After completing their 12th standard, students interested in pursuing a career in management are usually presented with two choices. Either they pursue a three year long BBA course and apply to MBA colleges after completing their bachelor's course, or they pursue the Integrated Program in Management often abbreviated as IPM.

There are several advantages to pursuing an IPM program directly after 12th grade over pursuing a BBA and MBA separately. Some of the advantages include:

• Syllabus: 

• Students who end up pursuing an MBA after completing their BBA end up realizing that there is a lot of repetition of topics which they have been taught before. In the case of IPM students, their course structure is designed in an elaborate way so that no topic gets repeated.

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• Entrance Tests: 

• In case of students pursuing an IPM degree, they only have to appear for an entrance exam once. However, in the case of other students, they have to undergo selection procedures and admission tests twice. They have to appear for UG exams like CUET,NPAT,etc as well as PG exams like CAT,GMAT,etc.

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• Stronger Foundations: 

• The IPM courses are designed in an elaborate way which provide their students with a diversified and useful skill set in the industry. The first three years consist of foundation courses of subjects like economics, statistics, psychology, coding, math etc. While the last two years build up an advanced knowledge in management which allows their students to become valued in the job-market.

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• Placement: 

• Most of the IPM colleges being IIMs, have a huge upper hand in terms of placement scope. With strong connections in the industry, the IPM program guarantees placements of high value in esteemed companies like Amazon, BCG, Deloitte and EY among many others.

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• Time: 

• While IPM offers BBA and MBA in one program, it requires 5 years to acquire two degrees. On the other hand, a BBA followed by an MBA usually requires more time, given that the student is taking gap years, or getting work experience between the two degrees.

In conclusion, you must consider these five factors to make a practical decision, alongside any personal factors to get the best return from your degree.

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Team CL