My journey at KJ Somaiya, Mumbai

The registration lasts till the first week of February and starts from November itself. It accepts the scores of CAT, XAT, NMAT, CMAT and GMAT. The process occurs in 2 rounds -one for applicants of CAT, XAT, GMAT, and NMAT and the other for applicants appearing for CMAT. The selection process include-Clearing the accepted exams' cut-offs, registration, GD-PI shortlists-case-based GD round, and at the last PI round. MBA-General Management has a total of 240 seats allotted. The good aspect of the institute is its very accomplished and strong alumni network as the college was established in 1981. Another great aspect is its location-Mumbai. It is surrounded by 'n' number corporate houses and start-ups which offers ample opportunities to students. I preferred this college over my other converts due to its case-based and analytical pedagogy and decent placements.

The course has a total of 6 terms. Every term consists a mid-term and an end-term exam. It comprises core subjects and electives. Post the third term students have their summer internships. 100% of students bag summer placements. The student-faculty ratio is 23:1. The pedagogy is case-based and analytical. The faculty are all research scholars and with industry expertise. I chose general management as I at no inclination toward any particular field, so I found general management to be wise to choose.

100% of students bag summer placements. 140 recruiters participated in the process. The duration of summer internships is around 2 months. The highest stipend offered was 1.23 lakhs per month. The average stipend is around Rs14000 per month. A few of the recruiters to name are- GEP, DCB Bank, ITC, VLCC, etc.

The highest package offered is Rs27.89 lakhs. The average package offered lies around Rs10 to 11 lakhs. 170 recruiters along with 28 new recruiters participated in the final placement process. 99.13% of students got placed as some of them opted out from the placement process. Students are placed in various sectors- Insurance, Financial Services, Consulting, FMCG, FMCD, IT, Banks, Manufacturing and Conglomerates. The key recruiters are Ambuja Cements, Gulf, PwC, food panda, Amazon, Virtusa, Zomato, Canon, HSBC, Asian Paints, Barclays, etc.

The fee is around Rs16.11 Lakhs. However, it is subject to change. Students can easily obtain loans with interest ranging from 7 to 11.5%. The institute has got very great brand visibility so, it is not a hassle to obtain loans from a range of banks. There are merit-based, need-based, special interest-based, subject-based, and merit cum means-based scholarships available for students whose annual family income is less than Rs3 Lakhs and has an overall % of more than 60.

The campus is spread across 50 acres. The classrooms are all occupied with 'state of art infrastructure and wi-fi enabled 24*7. Students have access to libraries, e-books, live statistics, case studies etc. The student committees include Finstreet, Aspire, Sports committee, Gita club, women development cell, Pathfinder, Acumen etc. The events held here are very lively and exciting. To name few-we to have Pangea, Samavesh, Confluence, Stratinova, Spriha, Navikaran etc.

There is no WAT round. There was held a case-based group discussion. Each batch consisted of 10 candidates. The duration of the group discussion was 15 minutes. The topic of my GD was 'Give advice to a friend of yours who want to whistleblow but is threatened by his manager.' Many candidates were of a view to referring to the whistle blow policy of the company, call on the 24*7 call services for whistleblowing, etc. My PI questions revolved around the growth I see in the real estate sector, the opportunities coming out from it, Who is the CEO of Mahindra & Mahindra, What is agrarian distress, What can 4 substitutes for plastic glasses that are disposable post the usage, etc.