Of Facts and Stats

B-schools publish their own recruitment results each year and it can be quite misleading to the reading public who doesn't have access to inside information. How are those Rs. 1.5cr salaries calculated in the first place, who got it, why and how, what about the rest of the class, where are they placed, what is the criteria for placement... Let's sweep these questions under the rug for the time being, B-schools are in competition with one another and are trying to portray a larger than life image to the outside world.

Understand a few things:

• The sky high salaries are subject to tax, are in cities where cost of living is extremely high and have components which aren't guaranteed but subject to individual/group/company performance or market/economy forces outside the control of the employee and, again, may have components which will only be received once, initially.
• Everyone knows basic statistics in b-school but, they seldom draw a simple salary distribution chart, or quote the mean/median/mode of salaries being received in various currencies.
• Importantly, these new employees won't be receiving any more than anyone already there with an equivalent CV. The new employee's pay structure will be commensurate with what the employer has for that particular start or mid-level. Period. He/she isn't God's gift to employer.
• Recruiters approach B-schools not just for the knowledge imparted to the students, but also because schools have, in their rigorous selection and evaluation procedure, already filtered and sorted potential employees for them. For many recruiters, the quality of the selection is more important that of the faculty and courses taught.
  
• Note that the placement process has a some randomness associated with it, after all 300 odd candidates are matched against the same number positions from 100+ companies. Now, consider how many of these new employees actually stick to their 1st employment after 1 yr, 2 yrs... Is job satisfaction positively correlated with starting salary?
• Remember lots of ordinary small/medium enterprises in this country make multiple times for their owners of what these B-school grads start at, the business owners just perform their business quietly.

Having said that, recruitment is an important part of any B-school, but even if it isn't good enough for you or what you are looking for, do still consider attending, some courses are worth the time and money, for basics in accounting, economics and market laws, forces and behavior.