The Collvera Standard, term by term.

Collvera Comparable CTC (CCC)

One like-for-like total-compensation figure per college-year, used for every ranking and comparison on Collvera. Computed as the report's comparable figure — MEP for dual-basis audited reports, gross CTC otherwise — falling back to median, then mean, when a report publishes only one basis. Never the highest package. Exists because colleges report on incomparable bases; sorting raw headlines rewards inflated reporting.

Trust Grade

A per-college-year label for how verified the source is. Grade A — independently audited report (auditor named; UDIN recorded where issued). Grade B — official institute-published report, read verbatim. Grade C — partial or interim disclosure; never used as a headline figure or in rankings.

The Collvera Placement Index

The same-year leaderboard of colleges ranked by Collvera Comparable CTC. Rankings only ever compare one placement year against the same year across colleges — never a newer unaudited report against an older audited one.

FYCC — Fixed cash compensation

Annual fixed pay: the salary a graduate can count on, excluding bonuses and variable components.

OTC — One-time cash

Joining and other one-time payments (signing bonus, relocation), paid once, not annually recurring.

TGCC — Total guaranteed cash

Fixed cash plus one-time cash: the audited guaranteed floor. The basis dual-head audited reports (e.g. IIM Ahmedabad's IPRS) use for their headline median — stricter than gross CTC, which is why audited medians can look lower than other schools' headlines.

MEP — Max earning potential

The ceiling: guaranteed cash plus maximum variable pay, ESOPs and all components. Closest to what most schools loosely call "CTC". Used as the comparable figure for dual-basis reports.

CTC — Cost to company

The gross package figure most institutes report, typically including variable components; the exact composition varies by college, which is why raw CTCs are not comparable across schools.

Median vs mean

The median is the middle graduate's figure — half the batch earned more, half less; it resists distortion by a few very large offers. The mean (average) is total ÷ count and is pulled up by outliers. Collvera leads with medians wherever reports disclose them.

Min / Max

The lowest and highest disclosed value for a salary head in that year, as printed in the report.

Top-25% / Top-50% average

The average package of the best-paid quarter (or half) of the batch, where the report discloses percentile bands.

Sample size (n)

The number of graduates a statistic is computed over, when the report states it. Shown so a figure covering 393 students is never confused with one covering 40.

Batch / eligible / placed

Batch is class size; eligible excludes students who opted out (startups, family business, deferred); placed is those who accepted offers through the process.

Placement rate

The share of the batch placed. Used as reported; where a report gives placed and batch but no percentage, it is derived as placed ÷ batch and shown to one decimal.

Recruiters (companies)

The number of distinct firms that made at least one offer that season, as disclosed.

PPO awarded vs accepted

Pre-placement offers extended after summer internships (awarded) versus those students actually took (accepted). Reports differ on which they publish; Collvera labels each explicitly.

International offers

Offers for roles based outside India, as the report defines them. An India-based role at a multinational is not an international offer.

ROI months (fee payback)

Total program fee ÷ (median package ÷ 12): the months of median pre-tax pay needed to recover the fee. A rough, deliberately simple affordability signal — labeled as computed, never presented as reported.

5-year CAGR

The compound annual growth rate of a college's Comparable CTC across its published years — how fast packages actually grew, not a single year-on-year jump.

Next-year forecast

A projection of the coming year's Comparable CTC from the college's multi-year record, always labeled as a forecast with a confidence range — the only forward-looking number on Collvera, and the one we grade ourselves on publicly when reports land.

NULL ("—")

A value the report did not disclose. Displayed as an em-dash; never zero, never estimated, never interpolated. The only approximated field on Collvera is admission cutoffs, which are explicitly framed as approximate.

Interim

Figures a report flags as partial, provisional, or as-on-a-date. Interim years carry Trust Grade C, never headline a college, and never enter rankings.

Same-year rule

Every cross-college comparison uses the same placement year on both sides. Where a college's latest report is older, it is ranked within the year it belongs to, not against newer data.