Nikhil Khedekar's Review On Great Lakes Institute Of Management, Chennai

I took their exam called Great Lakes Aptitude Test (GREAT). Scores were not shared with anyone only shortlisting was informed. During 2010, the CAT went online for the first time and it had created a state of uncertainty/ unreliability on CAT scores. Hence Great Lakes decided to take their own test.

It was excellent. Courses in marketing focussed on all aspects of marketing, right from basics to market research, psycho graphic analysis using hi-end softwares, negotiation skills, group theory, etc. There was a course called Karma Yoga wherein we were sent to villages surrounding our campus area to educate the poor kids on various things and in general to help them in whichever way we can.

For the 1 year fastrack MBA course that we had during our time, there was not internship as students were taken with a minimum 2 years of corporate experience. Later, a 2-year MBA course was introduced, in that I suppose there would be internship.

Placements are good. There is a mix of companies that came to our campus for recruitements. Most of the years, the placement track record was 100%. Many companies offered opportunities mostly in southern cities like chennai and bangalore. However, a considerate population got opportunities in their hometowns in other cities too. I got an opportunity in Mumbai.

During my times, the fees were 12 lacs for the 1-year fast track MBA program. It was fairly expensive during those days (2010). They had bank tie-ups to facilitate the process. Indian Bank being one of them, however, in my city (Navi Mumbai) where I enquired with their branch before going for that course, they had no idea about such alliance and I opted to go with HDFC independently which smoothened the process.

Gender ratio was good. A nice balance of boys and girls was maintained. Students came from various ethnicities, regions of India. All were of Indian origin, no foreigners during our batch. Sports facilities were good. There was a basketball court, a gym area, TT area, football area, etc. All facilities were top class.

Alumni network is excellent and very helpful. There is a group on facebook only for alumni where in job opportunities & general alumni discussions happen. The current placement director keeps sharing job opportunities with the entire alumni via email. These opportunities are usually forwarded by the alumni in their respective organisations in which they are working.

The schedule was pretty much hectic. Our lectures used to start as early as 8:30 or 9:00 a.m. and would sometimes continue till night 11:00 as well. However, we learnt how to manage our priorities like food/ refreshments/ rest amidst this busy schedule and it made us better managers (in managing time, managing self and managing situations) than what we were before joining Great Lakes.