT |
| XLRI (Along with XAT 2021 Application) | Sep 12, 2020 | Nov 30, 2020 (without late fee) ~ Dec 10, 2020 (with late fee) | XAT |
| IIFT (Along with IIFT 2020 Application) | Nov 6, 2020 | Dec 20, 2020 | IIFT |
| SCMHRD and SIBM (Along with SNAP 2020 Application) | Sep 24, 2020 | Nov 28, 2020 | SNAP |
| SPJIMR | Sep 28, 2020 | Nov 27, 2020 | CAT/GMAT |
| MDI, Gurgaon | Sep 16, 2020 | Nov 27, 2020 | CAT/GMAT |
| IMT, Ghaziabad | Phase 1: Sep 14, 2020 Phase 2: Jan 4, 2021 | Phase 1: Nov 27, 2020 Phase 2: To be announced | CAT/XAT/GMAT |
| FMS, New Delhi | Dec 12, 2020 | Jan 15, 2021 (extended) | CAT |
| NITIE, Mumbai | To Be Announced | To Be Announced | CAT |
| IISc, Bengaluru | ~Feb 1st/2nd week, 2021 | ~March 4th week, 2021 | CAT/GMAT |
| DFS (UoD), NewDelhi | To Be Announced | To Be Announced | CAT |
| IRMA | ~Oct 15, 2020 | Jan 20, 2021 (extended) | CAT/XAT |
| GLIM, Chennai | Sep 9, 2020 | Round 1: Nov 22, 2020 Round 2: Jan 10, 2021 (extended) Round 3: Feb 10, 2021 | CAT/XAT/GMAT/CMAT |
| IMI, Delhi | Sep 11, 2020 | Dec 7, 2020 | CAT/GMAT |
| GIM, Goa | Nov 16, 2020 | Achievers’ Round: Dec 15, 2020 CAT 2020-based applications: Dec 15, 2020 Early Bird: Dec 31, 2020 Last date: Jan 12, 2021 Final closing: Jan 14, 2021 | CAT/XAT/GMAT/CMAT |
| TAPMI | Oct 15, 2020 | Jan 22, 2021 (extended) | CAT/XAT/GMAT |
| Welingkar, Mumbai | To Be Announced | To Be Announced | CAT/XAT/GMAT/CMAT/ATMA |
| TISS, Mumbai | Dec 3, 2020 | Jan 25, 2021 (extended) | TISSNET |
| IITs (CAP) – Delhi/Madras/Roorkee/Dhanbad | ~Jan 2nd Week | Jan 31, 2021 | CAT |
| SJMSOM (IIT-Bombay) | ~Jan 1st Week, 2021 | Jan 31, 2021 | CAT |
| VGSOM (IIT-Kharagpur) | ~Jan 1st Week, 2021 | Jan 31, 2021 | CAT |
| DIME (IIT-Kanpur) | ~Jan 1st Week, 2021 | Jan 31, 2021 | CAT |
| XIM, Bhubaneswar | Jan 10, 2021 | XAT/GMAT/X-GMT (CAT-based applications are closed) |
Bookmark this page to keep track of your application deadlines! We will update it regularly!
Which MBA Colleges should you apply to?
Apply for 5 colleges above and 5 colleges below your calibre. Always spread your risks. Do not restrict yourself to apply to just a few colleges. An MBA would on average set you back by thereabouts of 15 lakhs. It is unwise to restrict yourself from applying to a bunch of colleges due to the application fees involved.
Should you worry about Specialization?
There is no hard and fast specialization in most MBAs. A degree in MBA-Finance is not like a BE Civil engineering degree. A student can specialize in finance and/or marketing or neither, and still get a job in P&G or ICICI.
A rule that you can keep in mind while applying to companies is this – If you are applying to P&G call yourself a marketing guy, if you are applying to Goldman Sachs call yourself a fin guy. So, do not worry about specialization till you join college. You won’t have to worry about this until you start your second year (if you are doing a two-year course).
Keep a tab on the application deadlines. Do not wait till the last day to fill out any application.
You will have to upload certificates and photos, provide details about your interests and hobbies, write SOPs and complete many other formalities. Have everything filed, up-to-date and ready to go!
A Final Note
Given the growing uncertainty among CAT Aspirants about new pattern, it might help to check out this article about handling this uncertainty and alleviating it. 🙂
For a clear and wonderful sectional strategy for CAT, check out this article!
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Stay Safe, Best Wishes for CAT 2020!
Rajesh Balasubramanian takes the CAT every year and is a 4-time CAT 100 percentiler. He likes few things more than teaching Math and insists to this day that he is a better teacher than exam-taker.
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