Paying 11 lakh for IIT Mandi's MBA in DS & AI and getting 7-9 LPA placements is not a flex, it's a trap
You leave your job. You pay 11 lakh. You spend 2 years in Himachal Pradesh. You come out with a package you could've gotten without any of this. Explain?
And the IIT placement cell? It exists for JEE kids. Full stop. MBA and humanities students at IITs are an afterthought — the recruiters come for the B.Tech batch, the energy goes to the B.Tech batch, and you're just kind of there filling seats. Ask any MBA student at an IIT off the record and they'll tell you the same thing.
The program itself doesn't know what it is. Too "management" for core DS/AI roles, not MBA enough to compete with IIM grads in consulting. You're paying premium fees to sit in a no man's land.
Want DS/AI? B.Tech + certifications + projects beats this. Want the IIM tag? Drop a year and crack CAT. Want to burn 11 lakh for a scenic campus and an IIT name on a degree? This is your program.
Not hating. Just wish someone had told me this before. Talk to actual students, not the brochure.