PGSEM Interview Shortlists

The PGSEM Admissions office has started intimating the candidates who have been shortlisted for PGSEM 2006 interviews, to be held on 14th and 15th April 2006.

I received one such email, and am waiting for exact details regarding the interview timings. It should also be put up at the IIMB Website in some time.

Is the MBA overrated?

Businessweek has this article titled "Is the MBA overrated?, which
provides a contrarian view to the widely held belief that an MBA makes
or breaks a career in top management.

From the article :

"... For those who do opt for the B-school route in the hope that it
will land them a top job, they shouldn't be surprised to learn that the
degree, whatever its merits, is optional. In fact, the road to
executive success that leads through B-school is, when it comes right
down to it, the road less traveled."

PGSEM Exam update

The PGSEM examination for admissions into the 2.5 year PG Diploma in Software Enterprise Management at IIM, Bangalore was held on March 19th (Sunday). This was for the 2006 batch starting around June 2006. This was just one of the ways of being considered for admission : other examinations whose score can be used include CAT 2005 and GMAT.

There was some interesting information regarding the number of applicants this year. For a total of around 140 seats, around 750 applied through the PGSEM Entrance examination, 140 through their CAT 2005 scores, and 40 through GMAT. Only 70-odd of the 750 PGSEM exam takers were from Chennai.

Official AWA Score : 5.5/87%ile

Got my Official score report online. The Verbal/Quant and Overall scores remain unchanged, and the AWA is 5.5 (87 %ile). Unfortunately, this score report does not provide a breakup of the scores for the 2 essays.

The AWA score is decent, considering the fact that I did not practice a single essay. I enjoyed writing both the essays, though - especially the Argument.