MS (by Research) in Management - IIT Madras

Department of Management Studies, IIT Madras is perhaps the only institution in India, which offers MS (by Research) programme in management. The following write-up is based on my experience as an MS student at the department.

About the Programme

It is a post graduate, a specialized research oriented degree. It is very much different from MBA which is a taught programme. In this programme, apart from the course work, students also work on a thesis and publish their work in reputed journals and refereed conference proceedings. Duration of the programme varies from 1.5 years to 3 years. After completion of the degree, a majority of students go for  PhD, while some of them opt for campus placement.

Admission Process

You have to write any graduate level competitive exam like CAT/XAT/MAT/GATE/GRE/GMAT. Based on your score in any of these exams and your overall academic profile, you will be shortlisted for the next process which includes two rounds of interviews. First round is technical, which is completely based on your proposed research area. In this round you may have to defend your research proposal also, if asked. This is a screening round because a bulk of the candidates are rejected at this stage and very few are shortlisted for the next round which is personal interview. Final result is based on your performance in the interviews. Your academics and score in a competitive exam has no role in the final selection.

After Joining

Once you join, you have to undergo coursework. As per the credit requirement for coursework (16 credits), one has to complete 5 core courses and 3 elective courses, but you are free to take as many courses as you want, if your guide permits. After 2-3 months into the programme, you will have to choose your research supervisor and your supervisor will constitute a general test committee (GTC). By the end of the 1st semester, you have to propose your research problem to the GTC. So you will be parallely doing your research work along with the course work. Here some students continue doing coursework for 1.5 years and put less effort in the research work. As a result they take around 2.5-3 years to complete the degree. It is suggested that instead of taking extra courses, the major focus should be research. Publication in refereed conference proceedings and peer reviewed journals is not mandatory for MS, but almost every student does that. The main reason is that it gives your thesis reviewer an impression that your work is good enough and hence your thesis is accepted easily.

Financial Assistance

If you are admitted in HTRA category (e.g. through GATE exam), you will be given Rs.8000/month. A financial assistance of Rs. 1.5 lakhs is available for attending an international conference and Rs. 10,000/year for attending conferences in India.

Life during MS at DoMS

I will divide the life of an MS at DoMS into two parts: during coursework & after coursework. 

When you are doing coursework, the life is hectic. Usually a day starts with attending lectures with MBAs at 8am. Almost everyday, you will have to be ready for a number of assignments, case studies, surprise quizzes, etc. Some courses which are offered only for research scholars at DoMS and some courses which are offered in other departments of IIT (e.g. Maths or Computer Science Department) are helpful from research point of view, otherwise MBA courses are not of much help. Depending upon your GTC recommendation, you do take those courses also which require very serious effort for getting good grades. You will also be doing some part time work in library and other HTRA duties, if assigned.

Once your coursework is over, life is too easy. You are given complete freedom to do your research work. You will have 24x7 access to the lab. There is no compulsion of 85% attendance. Depending upon your research supervisor, you will be meeting and updating him/her about your research progress once in a week or two weeks. You will also be working towards publishing your work or sending a paper in a conference. If you work as a TA (teaching assistant) with a professor, then sometime you will be taking lectures for MBAs or B.Tech students, correcting quiz papers, conducting tutorials, etc.

Overall, I must say it's a very enriching experience.

Towards the End of the Programme

Once you complete around 1.5-2 years, you have two important things to do - (1) Publish your work. (2) It depends on your career plan after MS. If you want to go for a PhD degree, write GRE/GMAT and start applying to the universities of your choice. If you want to opt for industry job, then prepare yourself for the campus placement. MS has its own merits and demerits for industry job. Placement usually happens with MBAs at the department level and with other PGs at the institute level. At IIT Madras, a regular taught programme like MBA or M.Tech is more preferred by recruiters than a research programme like MS for a generalist profile. However, for a specialized profile some companies give priority to MS students, but the number of such companies visiting the campus is very less. 

After MS

This programme makes you highly competitive in research field. It gives you enough training for a smooth PhD degree ahead. It also equips you with necessary domain skills required for industrial research which an MBA may not have.

Some Suggestions

Entry into the MS programme is said to be easy as compared to MBA. But, getting the final degree is not easy. You have to do research and publish it. Do not join this programme unless you have some interest in research. If your only aim is to get a job in industry, you better try MBA. At IIT Madras, an MS student, if performing well, is given an opportunity to upgrade into PhD. If you want to join for PhD here and since a fresh PhD admission is a little bit difficult, you can first join the MS programme and later upgrade into PhD.

P.S. If you have any further query, write in the comment box below.