FACTORS INFLUENCING THE SELECTION OF B-SCHOOLS AMONGST STUDENTS IN INDIA

The Master of Business Administration is one of the most sought after postgraduation courses all over the world. Although its origin dates back to the early 20th century, as a course, MBA has grown leaps and bounds in the last three decades. In India, initially the course was made available primarily by a handful of government and private institutes. However, the wave of globalisation in the 1990s brought about huge corporate investments in India that created a huge demand for capable business managers at the helm of both Indian & global businesses. Today, more than five Lakh candidates appear for the Common Aptitude Test (CAT) and other entrance examinations for many of India's top Business Schools. Months and years of coaching and studying go into the exam preparation at coaching centres, which is an industry in itself. This paper attempts to study the factors that influence students when it comes to deciding which B-School they will be targeting during the exam season. The study uses correlation and regression analysis to find out if the final decision of the student is impacted by the new factors which have come into play in light of the COVID 19 pandemic, along with the conventional factors that are usually considered while selecting an MBA college. It is seen that apart from factors like campus infrastructure, academic quality, financial considerations and social factors, new modern influences like online presence of the college, and most importantly, the infrastructure for online teaching in the times of COVID 19 also showed up.