The Indian School of Business (ISB) and the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) are the two biggest brands in the business school education market. Both schools have created a trust which is based on decades of experience in imparting business education. Both the schools offer different management programs and therefore, choosing which business school to go to, ISB or IIM becomes a challenging task.
With many options available at ISB and IIM, choosing which MBA program to pursue can be confusing. The goal to pursue an MBA may differ for individuals. You should first be clear on your goal of pursuing an MBA and then analyze the options available. The main components which you should consider are the eligibility criteria, alignment of your goal with the learning outcome of the program, location, duration, cost, and ROI.
Let’s discuss both the schools in detail which will help you decide which is better for you.
Outline of this article
ISB vs IIM – Location
ISB vs IIM – Flagship programs
ISB
IIM
ISB vs IIM– Placements
One year MBA programs at ISB and IIM
Comparison of one year MBA program at IIM (A, B, C) and ISB
Return On Investment (ROI) of the one year MBA at ISB and IIM
FT Global MBA ranking
Admission criteria
Class size
ISB was established in 2001 by a group of founders as a world-class business school to inspire young minds and professionals who play a vital role in steering the dynamic business world towards economic growth and social transformation. Whereas, IIM was established much earlier in 1961 to meet the demand for highly skilled managers for the public sector by the Ministry of Education, Government of India.
ISB vs IIM – Location
There are two campuses of ISB in India, Hyderabad, and Mohali. ISB follows the “Two campuses, One school” mantra.
IIM started with locations in Calcutta, Ahmedabad, followed by Bangalore, Lucknow, and more. In the late 2000s, more branches were established to meet the rising demand for management professionals. Now IIMs are located in 20 cities in India.
Though IIMs were started decades before ISB was established, the one-year MBA program at IIM was initiated only in 2006 at IIM Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Calcutta, Indore, Lucknow, and Kozhikode. By then the one-year flagship MBA program (PGP) of ISB had already become the best one-year MBA program.
Before discussing the one-year MBA program, let’s compare the flagship programs of ISB and IIM.
ISB vs IIM – Flagship programs
The flagship program of IIMs is the 2-year MBA (PGP) which primarily targets both freshers and experienced individuals. The flagship program of ISB is the one-year MBA (PGP) which targets only working professionals with more than 2 years of work experience.
Though college students and fresh graduates can get an admit to the PGP program at ISB through YLP and EEO, they can join the PGP class only after gaining the required 24 months of full-time work experience.
The flagship programs at both ISB and IIM are full-time residential programs.
Pursuing an MBA is a personal choice and varies for each person. Before choosing which MBA to pursue it is necessary to understand and analyze the pros and cons of the programs. Both the flagship programs have their own pros and cons.
Let’s discuss the pros and cons of ISB and IIM so that you can decide which business school is a better choice for you, ISB or IIM:
ISB
Pros of ISB’s one year MBA
Cons of ISB’s one year MBA
Strong alumni network
High fees
World-class infrastructure
Lower academic immersion due to shorter duration
International recognition
Lack of internship
Global association
Better networking through professional and social clubs
Larger class size, hence more recruiting companies
IIM
Pros of IIM’s two year MBA
Cons of IIM’s two year MBA
Experienced peer group
Less exposure to the latest industry skills due to less experienced peer group
Internships and International immersions
Smaller alumni base
Better peer group networking
Smaller class size, hence fewer recruiting companies
More time to explore a career path
Global association
One major parameter where we can compare ISB and IIM is the year-on-year placement opportunities. Let’s discuss it in detail.
ISB vs IIM– Placements
Business School
Average salary (LPA)
Number of students
Number of recruiting companies
Total number of offers
Average offer per student
ISB
34.07
929
270
2066
2
IIM A
27.54
391
131
374
1
IIM B
26.18
432
120
518
1
IIM C
28.75
444
131
495
1
From the data, we can see that ISB offers better placement than IIM. This is primarily because ISB can invite more recruiting companies than IIM due to the bigger class size and a bigger alumni base.
ISB offers good placement opportunities for a shorter program than IIM. Hence, the recovery period of the amount spent for the program would be a year less when you choose to pursue an MBA at ISB. This is applicable only to working professionals.
This is just a general interpretation. Placement is subjective and depends on the abilities of an individual.
If you are a college student or a fresh graduate aiming to pursue an MBA without any work experience, IIM would be a suitable option. As discussed earlier if you are a college student or fresh graduate aspiring to pursue an MBA at ISB, you can apply through the deferred modes of entry. However, you can join the PGP class only after gaining the required 24 months of work experience.
One year MBA programs at ISB and IIM
The one year MBA at ISB and IIM are
ISB (Hyderabad and Mohali): PGP – Post Graduate Programme
IIM Ahmedabad: PGPX – Post Graduate Programme in Management for Executives
IIM Bangalore: EPGP – Executive Post Graduate Programme in Management
IIM Calcutta: MBAEX – MBA for Executives
First, let’s compare these programs and then interpret the details
Comparison of one year MBA program at IIM (A, B, C) and ISB
ISB PGP
IIMA PGPX
IIMB EPGP
IIMC MBAEx
Type of the program
Full-time residential program
Full-time residential program
Full-time residential program
Full-time residential program
Who is it for?
Professionals with minimum 2 years of full-time work experience
Professionals with minimum 4 years of full-time work experience
Professionals with minimum 5 years of full-time work experience
Professionals with minimum 5 years of full-time work experience
Global FT MBA Ranking 2021
32
48
35
44
Academic qualification
Bachelor’s degree or equivalent
Bachelor’s degree or equivalent
Bachelor’s degree or equivalent
Bachelor’s degree or equivalent
Test required
GMAT/GRE
GMAT/GRE
GMAT/GRE
GMAT
Average GMAT score
713
701
690
685
Average CTC
34.07 lakhs
26.26 lakhs
29.88 lakhs
28.75 lakhs
Program fee
33.14 lakhs
30 lakhs
29 lakhs
27 lakhs
Class size
930
140
75
79
Admission process
-Online application submission (along with essay) -Face to face interview -Final result -Offer acceptance
-Online application submission -Personal interview -Final result -Offer acceptance
-Online application submission -Personal interview -Final result -Offer acceptance
Application deadline
Round 1 – September Round 2 – December Round 3 – January
Round 1 – August Round 2 – October Round 3 – December
Round 1 – August Round 2 – October Round 3 – December
Round 1 – August Round 2 – October Round 3 – January
Let’s dig further by calculating the ROI of the programs at ISB and IIM.
Return On Investment (ROI) of the one year MBA at ISB and IIM
From the above data, we can see that the program fee and average CTC are more or less the same at ISB and IIM. Hence your recovery period will be approximately 2 – 3 years for the money spent for the one-year MBA without a loan and 5 – 6 years for the money paid for the program by taking a loan. This is just an estimation and the recovery time depends on the expense and ability of each individual.
ISB Placements, read this article to know the latest detailed placement report at ISB.
FT Global MBA ranking
Both ISB and IIM rank within the top 50 global MBA schools in the FT ranking. However, ISB ranks better than IIM A, IIM B, and IIM C in the Financial Times (FT) Global MBA ranking.
ISB rankings, check this article to know more about the ISB rankings.
Admission criteria
Getting an admit to the full-time one-year MBA programs at ISB and IIM (A, B, C) depends on the academic credentials, GMAT score, essays, and interview performance. The major difference is in the number of years of working experience. While you can apply to the PGP at ISB if you have a minimum of 2 years of full-time work experience, you can apply to IIM only if you have a minimum of 4 or 5 years of work experience. This infers that both the schools have different audiences and there is no winner here.
Admission can be easy or tough at ISB and IIM, which depends on your profile, leadership quality, communication skills, work experience, goal alignment with learning outcome and contribution to the class.
Class size
The class size of ISB PGP is much larger (around 900) compared to the class size of IIM A’sPGPx (around 140), IIM B’s EPGP (around 80), and IIM C’s MBAEX (around 80). This explains the diversity of the class.
While pursuing an MBA, student networking is one of the top priorities. The wider the network the better are your learning opportunities.
Check this article to understand about the class diversity of ISB, Diversity at ISB.
Networking is also essential after completing an MBA. This is where the alumni network plays its role. ISB has a much stronger alumni network due to its bigger class size.
ISB Alumni Network, check this article to know the strength of ISB alumni network.
As mentioned earlier each person has a different objective to pursue an MBA. Each factor in the comparison of programs varies for each individual. It is better to make a decision based on your goals, learning outcomes, cost, location, and duration of the program.
ISB Application and Interview Services
We at ISBmantra with a team of former ISB admissions officers and 25 + alums can guide you through the application and interview process.
From the data, we can see that ISB offers better placement than IIM. This is primarily because ISB can invite more recruiting companies than IIM due to the bigger class size and a bigger alumni base. ISB offers good placement opportunities for a shorter program than IIM.
i would prefer iim bangalore over ibs business school, bangalore as iim has great placement record, well infratructure, well experienced faculty, lots of internship opportunities . iim has a large number of package has given to its students, minimum package gain students from campus placement is 10lpa.
ISB is largely globally known for its #consulting and product management employment. IIMs on the other hand may have better marketing and #finance-related jobs over and above consulting. So, you ideally should target the school based on the alignment with your goals.
ISB offers its students a unique amalgamation of industry relevant programmes tailored for an Indian context, top-notch global faculty, world-class campuses, and much more.
ISB Hyderabad has concluded its 2022 placement drive. Students received 2072 placement offers which is about 73.4% higher as compared to the previous year. Per student, 2.20 placement offers were received in 2022. 41% of the offers were made to female students.
These colleges are tough to get into. The tier 1 MBA colleges in India have the brand value to jump into the business world effectively. ... Tier 1 MBA Colleges in India.
ISB Hyderabad placements are excellent with high salary packages. The average CTC offered to the 2022 batch was INR 34 LPA. IBS Hyderabad can be a great option if you don't have any work experience. According to the recent placement highlights, the average CTC received by the students of IBS is around INR 7.97 LPA.
It is a Deemed University as per UGC Act and offers top management courses like BBA, MBA, Executive MBA, PhD and PhD in Economics. The institute is ranked 27th for MBA course by NIRF 2021. To know more about IBS-Hyderabad, click on the links below: IBS Hyderabad: Courses and Fees.
Ques) Does ISB accept CAT scores? Ans. ISB doesn't accept CAT scores rather it requires a valid GRE OR GMAT score. For GRE it requires a minimum of 311 score and for GMAT it requires a minimum of 600 score.
The average package for the ISB PGP class of 2023 is Rs 34.21 lakhs per annum which is slightly higher than last year's (class of 2022) average salary of 34.08 lakhs per annum.
Thousands of applications are received by ISB every year and a low acceptance rate makes the ISB PGP admissions highly competitive. ISB selected merely 843 candidates for the ISB PGP class of 2023. ... PGP class of 2022.
The academics at IIM Ahmedabad can be regarded as the most rigorous across b-schools in India. The curriculum is well-structured and IIMA follows a case-based pedagogy that assists the students understand concepts through real-world cases.
Although salary-wise there is an upgrade after doing an MBA from ISB, students only get slightly higher positions in the corporate hierarchy. Candidates who aspire to work in a different industry also find it difficult to do so after a PGP from ISB.
It has been ranked 39th globally and 6th in Asia. ISB is also ranked the first in India and 61 globally for research, reinforcing its vision of being a research-led management institution. This ranking also demonstrates the quality of research output generated by its faculty year on year.
To be eligible for Indian School of Business (ISB) PGP applicant for the Class of 2023, you should have: Bachelor's degree or equivalent in any discipline. Valid GMAT / GRE score. At least 24 months of full-time work experience.
Note that McKinsey does not hire from every business school in India. They selectively hire from ISB and the top IIMs and a few other prestigious business schools.
Also to a lot of people asking: if your academic background is average – can you still make it to ISB? The answer is yes. We have worked with students who have had backlogs in their graduation and were still able to make it to ISB.
Yes, it is definitely possible to get admission in ISB with low academics. All you need to do is prepare well for your GMAT and crack a score of 720+ which will counter your average academics and prove your potential.
The placement percentage recorded during IBS Hyderabad placements 2022 was 99%. Further, IBS Hyderabad average package offered during placements 2022 stood at INR 8.71 LPA. ... IBS Hyderabad Highest Package 2022.
Overall difficulty level of paper in IBSAT 2022 was easy to moderate. There was no limited time for each section, which means candidates were allowed to use total time allotted according to them. There was no marks deducted for wrong answers.
ISB became the 100th Triple Accredited business school in the world (AMBA, EQUIS, AACSB) upon achieving AMBA accreditation on 12 May 2020. ... Rankings.
However, a 700+ GMAT score isn't a must-have for ISB if your application is strong in other areas. According to an ISB spokesperson, candidates were admitted to the 2021 cohort with scores as low as 580, and as high as 780. So the GMAT score range for ISB is 580-780.
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a "disorder of gut-brain interaction" characterized by a group of symptoms that commonly include abdominal pain and or abdominal bloating and changes in the consistency of bowel movements. These symptoms may occur over a long time, sometimes for years.
Placements: Previously around 95% of the students got placed with an average salary package of 8 LPA. So it is very good to be in IBS, you can have real-time experience since they will take you through a summer internship programme in which companies visit the campus and hire you for three months.
GGSIPU will accept CAT 2020 exam score for MBA admission 2021. In case seats remain vacant, IP University will accept CMAT 2021 score. IP University and its affiliated colleges offer a low fee MBA programme with good placements.
Both schools are well recognized in the consulting industry. The decision might sometimes be dependent on geographic mobility. In India and USA, ISB is a recognized as well.
Classification by GMAT score: Number of applicants invited to the interview (ISB class 2022) This data shows the number of applicants, and interview invites for GMAT scores for ISB from 600 to 780. From the above data, we infer that almost everyone with a GMAT score of more than 740 were invited for the interview.
You pretty much need to have a GMAT score above 670 if you are not an outlier. In other words, a 650 will be of no use if your profile is average. Getting a score around 750-760 will put you in the top 20%—not the top 2%.
ISB grads also find meaningful work in retail, FMCG, pharma, biotech, and healthcare. Hiring remained strong in 2021, despite the global disruption caused by coronavirus, with a total of 1,145 offers made to students. ISB MBAs tend to land post-MBA jobs several months before graduation.
What is the highest salary in ISB? The highest-paying job at ISB is a Associate with a salary of ₹5.0 Lakhs per year. The top 10% of employees earn more than ₹15 lakhs per year. The top 1% earn more than a whopping ₹110.35 lakhs per year.
The outbound exchange programme give ISB students an opportunity to spend time in other top B-schools worldwide. This programme helps students broaden their perspectives and form new connections.
A 680 on the GMAT is a very competitive score that will help your admissions chances in many MBA programs. Those who get a 680 on the GMAT are in the 82nd percentile of all test takers, meaning they have outperformed the majority of GMAT takers.
Every year close to 5000 candidates apply for the flagship program at ISB. The admissions committee at ISB has a set admission process for the same. Let me take you through what happens once you submit your application at ISB. The ISB admissions committee consists of around 6-7 people.
It's also around the 90 percentile overall for IIM Kozhikode. This institute awards a 5 per cent gender bonus and a 2 per cent academic bonus. If selected for the Personal Interview, the chances of entering the Institute are high as the PI is weighted by 45 per cent.
Both ISB and IIM rank within the top 50 global MBA schools in the FT ranking. However, ISB ranks better than IIM A, IIM B, and IIM C in the Financial Times (FT) Global MBA ranking. ISB rankings, check this article to know more about the ISB rankings.
Amazon, Bain, BCG, Deloitte, Flipkart, Google, HDFC Bank, LEK Consulting, McKinsey, Microsoft, Oyo Rooms, Reliance Industries, Rivigo, Samsung and Uber reported their largest single-campus hiring from ISB this season.
Admission may be granted to candidates with less than three years work experience if they can demonstrate superior academic credentials and truly outstanding evidence of leadership through professional and personal experiences.
The Indian Business School was founded in 2001, and today ranks as the 100th accredited business school. It has gained a lot of publicity and popularity since its foundation. ISB's flagship one year Post Graduate Programme in Management (PGP) is now competing with India's prestigious IIMs.
1 from India) in the Forbes Best Business Schools 2019 rankings ISB is ranked 44th Globally (No. 1 from India) in the Economist Global MBA rankings Poets and Quants ranks ISB as the 17th best business school (No. 1 from India) outside the US It is ranked 5th in the Asia Pacific region (No.
Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad is one of the top picks when it comes to selecting an ivy-league B-school, given the plethora of B-schools available in the country.
Latest News. The Post Graduate Programme (PGP) from the Indian School of Business (ISB) continues to be ranked #1 in India in the Financial Times (FT) Global MBA Ranking 2023 released today.
Introduction: My name is Nicola Considine CPA, I am a determined, witty, powerful, brainy, open, smiling, proud person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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