About the Author

An alumnus of IIM-Lucknow, Tony Xavier is a self-confessed standardised-test junkie whose life revolves around the CAT, which he has now taken more than 10 times since first encountering it in the year 2000, the GMAT (750/800 ) and the GRE (333/340 ). He has been working with IMS since 2006. From 2006-’12 he was part of the IMS Academics Dept., designing & developing content across tests; he headed the Dept. in the 2010-12 period before moving to Chennai as the IMS Business Partner for the city. His love-affair with these tests (obviously requited) have also given birth, apart from this blog to — The GMAT Blogger & CATholics

S.P.Jain (SPJIMR in full or SP as it is usually referred to) is one of the most underrated business schools in the country. One of highlights of the S.P.Jain admissions process is that applicants have to choose their specialization at the time of application. While this might be tough for freshers who do not have enough information and self-awareness to choose a specialization, it is a boon for applicants with work experience.

Specialization Matters
The biggest advantage of such a process is during placements. The placements team will ensure that for each specialization there are enough recruiters coming on board during the placements. For example, for a person with 3-4 years of work experience in the operations sector, S.P.Jain will be a much better option than may be even the IIMs since there will be recruiters coming down specifically to hire people with such a profile. At an IIM the placements committee does not have the responsibility to specifically find 60 niche operations jobs.

The college also enjoys having a huge locational-advantage with Mumbai being the the financial capital of the country as a well as the city where the most sought after Marketing recruiters such as HUL are head-quartered.

Profile-based Calls & Score-Based Calls
S.P.Jain also has two different routes through which it gives out calls after you fill in the application form, the deadline for the same is 7-December.

Profile-based Call: The first is an interview call based purely on your profile — your profile should be in line with the specialization you apply for and what recruiters hiring for that specialization look for. This shortlist is out even without a test score. Once the CAT/XAT/GMAT results are out you need to meet the criteria given in the table below

Score-based Call: This shortlist is released after the CAT scores are out and based purely on your CAT scores.

This goes on to show that if you get a profile-based call, you will need a lower percentile to get an interview call than if you get a score-based call.

To read the complete blog click here.