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Every year lakhs of students graduate in India. Out of these, quite a specific lot of graduates tend to incline towards pursuing a master’s in management. However, a majority are confused about whether they should opt for MBA or PGDM. Unaware freshly graduated students have little or no knowledge about the two and often make a mistake to make the wrong career choice concerning their goals.
This article can be the right destination for you if you wish to get detailed knowledge and difference between the two.
- PGDM stands for Post Graduate Diploma in Management and MBA stands for Masters in Business Administration. PGDM is valid and equivalent to a post-graduate degree whereas MBA is a valid post-graduate degree.
- PGDM is a diploma course whereas MBA is a management degree program. The former is provided by autonomous institutes and approved by AICTE (All India Council for Technical Education) whereas MBA is provided by colleges that are affiliated with universities in Business Administration.
- The duration for both the courses PGDM and MBA is 2 years. They both are full-time courses and need complete dedication.
- Discussing the study pattern and curriculum, in PGDM courses, are very flexible and get revised often as per the industry demand, introductions, and requirements. In the case of MBA courses, the curriculum is more of a traditional type. Special permission is required to revise the curriculum from UGC (University Grants Commission).
Always look for a master’s program that is economically friendly to you. Fees for a PGDM college can vary between 3 LPA to 25 LPA and for an MBA college, the fees could vary from 50000 to 14 LPA. Fees of any college depend on factors like college ranking, faculties teaching at the college, whether it is a privately run, government-run, or semi-government-run college, popularity, campus placement, overall campus environment to name a few.
- MBA enhances and strengthens the theoretical aspects. Moreover, it makes you understand the technicalities of a subject whereas PGDM focuses on providing practical knowledge. Some colleges have even fixed a proportion for practical exposure via training, internships, workshops, games, outdoor management training, live projects, peer projects, competitions- both inter and intra college, etc.
- For taking admission to an MBA college, you need to take exams like CAT, XAT, MHCET, CMAT, or colleges that have their own set of tests like NMAT for NMIMS, SNAP for Symbiosis International University, etc. For taking admission in a PGDM college, scorecards of exams like CAT, CMAT, MAT, ATMA, GMAT, and XAT can be approved with a minimum of 45 percentile or more.
- Due to an edge-over in practical activities, students from PGDM courses easily crack job interviews as compared to MBA students. Moreover, PGDM is purely an industry-oriented program.
- For the PGDM course, there are no state-wise reservations whereas, for MBA, there are state-wise and category-based reservations. Fees may also vary in the case of MBA course applications, unlike PGDM.
With the help of the given details, you can analyze which option is suitable for you. If you are looking for an industry-oriented course, provides dual specialization or flexible curriculum, real-time corporate experience, a place to gain job-related skills, and more learning opportunities like seminars, webinars, and workshops, then PGDM can be the best suit for you.
But, if you are looking for a degree program, aim to pursue higher study courses like Ph.D./ doctoral programs, economical education, and aim to join a family business or open your own company, then MBA can be a better option. Understand the requirements and make a wise decision for an amazing career.
