Getting the Cat in the Bag
Every year, lakhs of students across India undergo intensive coaching sessions and tests aspiring to join IIM. This article will help you in understanding the structure of the admission Procedure and how to crack IIM.
Know what it takes to get into the top management institutes of the country. Explained by a Guru who is on the field for almost 20 years now, Mr. Arun Sharma.
It’s a matter of Prestige
IIMs or Indian Institute of Management, are one of the most prestigious management institutes in the country. They are globally renowned because of the outcomes and kind of careers they have given to passing out students.
The top three IIMs are those in Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Calcutta, cumulatively known as ABC Institutes. The Indian government has been keen on increasing the number of IIMs as they feel the need for more managerially equipped people in the nation’s workforce which has resulted in now 20 IIMs across the country.
Cracking the Code : Procedure to Admissions
We shall examine the procedure for admission to the flagship PGDM programs – often referred to as MBA programs, which is dependent upon an exam called CAT or Common Aptitude Test. This test can be taken during the final year of graduation as an appearing candidate or any time after graduation within 3 to 4 years.
Preparing for the CAT takes time and patience, strengthening your basics and taking numerous mock tests to focus on your weaknesses and sharpen your skills. More has been examined upon this process in this article (Insert link here).
If you get a good score in CAT you are short listed for the next step stage of the MBA admission process which includes Group Discussions (GD), Personal Interviews (PI) and Written Analysis Tests (WAT). A written analysis test looks into writing abilities, and extempore and then the personality assessment process ensues post which a candidate begins getting calls from institutes.
Institutional Value
Every candidate must aspire to crack the process and enter the top most IIMs or any one of the top 30 great institutes for MBA among which would be SP Jain, XLRI, and such. These institutes not only help you get on track to good career paths but also guarantee good value to students personally and professionally.
A Mix of All : Scores and More
Most of the institutes look at written test scores and also consider academic profiling – how good you’ve been in what you’ve been doing right from Class 10th to the graduation scores. They also take a deep look into any work experience or extra-curricular activities you have.
Shortlisting is based on a composite score which is typically a mix of CAT scores or in the case of XLRI, the ZAT score plus profile marks. A lot of people wonder if they should not look at IIM if they have been poor in academics. However, what has been lost during school years, aspiring MBA candidates should try and make up for it during graduation years and focus on controlling what all can be achieved to get a wholesome profile forward to the institutes.
Bang for the Buck
Do try and make a list of the top 20-25 institutes which would be great value for money and provide a great bang for your career, giving you the boost that you require as a graduate from a top B school viz a viz a regular graduate from any other school. This results in a huge difference in terms of exposure and even package difference and the financial differences can run into crores of rupees per year.
Hence a word of advice to people who have not been able to achieve very exceptional performance academically in school would be to focus forward and get a good CAT score – close to a 98-99 percentile – which should assure them of a great college.
Wholesome Review
Once a candidate goes through this procedure – of written score, profile score and personality assessment score (which includes marking over GD, PI, case study) – a composite result is created and a final list of admissions are offered to people who qualify based on all three criteria.
About Mr. Arun Sharma
Arun Sharma is a name that every CAT aspirant surely knows of. He is the well-known author of two of the most sought after books on CAT preparation, namely, ‘How to prepare for Quantitative Aptitude for the CAT’ and ‘How to prepare for Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning for the CAT’. Arun has prepared thousands of students for several exams, who have gone on to crack them. He has himself not been able to give up the CAT ‘keeda’ and is a serial-CAT-taker, who has been cracking the exam for the past 14 years. He has over 10 titles to his name, and over 1.5 million copies of his books have been sold till date.
About his Company:
Mindworkzz is one of India’s leading brands in Aptitude training and testing. We are involved in training aspirants for the CAT over the past 2 decades and have trained over 10000 IIM Graduates. Besides we are also involved in conducting classes for UPSC (CSAT) and CRT (campus recruitment training). Our key partners include companies like McGraw Hill Education, Hungama, Airtel etc.
