How I Got Into Symbiosis, Pune (SIBM) For MBA in Marketing?

Hello Sunit! Let’s uncover how you got into Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Pune!

Hey! Who are you, what is your background and what are you currently doing?

I am Sunit Koodli, currently studying at SIBM Pune, pursuing my major in marketing and minor is data analytics. Regarding my academic background, I completed my computer science engineering from PES University in Bangalore, from 2018 to 2022. Along with my major in computer science, I also pursued a minor in management. The minor in management was a program offered by PES University alongside my major in computer science. It included four subjects: marketing management, financial management, managerial economics, and organizational behavior. The entire program gave me valuable exposure to the management side of things.

In my 8th semester, I began an internship at a startup called Koach AI, Bangalore. This was an off-campus opportunity, which I took as I realized that I had a stronger passion for management-related roles rather than a purely technical job. My position there was in the Founder’s Office, where I worked for a year, split into six months of internship and six months of full-time work. During this time, I reported directly to the founders and helped them primarily with sales for this B2B company. In addition to sales, I handled the company’s marketing efforts, primarily digital marketing strategies. 

During my college years, I took on leadership roles that helped me develop strong leadership skills. I was the head of the TEDxPESU Club, where we organized TED-like events, and I also served as the Vice President of Rotaract Prestige Falcon City, a community where around 10,000 residents live. In that role, I oversaw 18 community-based events that benefited either the members of Rotaract or the larger community. 

How did you decide that you wanted to pursue an MBA in India?

The idea of pursuing an MBA came to me during my third year of engineering, around 2021, during the COVID period. I realized that computer science was not something I was passionate about. While exploring my options, I interned at a company called SIMBUS, doing a digital marketing internship for about six months. I found marketing particularly intriguing. Beyond the course curriculum, I felt a need to dig deeper. I started researching case studies of companies, analyzing their marketing strategies, what worked, and what didn’t. 

Now, regarding why I chose to pursue my master’s in India, I did explore options abroad as well. However, I personally felt India was where I wanted to stay. One reason was that, over the next two decades, India seemed like a country with immense growth potential. I had heard from friends that it was becoming increasingly difficult to secure jobs outside of India, and the living conditions abroad didn’t seem as convenient or comfortable. Additionally, staying close to family and friends was important to me.

Furthermore, India has many excellent MBA colleges. These schools offer strong curricula, experienced faculty, vast alumni networks, and excellent placement opportunities. I didn’t find similar benefits in the international schools I looked into

How did you start your application preparation; can you throw some light on profile building, CAT and other exams?

The application process for an MBA in India is relatively straightforward. There are a few key exams tied to certain top colleges. I started by looking at the NIRF rankings. From there, I focused on the top 15 MBA schools, which consistently appeared across various ranking lists and were also well-known to me. These included the top six IIMs—Bangalore, Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Calcutta, Kozhikode, and Indore—along with FMS, XLRI, SP Jain, SIBM, and NMIMS. In addition to the rankings, I spoke with grad students of these top B-schools.

For the exams, I registered for four major ones. The first was NMAT, which is required for NMIMS in Mumbai. You can take the NMAT three times in a year, but for flagship MBA in NMIMS Mumbai, only the first score is considered. After that, I took the CAT, which opens doors to the IIMs, MDI Gurgaon, SP Jain, and IIFT (which now accepts CAT scores instead of having a separate exam). I then wrote the SNAP exam for SIBM, which allows for three attempts in a year, and I took it twice. Finally, I gave the XAT for XLRI. These four exams were my gateways to the schools I was interested in.

After taking the exams, the selection criteria vary by college. For instance, with NMAT, you first need to clear the sectional cut-offs in verbal, logical reasoning, and data interpretation, along with an overall cut-off score. Once you clear those, you get a call for the interview process at NMIMS, which includes a written assessment test (WAT) and a personal interview (PI). These three components—the NMAT score, WAT, and PI—determine your selection.

Most B-schools also assign points for factors like gender diversity. Academic performance in 10th and 12th grade also comes into play, but these are not the primary factors for getting an interview call. For general engineer males (GEMs), the cut-offs are typically higher, especially for the top IIMs. For example, IIM A, B, and C might require a 99.6+ percentile overall for GEMs, while the cut-offs are lower for candidates from other backgrounds or categories like arts, commerce, SC/ST, or OBC.

Each college weighs different factors differently. For instance, IIMs give a significant weightage to work experience, while SIBM doesn’t factor in academics or work experience at all—50% of the weightage there is for the SNAP score, and the remaining 50% is split between the group discussion and personal interview. 

What colleges did you apply for and what was the result?

So, the first exam I wrote was NMAT, and I cleared the shortlist. My NMAT score was 243 (the cutoff was 232). I went to NMIMS Mumbai, where I had a written assessment round. I was given a topic and had to write an essay within a set period. After that, there was a personal interview on the same day, which lasted around 20-30 minutes. In about two weeks, I received the result and got admitted to NMIMS Mumbai for its flagship MBA program. I kept this offer on hold since it was the first response I received.

Next, I took the CAT exam, scoring 97.3 percentile. From this, I got calls from MDI Gurgaon and the Baby IIMs. I chose not to sit for the Baby IIM interviews because I felt they weren’t something I would pursue even if I got selected. I sat for the MDI Gurgaon interview, but it didn’t go as well as I had hoped, and I wasn’t selected.

I had also taken the IIFT exam, cleared the cutoff, and got an interview. Unfortunately, this interview also didn’t go as planned, and I didn’t receive a callback.

For SNAP, I scored 99.5 percentile. After the SNAP results, I got a call from SIBM Pune, where I went through a group discussion, and it went well. I had a personal interview that lasted about 10 minutes, and it also went smoothly. On the same day that I had to decide whether to accept NMIMS, I received the offer from SIBM Pune. These were the two calls I had when I made my final decision.

I had also received a call from XLRI Jamshedpur with a 99.2 percentile in XAT, and I cleared all the sectionals. My interview went well, but I didn’t make it to the merit list, only the waitlist, which unfortunately didn’t clear.

Can you tell us more about the course and what the learning outcomes are?

My course started in June 2023 at SIBM Pune, where I’m majoring in marketing. However, in the first year, most of the subjects are general management subjects that are common to all students pursuing an MBA. The second year offers the option to choose a minor, and I selected Data and Analytics. In the second year, you get into more specialization-specific subjects while still having some general MBA subjects.

Some of the courses I’ve taken include financial management, macro and microeconomics, organizational behavior, operations management and sales & channel management. We also had some technical subjects, like R programming, and mathematical courses like business statistics.

My favorite subjects were marketing management and R programming. I enjoyed R programming because it wasn’t about complex data structures or technical coding concepts. It was more about solving business problems. Marketing management was also involved real-life business cases. One case that stands out to me is why the Tata Nano failed. It wasn’t just a product failure but also a marketing failure. The Nano was marketed as an economical car, but in India, cars are seen as status symbols. People didn’t want to buy the Nano because they felt it would make them appear as though they didn’t have money. The marketing message, rather than the product itself, contributed to its failure. We also studied how brands like Maggi marketed themselves and became household names.

What is the cost of tuition and cost of living?

The cost of tuition for my MBA from 2023 to 2025 was ₹24 lakhs. The cost of living included hostel stay, which was ₹1 lakh for two years, and mess fees, which was also ₹1 lakh for two years. So, in total, it came to ₹26 lakhs for two years. That was one of the reasons why doing an MBA in India made a lot of financial sense for me.

What does the future after master’s look like?

I’ll talk about the internship scenario, at least in India, and more specifically for SIBM, where I did my MBA. SIBM is well-known for its marketing program, both in the industry and the academic space. When it comes to internships, most of the companies that come to SIBM are in the FMCG sector, such as HUL and Marico. These top-tier companies offer good internships, especially in marketing.

On average, the stipend for internships is around ₹3 lakhs for two months. Once you’re placed in your summer internship, you spend two months as an intern at the company, going through various stages. However, if you’re doing an MBA in marketing, it’s not necessary that you’ll get a marketing or branding internship or even a full-time offer in that field. In most cases, you’ll start with a sales-based internship and later a sales-based full-time role. This provides on-ground experience in understanding how distribution works from the warehouse to the retailer and how customers interact with the product.

As for roles and salaries, it varies by company and sector. In FMCG, for example, I got placed at Marico. Generally the average pay for full-time roles is around ₹26 lakhs. These are the statistics for SIBM for this and the past year.

In terms of how the MBA will help me in the next five years, the most immediate impact is on my salary—it increased by five times compared to what I was earning before my MBA. The second benefit is the opportunity to make career switches. Thanks to the network of alumni and batchmates in good companies and roles, I’ll have a stronger chance of making a switch when I want to.

Any final words of advice for anyone who aspires to be where you currently are?

If you’re planning to do an MBA in India, I would say start preparing for the CAT. Formal coaching centers like TIME really helped me stay disciplined. CAT isn’t a hard exam per se, but it requires a lot of practice, especially in mastering which questions to pick and how to manage your time. So, stay consistent with your preparation, and identify your strengths and weaknesses as quickly as possible.

Once you’ve cracked the entrance exams, don’t overthink which college to select right away. Go through the application processes for all the good colleges you’re aiming for. Once you’ve been shortlisted, that’s when you can evaluate factors like the companies that recruit from those colleges, the pay packages they offer, and other details important to you when making your final decision.

For those worried about their academic background or past performance, don’t stress too much about it. Irrespective of how you’ve done before, focus on doing well in your exams because those are the things within your control right now. 

Throughout the process what were some helpful resources, tools and books you used?

TIME Coaching

I decided to take the CAT in 2022, and my MBA started in June 2023. In December 2021, I made up my mind to begin serious preparation. I explored various coaching centers to keep myself disciplined, and I eventually joined TIME in Jayanagar, Bangalore. They had a scholarship test for CAT preparation, and I got a 40% scholarship. The coaching fees were around 25-30k INR. I started coaching in January 2022, and the CAT exam was in November 2022.

TIME’s coaching not only prepared me for CAT but also for other MBA entrance exams, as the syllabus overlaps significantly. TIME also provided mock tests, which were crucial for preparation. They offered detailed feedback on each question, including how much time I took and the right approach, which helped me understand my standing among other aspirants. This holistic approach really benefited me.

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