CAT or cannot do

An ordinary Joe samples two coaching centres and is unimpressed.

For an hour I was your ordinary Joe: a simple science graduate who ostensibly had worked at various BPOs for almost four years, realised his career was going nowhere so decided to bell the CAT (Common Admission Test). This was my "cover" story for this column.

A trawl through Google led me to Career Launcher, one of the umpteen firms that offer courses to crack the CAT entrance test which is the gateway to the IIMs. A clutch of "inspiring" posters greet me at the centre, all backed by big, bold pictures of happy and successful students. The catch phrase here is "inspiring leadership". A counsellor identifies herself and once the introductions are done, asks me when I want to attempt CAT. I give myself a generous target of 2009, but she tells me 2008 is "very possible" if I start immediately.

The options that I have are a two-year programme or an eight-month one or a three-month crash course. I do the math and find that I still come up short for the eight-month programme for the exam in November. But I am assured that I will find a batch to fit myself into and can choose my timings. I ask about the faculty and I am told they are all serving faculty from the "best" colleges. And finally the price: Rs 30,000 for the two-year course, Rs 25,000 for the eight-month one, and the structure for the crash course hasn't yet been decided.

Crucially there is not a single piece of paper that displays the fees for the courses: it's all verbal. I am told the fees are subject to change every year.

Thanking her for her time, I walk out. But at the entrance I am accosted by a scruffy-looking man who was strategically standing unseen next to a car. He thrusts a pamphlet into my face: "Why don't you meet a counsellor at MBAguru too, sir?"

At MBAguru the counsellor has quite a polished accent and says the USP is "" "fundas". Again I am put through the intricacies of the courses on offer. It is soon apparent that she realises I am just the right fit for an eight-month course. I am shown a printed sheet which has photographs of the faculty, all supposedly alumni of IITs, IIMs or equivalent institutions.

The monies scribbled on a random piece of paper ""MBAguru offers me the course for Rs 24,900, Rs 100 less than Career Launcher. To make it sweeter I am offered a discounted price of Rs. 21,900. But will the money spent get me into the coveted IIMs?

Score: 4/10, the "counselling" is well-rehearsed sales pitch.

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