Cycle update · 23 September 2026
What Changed in MBA Admissions: 23 September 2026
By Piyush Agarwal, 10 years in direct admissions counselling · 23 September 2026
The short answer
On 23 September 2026, the SNAP mock sits tomorrow — the official page now says the test link goes live on the day, with credentials by SMS and WhatsApp. SSSS Pune became the sixth Symbiosis campus printing the 2x discretionary-quota rule in its official 2026-28 fee PDF. SIBM Noida published fees and a 60-seat intake after weeks parked, and NIBM Pune's Rs 17.84 lakh PGDM was profiled.
What changed?
| Item | Before | Now |
|---|---|---|
| SNAP 2026 mock — TOMORROW, 24 September; test link due on the day | Mock instructions live; window 12 noon-9 pm; credentials by SMS/WhatsApp/email | The official mock page (snaptest.org/snap-mock), re-opened today, now prints 'The test link will be available soon' — the link arrives on the day itself by SMS, WhatsApp and email. The rest of the instruction set stands: window 12 noon to 9 pm on 24 September, login username SNAP<SNAP ID> (SNAP123456 for SNAP ID 123456), password SNAP2026, four sections (General English 10, Analytical and Logical Reasoning 20, Quantitative/DI/DS 20, Ethics, Morality and Values 10), 60 questions in 60 minutes, 0.25 negative marking, scores for reference with no percentile. Printed prizes: Rs 1,000 Flipkart vouchers for the top 3, Rs 500 for the next 5 |
| SSSS Pune — the SIXTH Symbiosis campus prints the 2x Discretionary Quota | Five campuses with printed quota premiums: SIBM Bengaluru, SIBM Hyderabad, SIDTM Pune, SIOM Nashik, SIMC Pune | SSSS's official fee-structure PDF for Batch 2026-28 (ssss-pg-fee-structure-2026-28.pdf, opened today) prints the full Discretionary Quota Seats paragraph under the MBA (Sports Management) fee table: double the open-category academic fee, Fee Structure Committee approved, paid to the institute by online transfer or demand draft, for the entire duration, gated on good entrance scores. On SSSS's Rs 4,60,000-a-year table the 2x line reads Rs 9,20,000 a year — Rs 18,40,000 across the batch, the cheapest 2x entry point of the six. The quota map and premium comparison are updated; the SSSS profile is published with the full 2027-28 calendar (own form closes 21 January 2027) |
| SIBM Noida — UNPARKED: fees, 60-seat intake and a placement PDF now print | Parked since the programme page printed no fee, intake or dates | The restructured sibmnoida.edu.in now prints all three: a 60-seat intake with the reservation framework (SC 15/ST 7.5/PwD 3 within; 2 Kashmiri Migrant seats and 15% international above), two unlabelled fee tables — Rs 9,40,000 a year (instalments Rs 4,70,000 x 4 = Rs 18.80 lakh) and Rs 8,94,000 a year (Rs 4,47,000 x 4 = Rs 17.88 lakh) — and an official Placement Report MBA 2024-26 PDF (highest Rs 19.72 LPA, mean Rs 8.6, median Rs 9.5, 40 companies). The important-dates page still shows the completed 2025-26 cycle — the 2027-29 institute dates are not yet republished, disclosed. No discretionary-quota line on any page opened. Profile published |
| NIBM Pune — the RBI institute's PGDM profiled from its own documents | No NIBM profile | The PGDM (Banking & Financial Services) 2026-28 fee PDF prints Rs 17,84,000 all-in across six terms (Rs 15,36,000 academic, hostel included at Rs 36,000 a term). The door is CAT/XAT/CMAT/GMAT/GRE with CAT as the benchmark, then an online Oral Communication Test and PI (printed weights 35/25/25/10/5 from the 2024-26 process PDF, disclosed as the prior-cycle pattern). AIU equivalence with the MBA degree and NBA accreditation print on the site. The bank-sponsored full-tuition waiver went to 22 students of the 2024-26 batch on a family-income-below-Rs 8 lakh criterion. Profile published |
| SIBM campuses compared — five printed bills, one table | Fees scattered across individual campus profiles | One comparison page now holds all five SIBM campuses' verified bills: Nagpur-domicile Rs 15.28 lakh (cheapest) to Pune Rs 26.20 lakh (flagship), with Hyderabad Rs 17.00 lakh, Noida Rs 17.88-18.80 lakh (two unlabelled tables) and Bengaluru Rs 21.40 lakh between them — and the quota line marked: only Bengaluru and Hyderabad print the 2x rule. Intakes print only at Bengaluru (240) and Noida (60); the other three are disclosed as not printed |
| MAT December 2026 — seventh consecutive check, still no candidate dates | Six daily checks with nothing posted; September scores due this week | AIMA's MAT page (its current URL /content/testing-and-assessment/mat/mat) still prints only the completed September 2026 schedule — PBT sat 13 September, CBT sat 20 September, scores due by the last week of September 2026, i.e. this week — plus the B-school-side December registration link. No December candidate schedule for the seventh consecutive day, so mat-december-2026 stays unbuilt |
| Masters' Union — re-verified again; fee holds; Round 1 four days out | Rs 38,56,692 total; Round 1 closes 27 September 2026 | The official PGP TBM page re-opened today on mastersunion.org: total fee Rs 38,56,692 (admission Rs 90,000 + tuition Rs 37,66,692) unchanged, Round 1 closes 27 September 11:59 pm — four days from this digest — MU-BAAT window 28 September-4 October, interviews 7-15 October (indicative), decisions 18-19 October. The .org site governs; the .in domain is an expired-cert LMS shell |
| KMAT 2026 results — nothing printed; KPPGCA portal dead a fourth day | Test sat 20 September; no result date printed | Three days after the test, no result date has been announced anywhere we can reach, and kppgca.karnataka.gov.in has now been DNS-unresolved for four consecutive days from this host. We keep checking kmatindia.com; do not pay anyone claiming early score access |
| IIM Jammu — main domain dark for a thirteenth day | iimjammu.ac.in NXDOMAIN day 12; cap2026 portal serving | iimjammu.ac.in still does not resolve — day 13. cap2026.iimj.ac.in continues to serve the completed CAP 2026 cycle. The IIM Jammu profile stays queued on the main domain's absence |
What should you do now?
- If you are registered for the SNAP mock: the link lands TOMORROW, 24 September, by SMS, WhatsApp and email, for a 12-noon-to-9-pm window. Keep the credentials handy — username SNAP<SNAP ID>, password SNAP2026 — and log in early in the window in case of connection issues.
- If a Symbiosis campus is on your list: the institute's OWN deadline is the one that bites — SSSS closes 21 January 2027 (after the SNAP result); SIHS and SCIT close 25 December 2026 (before it); SIMS closes 11 January 2027. SIBM Noida's new-cycle dates are not yet republished — watch sibmnoida.edu.in.
- If someone offers you a Symbiosis 'management seat': six campuses now print the discretionary-quota rule at double the academic fee — Bengaluru, Hyderabad, SIDTM, SIOM, SIMC and SSSS. Ask for the printed page; if the campus in the pitch is not one of the six, walk away.
- If you sat MAT this month: scores are due by the last week of September on AIMA's own page. December dates are not out — anyone selling 'December MAT registration' ahead of AIMA's schedule is guessing.
- If Masters' Union Round 1 is your target: it closes 27 September — four days. The fee printed Rs 38,56,692 today on the official .org site.