MDI Gurgaon application fiasco: Technical glitches mar process, last date extended

NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 26: The online application process of MDI Gurgaon's PGP 2019-21 has been infected by a major technical bug. It seems that the application database has gone topsy-turvy and the aspirants who have completed the process and paid the application fee have not received a confirmation email. Moreover, they are unable to login with their MDI registration credentials as well.

Nitish Kumar, an MBA aspirant, in his post in PagalGuy forum wrote on November 24, “I filled the form yesterday. Completed my payment and submitted my form but I haven't got any confirmation mail as of now. When I try to log in now using the same id. It shows ‘There isn't any account by your email id’ what should I do?”

The application deadline of the B-School was November 24, a day prior to CAT 2018, the most competitive MBA entrance exam. Amidst the exam stress, aspirants received the blow from one of the premier B-schools of the country which was a bolt from the blue. The official website of MDI Gurgaon has stated a notification which says, “We have disabled the extensive application system due to some technical issues. All Applicants who have not paid, kindly fill the lightweight application form and pay relevant application fee to confirm your candidature. Applicants who have already paid need not pay again.”

The B-School added, “We shall reopen the application system for all relevant applicants to complete their application form later. Existing users who have not paid might need to re-create their accounts to login to the system. Applicants who have already paid till yesterday in the old system need not fill this form as their candidature is already confirmed and must wait till the reopening of the application to complete it.”

The issue was not resolved despite filling the lightweight application form, as stated by the MDI Gurgaon notice. Nikita, another PagalGuy user on the forum posted, “I have filled the lightweight form and made the payment. The money got deducted from my account but in the application it shows Payment Failed Please try again later. I have been trying to reach admissions office but the line is busy for so long now.”

This indicates that the candidates have to complete the procedure again, including the payment of application fee, which is as high as Rs. 3000 for a single programme. Moreover, the programme fee is Rs. 21,34,000, almost similar to that of the IIMs. Further, there is no assurance from MDI Gurgaon about the refund of the application fee already paid sans confirmation.

Candidates who had already applied are prompted to complete the process once again, leading to a loss of precious time of the candidates. As the entrance exam season has been kick-started with CAT, the students would rather focus on preparation than applying to the same institute twice and dealing with additional stress.

One of the applicants, Rohit, after completing the application process saw the update on the MDI Gurgaon as “Your application has been submitted successfully to ISB.” This further indicates the enormity of the technical glitch. 

While the original application deadline was November 24, now the deadline has been extended till December 3, 2018. The MDI officials have not available for comment yet. Careers360 would update the readers with the developments as and when applicable.