ICFAI has remained a mystery for many MBA Aspirants. IBS has many branches all over India but IBS Hyderabad consistently gets into the Top Ten or Twenty rankings. I have passed out from the batch of 2005 and without dwelling into lengthy eulogies I will summarise its pros and cons:
Advantage:
One of the best curriculum of Finance in India...yes India. I doubt if even IIM can offer such a detailed curriculum in Finance on such varied topics. The parentage of ICFAI helps I guess....
Good academic and industry interface
Competent faculty from IIMs and other places.
Relatively easier to get into, thereby making it a good B School in the public eye which is accesible at the same time.
Disadvantage:
Heavy intake: They take in 600 to 800 students per batch. This affects quality of placements
Lack of infrastructure: They dont have hostel facility for students though they are coming out with one by the end of this year
So all in all go for ICFAI if you dont get through IIMs or the other premium B Schools. Definitely better than Sydenhams or Wellingkars in terms of quality but again due to heavy intake loose in the quality of placement front. But that doesnt mean our students dont get through top notch organisations...we had McKinsey, JP Morgan, Samsung etc coming for placements with a good package. If you do get into IBS, try to remain in the top 20-25% of the batch to get excellent placement, else be content with a 2.4 p.a. package.
The Crowd: Mostly North Indian with a heavy dose of Punjabis and Haryanvi Jatts. A sizeable component of Bongs and a surprisingly meagre south indian crowd.
Hope this helps you MBA aspirants....I am welcome for more queries in this regard.