I wondered the need for a Group Discussion in any admission process. First of all, in most cases it is a complete rat race with lower strata not getting a chance to speak, and upper quartile speaking for 90% of the time. How much weightage is really given to a GD(if not an elimination round) is also subject to critique. I was talking with a Alumni in one of reunion dinners where he told me that he was so introvertive at the time of IIM-A admissions that he didn't speak in the GD, but was still selected!!
Most of the people today may still not know that IIMA has no GD in its admission process. This may surprise many. How can an MBA admission be made without a GD ?? And that too for IIMA!!
Two year back, IIMA had shifter from GD to Essay. The candidates are given a topic and have to write around 20-25 lines(limited space) in 20 minutes of time. This year IIMB has also declared that it will be following such a policy. When I talked to some of the Profs here in the Communication Department I found that they had been really pissed-off with what had been happening in the GDs in the past few years. "You will not be facing such a situation in corporations or academia where you have to fight to speak. And that too without adding any value to the discussion.", said a senior Prof. "The whole rationale behind scrapping GD is that it helps people who take help of coaching institutes and the skills developed in the process actually kills thinking process of the individual."
The admission process at IIMA is radically different from IIMB. The former follows elimination method while the latter uses selection method. The result being that while for A you can be sure that you can not make it if you are not competent enough, for B you can be sure of not missing out if you are competent. Which one is better, I still don't know. But, yes, at least they have found some commonalities in their respective perspectives.
Most of the people today may still not know that IIMA has no GD in its admission process. This may surprise many. How can an MBA admission be made without a GD ?? And that too for IIMA!!
Two year back, IIMA had shifter from GD to Essay. The candidates are given a topic and have to write around 20-25 lines(limited space) in 20 minutes of time. This year IIMB has also declared that it will be following such a policy. When I talked to some of the Profs here in the Communication Department I found that they had been really pissed-off with what had been happening in the GDs in the past few years. "You will not be facing such a situation in corporations or academia where you have to fight to speak. And that too without adding any value to the discussion.", said a senior Prof. "The whole rationale behind scrapping GD is that it helps people who take help of coaching institutes and the skills developed in the process actually kills thinking process of the individual."
The admission process at IIMA is radically different from IIMB. The former follows elimination method while the latter uses selection method. The result being that while for A you can be sure that you can not make it if you are not competent enough, for B you can be sure of not missing out if you are competent. Which one is better, I still don't know. But, yes, at least they have found some commonalities in their respective perspectives.