Great Lakes Institute of Management MBA Admission 2027: PGPM/PGDM Fees, Placements & Admission Criteria
📌 Related pillar guides: MBA Admission Guide · GMAT-Accepting Colleges India · MBA vs PGDM
Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai and Gurgaon — AACSB-accredited, with a 1-year PGPM for working professionals and a 2-year PGDM for freshers. CAT, XAT, GMAT and NMAT scores accepted; Great Lakes states it has no minimum cutoff percentile for either programme.
🔍 How we source the numbers on this page. Every fee and placement figure below is taken from Great Lakes' own published fee circulars and official placement reports (chennai/pgpm/fees, chennai/pgdm/fees, gurgaon/pgpm/fees, gurgaon/pgdm/fees, and the four matching placement-report pages) — not from aggregator estimates.
Evidence note. Check the batch year printed beside every fee and placement figure — Great Lakes reissues its fee circular and placement report every cycle, and last year's number reads exactly like this year's. Nothing on this page should be projected forward into a future cycle's figure. Great Lakes has not published its fee circular for the new 2027 intake at the time of writing; the 2026-27/2026-28 figures shown are the latest officially published numbers. Found an error? Tell us.
📅 Published 18 April 2026 · ↻ Last Updated 14 August 2026
By Krishna Pandey, Founder & Lead Counsellor (12+ yrs incl. MBA admissions)
✔️ Reviewed for factual accuracy by Shivam Kumar, MBA Admissions Lead · Article Reviewer · Admission cycle 2027
College Overview — Great Lakes Institute of Management
📌 In one line: the institute's identity, campuses and how to apply — Great Lakes runs no centralised counselling code, so this is what you need before you go to its own application portal.
| Institute Name | Great Lakes Institute of Management |
|---|---|
| Also Known As | Great Lakes · GLIM · Great Lakes Chennai · Great Lakes Gurgaon |
| Institute Type | Private, AACSB-accredited, AICTE-approved autonomous business school — not a government college and not part of any CAP/counselling body. Awards PGDM/PGPM (AICTE diplomas, industry-equivalent to an MBA) rather than a university-conferred MBA degree, since Great Lakes is an autonomous institute, not a university. NAAC: Not applicable — NAAC accredits UGC-affiliated universities and colleges; Great Lakes is an AICTE-approved standalone diploma-granting institute outside NAAC's scope. |
| Established | 2004 (Chennai, founding campus, Dr Bala V. Balachandran) · 2010 (Gurgaon campus) |
| Location | Chennai campus: East Coast Road (ECR), near Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu. Gurgaon campus: Bilaspur-Tauru Road, near Manesar, Gurugram, Haryana — per Great Lakes' own contact pages; confirm exact address there before travelling. |
| Degree Offered | PGPM — 1-year Post Graduate Programme in Management (both campuses) · PGDM — 2-year Post Graduate Diploma in Management (both campuses) · PGPM-BA — 1-year Business Analytics track (Chennai) |
| Exams Accepted | CAT · XAT · GMAT · NMAT (NMAT not accepted for Gurgaon PGDM) — no CMAT, no GRE at either campus or programme, per Great Lakes' own admissions pages |
| Institute Code | Not applicable — Great Lakes has no centralised counselling code. Apply directly through its own portal at app.greatlakes.edu.in, choosing the campus (Chennai/Gurgaon) and programme (PGPM/PGDM) separately. |
| Official Website | greatlakes.edu.in |
Great Lakes Fees 2026-27/2026-28 — PGPM & PGDM, Chennai & Gurgaon
📌 In one line: PGPM ₹23.5L (Chennai, 2026-27) / ₹22.5L (Gurgaon, 2026-27) · PGDM ₹22.5L (Chennai, 2026-28) / ₹19.82L (Gurgaon, 2026-28) — every total already includes mandatory hostel.
Great Lakes publishes its PGPM and PGDM fee circulars separately for each campus, and each total already bundles residential accommodation because both programmes are compulsorily residential. The table below reproduces the exact breakdown from Great Lakes' own fee pages, with a reading note on what each line actually means.
| Fee head | Chennai | Gurgaon | Reading note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tuition fee | ₹12,43,000 | ₹12,44,000 | Academic fee component. |
| Program fee | ₹6,96,000 | ₹6,37,000 | Academic fee component. |
| Accommodation (mandatory) | ₹3,96,000 (single AC) | ₹3,54,000 (twin AC) | Hostel is compulsory — "the program is residential in nature" per Great Lakes' own fee page — not an optional line. |
| Caution deposit | ₹10,000 | ₹10,000 | Refundable, shown separately. |
| Alumni subscription | ₹5,000 | ₹5,000 | One-time, non-refundable. |
| Total programme fee | ₹23,50,000 | ₹22,50,000 | Academic ₹19,39,000 + other ₹4,11,000 (Chennai); academic ₹18,81,000 + other ₹3,69,000 (Gurgaon). |
| Fee head | Chennai | Gurgaon | Reading note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tuition fee | ₹10,25,000 | ₹8,30,000 | Academic fee component. |
| Program fee | ₹5,78,000 | ₹5,05,000 | Academic fee component. |
| Accommodation (mandatory) | ₹6,32,000 (twin sharing AC) | ₹6,32,000 (twin AC) | Compulsory residential, same as PGPM — not optional. |
| Caution deposit | ₹10,000 | ₹10,000 | Refundable, shown separately. |
| Alumni subscription | ₹5,000 | ₹5,000 | One-time, non-refundable. |
| Total programme fee | ₹22,50,000 | ₹19,82,000 | Academic ₹16,03,000 + other ₹6,47,000 (Chennai); academic ₹13,35,000 + other ₹6,47,000 (Gurgaon). |
- Includes: tuition, programme fee, mandatory hostel accommodation for the full duration, the refundable caution deposit and the one-time alumni subscription.
- Excludes: personal expenses, laptop, travel to/from campus, and (Gurgaon) any non-vegetarian meal surcharge — vegetarian meals are included, per Great Lakes' own fee page.
- Great Lakes' PGDM admissions page for Gurgaon is already titled for the "PGDM 2027-29" intake, but the fee circular we could access still shows the 2026-28 batch figure above — Great Lakes has not yet published a separate 2027-29 fee circular. Nothing on this page should be projected forward to guess that number.
ROI, illustratively: against the ₹23,50,000 PGPM (Chennai) fee, the official Class of 2025 average CTC of ₹17.8 LPA is roughly 16 months of gross pre-tax salary; against the ₹22,50,000 PGDM (Chennai) fee, the ₹15 LPA average is roughly 18 months. This is an illustration of scale, not a promise of your own outcome — individual placement varies by profile, and nothing here should be treated as a guaranteed return.
Education loans for Great Lakes PGPM/PGDM are available through HDFC Credila, Axis Bank and Avanse, among others, given the institute's AACSB accreditation. Confirm current interest rates and moratorium terms directly with the lender. For personalised fee-planning help, WhatsApp FindUrCollege at +91 91126 50438.
Great Lakes Hostel & Accommodation — Mandatory, Bundled Into the Fee
📌 In one line: both PGPM and PGDM are compulsorily residential — hostel is not optional and is already priced into the totals above.
Great Lakes states directly on its fee pages that, "given that the program is residential in nature, hostel facility is mandatory." Room type differs by programme and campus: PGPM at Chennai is single-room AC (₹3,96,000/programme); PGPM at Gurgaon and both PGDM tracks are twin-sharing AC (₹3,54,000–₹6,32,000/programme, per the fee tables above). Great Lakes notes that where single-room allocation is not available for PGPM, twin-sharing is provided instead with a partial refund.
Vegetarian meals are included in the accommodation charge; non-vegetarian meals are billed separately at Gurgaon, per the official fee page. Official source: Great Lakes' own PGPM/PGDM fee pages for each campus (see the Fees section above for exact URLs), captured 14 August 2026.
Great Lakes Placements — Official Class of 2025 Report
📌 In one line: average, not median — Great Lakes does not publish a median CTC for any programme or campus; figures below are averages, exactly as its own reports label them.
Great Lakes publishes a separate placement report for each programme and campus. The figures below are read directly from those four official reports, not blended into a single "Great Lakes average" — a Chennai PGPM figure and a Gurgaon PGDM figure describe different cohorts and should not be compared as if identical.
| Metric | PGPM Chennai | PGPM Gurgaon | PGDM Chennai | PGDM Gurgaon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average CTC | ₹17.8 LPA | ₹15.1 LPA | ₹15 LPA | ₹11.8 LPA |
| Highest CTC (domestic) | ₹30.8 LPA | ₹21.8 LPA | ₹39.3 LPA | ₹22.7 LPA |
| Pre-placement offers (PPOs) | Not listed | Not listed | 63 | Not listed |
| Placement percentage | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed |
Reading the table: PGDM Chennai's ₹39.3 LPA is the single highest offer on this page, but its average (₹15 LPA) is lower than PGPM Chennai's average (₹17.8 LPA) — a high outlier offer does not describe the typical outcome. None of Great Lakes' four placement reports states an overall placement percentage in text; we record that as "Not listed" rather than estimate one.
PGPM's official reports note the batch's average outgoing CTC was 2.5–2.7× the batch's average incoming CTC — a growth multiple, not an absolute salary figure, and specific to students who already had a prior salary to compare against.
Named recruiters across the four reports include Accenture, Deloitte, Cognizant, EY, Nestlé, JP Morgan Chase, KPMG, IBM, Swiggy, FedEx, Infosys Consulting, ADP and Tiger Analytics, spanning Consulting, FMCG & Retail, IT/ITeS, Analytics, BFSI and Manufacturing & Logistics sectors.
Source: Great Lakes' official placement reports — greatlakes.edu.in/chennai/recruiters/placement-report-pgpm, /chennai/pgdm/placement-report, /gurgaon/recruiters/placement-report-pgpm, /gurgaon/pgdm/placement-report. Captured 14 August 2026.
Great Lakes Admission Criteria — No Minimum Cutoff, Holistic Evaluation
📌 In one line: Great Lakes states in writing that it has no minimum CAT/GMAT/XAT/NMAT cutoff for PGPM or PGDM — do not trust any page (including an earlier version of this one) that prints a specific "cutoff percentile" for Great Lakes.
Cutoff — Not Published, Holistic Evaluation
Great Lakes' own admissions pages state explicitly: "Great Lakes does not have a minimum cut-off for the CAT, GMAT, XAT, or NMAT for the PGPM program." The same holistic approach applies to PGDM. Instead of a cutoff, Great Lakes evaluates academic consistency, work experience, leadership signals, essays and interview performance alongside the test score. Any specific percentile band presented elsewhere as an official Great Lakes "cutoff" should be treated as someone's estimate, not Great Lakes' own published position.
| Exam | PGPM Chennai | PGPM Gurgaon | PGDM Chennai | PGDM Gurgaon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CAT | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| XAT | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| GMAT | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| NMAT | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ not accepted |
| CMAT | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| GRE | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
Read this literally: CMAT and GRE scores are not accepted for any Great Lakes programme at either campus, even though both are commonly accepted at other B-schools — do not assume Great Lakes follows the same exam list as a peer institute.
Eligibility & Work Experience
| Requirement | PGPM | PGDM |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum academic % | 50% across 10th, 12th & UG | 50% across 10th, 12th & UG stated on the main criteria page — a separate FAQ on the same official site states 60%. The two do not agree; confirm directly with Great Lakes. |
| Work experience | Minimum 2 years full-time, by 30 April 2027 (current cycle) | Freshers and candidates under 36 months of work experience only, per the eligibility page as published |
| Class profile (most recent official) | Class of 2026 average work experience: 3.2 years | Class of 2025-27: 64% freshers, 36% averaging 1.5 years' experience, average age 23 |
| Selection process | Application → test score → essays → personal interview (holistic evaluation, no fixed weightage published) | |
Source: Great Lakes' official admissions and class-profile pages — greatlakes.edu.in/chennai/pgpm/admissions, /chennai/pgdm/admissions, /gurgaon/pgpm/admissions, /gurgaon/pgdm/admissions, /chennai/recruiters/pgpm-class-profile, /chennai/recruiters/pgdm-class-profile-2025-27. Captured 14 August 2026.
Chennai vs Gurgaon — Choosing Your Great Lakes Campus
Both campuses run the identical PGPM/PGDM curriculum and share Great Lakes' AACSB accreditation, so the choice comes down to placement outcomes, location and campus environment rather than academic quality.
Chennai (founding campus)
- 32-acre LEED-Platinum-rated green campus on the East Coast Road, near Mahabalipuram
- Founding campus (2004), stronger officially reported placement averages (Class of 2025: PGPM ₹17.8 LPA, PGDM ₹15 LPA)
- NIRF Management 2025 rank 37
- 10,000+ alumni network overall (Great Lakes does not publish a Chennai-only count)
Gurgaon (established 2010)
- Delhi-NCR location, closer to consulting, FMCG and financial-services headquarters
- Class of 2025 official averages: PGPM ₹15.1 LPA, PGDM ₹11.8 LPA
- NIRF Management 2025 rank 50
- Gurgaon PGDM does not accept NMAT (Chennai PGDM does) — check the admission-criteria table above before you plan your exam
Read this literally: Chennai's officially reported averages are higher than Gurgaon's for both PGPM and PGDM in the Class of 2025 report. That does not mean every Chennai student outearns every Gurgaon student — it means the campus-wide average was higher. If your target sector concentrates in Delhi-NCR (say, government-adjacent consulting), campus proximity may still matter more than the average-CTC gap.
Programme Variants at Great Lakes
For candidates with 2+ years of experience. Class of 2026's average work experience was 3.2 years. No minimum test-score cutoff; holistic evaluation.
For freshers and candidates under 36 months of experience. Class of 2025-27: 64% freshers, 36% averaging 1.5 years' experience, average age 23.
1-year Chennai track combining core management with Python, R, SQL and Tableau for business applications, aimed at analytics-intensive roles.
Great Lakes' Kellogg-linked pedagogy (its founder, Dr Bala V. Balachandran, held a distinguished faculty chair at Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management) leans on a case-method, discussion-driven teaching style rather than lecture-heavy delivery — verify current elective offerings and visiting-faculty details directly with Great Lakes before applying, since these change by term.
Great Lakes Alumni Network
Great Lakes' own published figure is 10,000+ alumni across both campuses since its 2004 founding, with the alumni association separately citing a broader 13,000+ network figure. The alumni body runs sector-specific networking events and a mentorship programme connecting current students with alumni in their target industries. Great Lakes does not publish a Chennai-only or Gurgaon-only alumni count, so avoid quoting a per-campus number as if it were official.
Great Lakes Application Process & Document Checklist
Take CAT, XAT, GMAT or NMAT (not CMAT, not GRE — see the admission-criteria table above). Great Lakes applies no minimum cutoff, so a mid-range score with a strong overall profile remains a realistic application.
Apply at app.greatlakes.edu.in, selecting campus and programme. The application includes your test score, academic transcripts, CV and a career-goals essay.
Shortlisted candidates are called for a personal interview. Great Lakes evaluates work-experience quality, academic background and essay clarity alongside the test score — not the score alone.
Offers carry a payment deadline for the caution deposit and Year-1 fee. Education-loan documentation (HDFC Credila, Axis Bank, Avanse) should be arranged in parallel so it doesn't delay your seat confirmation.
Typical documents required: test-score report, undergraduate transcripts (all semesters), degree certificate or provisional certificate, updated CV, career-goals essay, work-experience certificates (PGPM), professional recommendation letters, passport-size photographs and a government photo ID. Confirm the exact list on the official application portal, since requirements can be updated between cycles.
Book Your Free Great Lakes Profile & ROI Mapping
Choosing between the 1-year and 2-year track is a multi-lakh decision. Our counsellors will review your work experience and score to give you a realistic, honest read on which Great Lakes programme fits you.
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How FindUrCollege Helps You Get Admitted
Our counsellors give unbiased, data-backed guidance on your Great Lakes application — not generic advice. Explore all MBA colleges we cover →
- Profile Assessment: we evaluate your test score, work experience and budget to build a realistic B-school shortlist that includes Great Lakes alongside comparable options.
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Great Lakes in the Indian Management Education Landscape
Great Lakes occupies a specific niche: a GMAT/CAT/XAT/NMAT-accepting, AACSB-accredited, Kellogg-linked-pedagogy programme that runs no formal cutoff, aimed at candidates who have a workable profile — reasonable academics, 2+ years of experience for PGPM or a clean fresher profile for PGDM — but whose test score alone might not clear a stricter cutoff-based school. For that segment, Great Lakes is a genuine full-service alternative to a two-year private B-school at a similar overall cost, once you account for its no-cutoff holistic evaluation and dual-campus placement network.
Against ISB's flagship one-year PGP (commonly cited around ₹38–42L — verify the current figure on ISB's own site), Great Lakes PGPM is materially cheaper (₹22.5–23.5L) with a more accessible admission bar, though ISB's officially reported average outcomes are correspondingly higher. Against a government IIM's two-year PGP, Great Lakes is a separate, privately run programme with an entirely different (CAT-independent, no-cutoff) admission process — the two are not interchangeable options in the same application cycle. For personalised guidance on where Great Lakes fits your own shortlist, WhatsApp FindUrCollege at +91 91126 50438.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
Extended FAQ
- Data Sources: fees and placement figures are read from Great Lakes Institute of Management's own published fee circulars and official placement reports, named and captured above; no aggregator estimates are used.
- Verification: figures are subject to revision by Great Lakes; always verify current-cycle details on the official Great Lakes website before making an admission or payment decision.
- Platform Status: FindUrCollege is an independent platform and is not affiliated with Great Lakes Institute of Management.