This question can be best answered by someone who has had a taste of both campuses. Fortunately one of my friends was lucky enough to move to IIM Ahmedabad after studying for a year at IIM Kozhikode. He shared his experience and the various things that contrasted in both the B Schools.
Faculty: Being the topmost B School, IIM Ahmedabad does attract some of the best faculties that are experts in their fields. They had too much knowledge and experience to impart making the classes a thrilling experience.
Crowd: While the crowd at almost all the good B Schools attracts only the best, IIM Ahmedabad is famous for its exceptionally good peer groups with only geniuses and masterminds in their respective fields.
Academic rigor: Normally B Schools offer a very hectic life with academic pressure combined with placements and clubs and committee activities. But at IIM Ahmedabad the topmost preference is Academics only. You are required to attend 3 lectures of 75 minutes of case study daily. These case studies are extremely lengthy and on average you are required to read 300 pages every day. Such economic rigor is lacking in the case of IIM Kozhikode.
There are several more minor differences between IIM Kozhikode and IIM Ahmedabad but these 3 are the main things an aspirant needs to consider while choosing one of the two B Schools.
IIM Indore and IIM Kozhikode are very similar to each other in most aspects, including placements.
But the main issue is IIM Indore’s huge batch size. IIM Indore admits almost double the MBA students as compared to IIM Kozhikode. This leads to immense competition among its students, even though Indore has an advantage over Kozhikode in terms of its recruiter numbers and profiles.
Apart from placements, a huge student intake places a lot of burden on the infrastructure and faculty at IIM Indore. The faculty to students ratio is better at IIM Kozhikode. But IIM Indore enjoys great connectivity, which IIM Kozhikode does not.
Both of them are highly prestigious business schools in India, and you shouldn’t just consider placements while choosing between them. Moreover, the market conditions can hugely affect the placements of a college for a certain year. Its impact may differ from one college to another.
According to the IIM Kozhikode placement report 2023, the placement rate was 100%. Around 123 recruiters visited IIM Kozhikode, including 35 new recruiters, to offer jobs to a batch of 556 students. The average package stood at INR 31.02 LPA and the average package for the female students was INR 31.92 LPA. The highest package offered was INR 67.02 LPA.
In 2023, there was a 70% increase in the number of offers in the BFSI domain. Also the number of offers in the General Management domain increased by 136% compared to the previous year.
The domain-wis placement 2023 statistics of IIM Kozhikode are as follows:
Domains | Percentage of Offers | Highest CTC | Average CTC |
---|---|---|---|
Consulting | 33% | INR 40.25 LPA | INR 34.26 LPA |
Finance | 26% | INR 48 LPA | INR 27.97 LPA |
General Management | 14% | INR 49 LPA | INR 29.37 LPA |
IT/ Analytics | 11% | INR 67.02 LPA | INR 33.35 LPA |
Operations | 6% | INR 49 LPA | INR 31.09 LPA |
Sales & Marketing | 10% | INR 34 LPA | INR 28.29 LPA |
Some of the top recruiters who participated in the placement drive are as follows
Domains | Recruiters |
---|---|
Consulting | Accenture Strategy, Bain, BCG, Deloitte, Everest, EY, GEP, Infosys Management Consulting, MXV Consulting, PwC, Redseer, etc. |
Finance | Axis Bank, Citi Bank, Credit Suisse, D.E. Shaw, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase & Co. and Standard Chartered. |
General Management | AB InBev, ABGLP, Amazon, Bajaj Finserv, CK Birla, GEP, Haleon, Reliance, Renew Power, TAS, GMM Pfaudler, and Tata Steel. |
IT/ Analytics | American Express, EXL Analytics, Jio Platforms, Mercedes Benz, Microsoft, Optum, Walmart & ZEE Entertainment, etc. |
Operations | Amazon, Flipkart & Uber. First-time recruiters, GMM Pfaudler and P&G, Genpact, HPCL, Myntra & PFC, etc. |
Sales & Marketing | Asian Paints, BP Castrol, DRL, GE Healthcare, Johnson & Johnson, HUL, ITC, L’Oreal, Marico, PepsiCo, Pidilite, Reckitt, Samsung, and Tech Mahindra. |
IIM Kozhikode has a holistic approach to select candidates for its various management courses. PGPBL at IIM Kozhikode is a new course in the 1 year MBA category, due to this reason it is not as rigid towards the minimum CAT/GRE/GMAT requirement for student selection. But you are expected to put effort into your application at the same time.
This program has a very detailed application. With decent scores and in-depth application you can expect to crack the first stage of the admission process. But the program is attracting positive attention, so you can expect a rigid percentile requirement in the coming years.
I would recommend you apply for PGPBL at IIM Kozhikode and experience the rich selection process first-hand.
My brother completed his PGP from IIM Kozhikode a few years back.
According to him, first year PGP students are randomly allotted single/double/triple occupancy rooms. The allocation varies for boys and girls. Single occupancy rooms share a common washroom on the same floor. They do not have an AC facility, and common washrooms are not provided with geysers.
Double occupancy rooms are provided with attached washrooms. Those rooms have ACs, and their washrooms have geysers. But the AC and geyser facility is available only after paying a monthly rent alongside the other fees. In the second year, there is an option to select either a single or double occupancy room.
The hostel rooms are top class in comparison to other colleges. The balconies open to a scenic, resort like view. The hostel allocation process changes each year, based on the diversity ratio and batch strength.
The qualifying CAT cut-off percentile for IIM Kozhikode admission is:
85 for General
75 for NC-OBC/EWS
65 for SC and 55 ST/PwD candidates
The placement scenario at IIM Kozhikode is excellent. The institute has seen a gradual rise in the figures over the past few years. As per the latest reports, IIM Kozhikode has wrapped up its summer placements for its 2022 batch of PGP programs with 100% internships. A total of 571 offers were made to 546 students by 116 participating recruiters including 39 new recruiters.
Highest CTC- INR 61.5 LPA
Average CTC- INR 29.5 LPA
Median CTC- INR 26.5 LPA
The institute was visited by many reputed firms like Amazon, Tata Sky, Samsung, Reliance, etc. The salaries offered are very high.
To get into IIM Kozhikode, a percentage of atleast 95 is preferable. Being from Kozhikode won’t be of much help.
One major piece of advice to you if you are a fresher is to indulge yourself in extracurricular activities. Get extra certificates through internships or part-time jobs. Paid courses that offer certificates will also be helpful. All this will help you in the GD-Pi process and you're likely to convert your call.
To secure admission to top MBA institutes in India, you should aim for CAT percentiles from 85 onwards. Here's the order of the institutes you should target in descending order - IIM K with 97+ percentile, MDI with 96+, IMT Ghaziabad with 90+, SPJain with 85+, and NITIE with as high as possible sectional-wise.
Even though SPJain is a premier institute, it gives a call from the 85 percentile onward, since they focus on overall values that an individual possesses and want students with more values in them. They have 2 group interviews, so they follow a rejection procedure.
NITIE has a sectional cutoff, so it's advisable to have as high as possible sectional-wise, as many people with an overall CAT percentile in the range of 97-98 were not selected in either of their 2 programs(PGDM and PGDIESM) in 2016.
IIM K also has a sectional cutoff of 90+, so it's important to score well in each section.
It's worth noting that these institutes do not have a sectional cutoff, but it's always advisable to have a 90+ sectional percentile to be on the safer side. Aim for high percentile and sectional scores to improve your chances of securing a seat in these prestigious institutes.
The average package you'll accept is determined by your own efforts. When compared to ABC, the level of competition will be slightly lower throughout.
More importantly, IIM-K is known for its greenery rather than its competitive academics, which is unfortunate but does not imply that people are not intelligent. When compared to IIM- ABC, the level of library facilities is lower.
It's good that you have AMBA accreditation and some other important accreditation for a B-school.
When compared to the top three IIMs, the level of teaching and research would be comparable or slightly lower. Although admission to IIM-K is not easy, your talent is appreciated. There will be numerous opportunities for you to reinvent yourself.
IIM Kozhikode and IIM Lucknow are both highly reputed institutions in the field of management education in India offering top-quality education. However, they seem to have some differences in terms of their focus areas and curriculum.cIM Kozhikode focuses more on research and academics with an upper hand in the areas of finance and economics. IIM Lucknow on the other hand is known for its focus on management education and its strong reputation in the areas of marketing and human resources. My friend was a student of IIM Kozhikode but stayed at IIM Lucknow for a while so he had a picture of both the institutes.
Both institutes have a strong alumni network and good placement records. Ultimately, the choice between the two will depend on the individual's interests and career goals.