CAT 2022 Topper Interview: Know How 80+ Mocks Helped Garima Score 99.64%

Yes, IIM Bangalore is one of the toughest business schools to get admission to, and every year, even CAT 99+ percentilers miss out on a call from the institute. IIM Bangalore uses multiple parameters, namely academic performance as well as candidates' scores in CAT/GMAT to select candidates for the PGP programme. IIMB adopts a two-phase selection process and accordingly, these selection criteria are applied in two phases. The first phase of the process is applied to all eligible candidates who appear for CAT to determine candidates to be called for a personal interview (PI). Candidates selected for the PI process will be additionally required to take a Writing Ability Test (WAT).

No, one can't join IIM without CAT. Candidates seeking admission to the IIM Ahmedabad MBA course must appear for CAT and secure 90 percentile. The Institute considers Writing Ability Test (WAT) and Personal Interview (PI) rounds for final admission to IIM Ahmedabad along with CAT results. Students must meet both, the overall CAT cutoff percentile and the sectional cutoffs.The Institute does not release CAT cutoffs in the public domain and are exclusively accessible only via account login to candidates who have appeared for the exam. 

The table given below mentions IIM Calcutta sectional and overall cutoff 2024 across all sections and categories:

The answer to this question of whether an average student can get into IIM can be both yes and no depending on the definition of an average student.

• Based on Academics (Class 10/ Class 12/ Graduation): While a student with average scores in Class 10, Class 12 and graduation with a good CAT score certainly has good chances of getting a call from IIM-A, chances are less for someone with an average CAT score.
• Based on student category (General or Reserved): While it is tough for a General category average student to grab a seat at IIM due to high score requirements, a reserved category student can get admission being at average scores as well.
• Based on past work experience, diversity and other factors: Gender and academic diversity is also a factor on which students are shortlisted at IIM. IIMs judge the past academic category based on the degree obtained by the students before MBA and then a weightage is allotted based on that. For Engineers, the percentage for scoring the highest marks is higher as compared with other streams
• Performance in selection rounds: Once you make it to the final selection rounds, i.e., AWT/PI process, it can be considered a fresh start. At this stage, students can forget their past average-ness but definitely require good grasp over the past subjects as academics-related questions are asked in the interview.

Based on the above factors, it can be considered that while getting into top Management institutes, such as IIM is extremely tough, the past performance, CAT performance, student category and a lot of factors can be the reasons for a student to receive that final call.

For candidates to get into top IIMs including IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore and IIM Calcutta, one must have a high CAT score preferably equal to or more than 99.5 Percentile. Considered as the top B-School of India, the competition for top IIMs is very high whereas on the other hand the number of seats for the same are less. So in order to be at the best B-School one needs to score the best.

Every IIM is different in terms of eligibility criteria, for IIMs including Lucknow, Indore,  Kozhikode,  Shillong, candidates are expected to score around 98 Percentile and a decent score of 80 Per cent in the academics. For the remaining New IIMs, the CAT cutoff ranges between 96 and 97 Percentile, whereas for Baby IIMs the cutoff might vary between 93 and 92 Percentile

It is very important for candidates to score good CAT cutoff Percentile depending on the IIMs they are aiming for. 

No, IIM Bangalore or any other IIMs do not offer reservation of seats to the students. However, the qualifying criteria for General and reserved categories are comparatively different. Please find below the category-wise qualifying cutoff required by all candidates.

To be eligible for admission to PGP courses, aspirants must meet the criteria as mentioned below:

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent qualification from a UGC-recognised university after at least 12 years of school education with at least 50% aggregate or equivalent CGPA (45% in case of SC/ST/PwD candidates).
• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering/Technology (4 years after 10+2/Post BSc/Post Diploma) or BE/BTech equivalent examinations, of Professional Societies, recognised by MHRD/UPSC/AICTE (eg. AMIE by Institution of Engineers - India, AMICE by the Institute of Civil Engineers India) can also apply.
• Moreover, any qualifications recognised by the Association of Indian Universities, New Delhi which is equivalent to a Bachelor’s degree awarded by UGC recognised University/Institutions are also acceptable.

For MBA MBA in Entreprenueship & Innovation, aspirants with a valid Bachelor's degree in any discipline can apply. For more details about IIM Lucknow PGP/MBA programmes, Click Here.