IIM Visakhapatnam announces Admission 2018: CAT 2017 gets 25% weight; 40% goes to PI-WAT

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MBAUniverse.com News Desk |
September 2, 2017
IIM Visakhapatnam has announced the admission criteria for the PGP batch of 2018. The admission criteria divided in three phases of shortlisting and final admission round will award a reduced weightage of 40% and 25% respectively to CAT 2017 exam score in the admission process.
IIM Visakhapatnam Admission
Higher weightage of 50% to Academics in shortlisting and 40% to PI-WAT in final selection round will play an important role in determination of final merit list at IIM Visakhapatnam.

Indian Institute of Management Visakhapatnam (IIMV) has announced the admission criteria for the PGP batch of 2018. The admission criteria divided in three phases of shortlisting and final admission round will award a reduced weightage of 40% and 25% respectively to CAT 2017 exam score in the admission process.  Higher weightage of 50% to Academics in shortlisting and 40% to PI-WAT in final selection round will play an important role in determination of final merit list at IIM Visakhapatnam.

The first phase process is applied to all eligible candidates who appear for CAT 2017 and have applied for IIM Visakhapatnam to determine those qualifying candidates who will be called to reconfirm their interest for admission to PGP 2018-20 of IIM Visakhapatnam. The first short list of candidates is based on candidates securing minimum section-wise and aggregate percentile scores in the CAT.

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According to IIM Visakhapatnam, “IIMV uses multiple parameters, namely academic performance in 10th standard examination, 12th standard examination and Bachelor’s degree examination, candidates’ scores in CAT, as well as performance in Personal Interview and Writen Ability Test to judge the suitability of candidates for the PGP program. Relevant work experience, if any, is also given weight in the selection.”

IIM Visakhapatnam is one of the 7 newest IIMs which started operation in 2015. This will be the 3rd batch of PGP programme at IIM Visakhapatnam.

3 Stage selection process
IIM Visakhapatnam proposes to adopt a 3-phase selection process and accordingly these selection criteria are applied in three phases. The selection process, parameters and weights used are uniform for all categories of applicants. Sufficient candidates will be short listed at each stage in each category to meet the reservation requirement for each group, as applicable at that time. 

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Stage-I
The first phase process is applied to all eligible candidates who appear for CAT 2017 and have also applied for IIM Visakhapatnam to determine those qualifying candidates who are called to reconfirm their interest for admission to PGP 2018-20 of IIM Visakhapatnam.

The first short list of candidates is based on candidates securing minimum section-wise and aggregate percentile scores in the CAT 2017 exam. Candidates obtaining a positive (greater than zero) raw score in all sections of CAT 2017 will only be considered. All the subsequent processing, standardization and selection is limited to candidates belonging to this first short list alone.

This means that the CAT 2017 score alone (for candidates who have applied for IIM Visakhapatnam) is used as the basis for arriving at the first short list.

The percentile cut-off scores used for CAT 2017 for first shortlist at IIM Visakhapatnam are as shared below

Minimum CAT 2017 percentile for shortlisting, section-wise
Category Section 1
(VARC)
Section 1
(DILR)
Section 1
(Quant)
Overall
General 85 80 80 90
NC-OBC 75 70 70 80
SC 60 60 60 75
ST 50 50 50 55
DAP 50 50 50 55
QA=Quantitative Ability; DILR=Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning;  
VARC=Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension

Reconfirm interest for IIM Visakhapatnam by April 2018
Please note that these cut-offs are not for admission offers whose scores could be much higher. All candidates in the first shortlist that will consist of the candidates who have applied to IIM Visakhapatnam and also meet the minimum percentile requirements, would be receiving an e-mail from IIM Visakhapatnam around third week of April 2018, with a link to a web page where they MUST reconfirm, by a stipulated date, their interest to pursue their candidature further, for admission to PGP 2018-20 at IIM Visakhapatnam.

Stage-II
Only those candidates who meet the minimum CAT 2017 percentiles requirements and have reconfirmed their interest, for admission to PGP 2018-20 of IIM Visakhapatnam will be referred  as Qualified Confirmed Candidates for the 2nd phase of admission process.  These candidates only will be considered in Phase 2 of the admission process.

5 point shortlisting criteria for WAT & PI round
IIM Visakhapatnam will follow 5 point shortlisting criteria for PI round instead of relying only upon the CAT 2017 exam score.

40% weight to CAT 2017 scores
The shortlisting process for WAT & PI round for admission to PGP 2018-20, will award 40% weightage for performance in CAT 2017 exam. The weight is not very high as compared to other components. IIM Visakhapatnam proposes to award this weightage dividing it among all the 3 sections of CAT 2017 exam. 

The 40% weightage for CAT 2017 score is derived from the performance in each of the 3 sections as follows:

CAT 2017 exam section name Weightage in shortlisting for PI-WAT
Verbal & Reading Comprehension (VRC)  14 points.  14 points
Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (DILR) 16 points
Quantitative Aptitude (QA)  10 points
Total 40 points

50% weight to Academics
Weightage for class 10 marks is 20%, for class 12 marks it is 10% and for graduation the weightage is 20%. For all the 1st stage shortlisted Candidates, the candidates' percentage scores in the 10th and 12th board exams are initially adjusted by dividing each such score by the 90th percentile score obtained in that board.

The database of 10th and 12th scores of all CAT applicants of the past two years is used for identifying the 90th percentile score for each 10th and 12th board for this purpose.

A weightage of 20% will be awarded for graduation marks at the second stage of admission process at IIM Visakhapatnam.  Final scores obtained by the candidate are used for the bachelors' degree and professional degrees.  Incomplete or intermediate scores are considered only if the candidate's final score was pending. For final year bachelor's degree candidates, at the time of CAT registration, their incomplete graduation score would be taken in lieu of final graduation score. Graduation scores are adjusted within their respective categories. This gives the adjusted score for the bachelor's degree for all Qualified Confirmed Candidates.

Professional course weights for CA/CS only
Candidates with Chartered Accountancy, Cost Accounting, and Company Secretary certifications are eligible for weight under professional course. No other professional course is eligible for weight under professional course. The professional course score is also standardized for all Qualified Confirmed Candidates.

8% weight for work experience
The 8% weight will be awarded for work experience. 36 months work experience will carry maximum weight. This weight will remain at that level for candidates with work experience exceeding 36 months.

The score/weight for work experience is calculated as: Score for Work Experience = 8x/36 (if 0 < x < 36) = 8 (if x >= 36) Where x is the months of work experience up to July 2017, as captured in CAT application form (and substantiated in the application to IIMV). 

The maximum of the work experience score and the professional course score is considered for selection under a common weight of 8 for work experience or professional course – since both provide professional work experience relevant to a management programme.

2% weight to Gender Diversity
Female Candidates will be awarded 2% weigt at the pre-PI rank list for interview shortlisting. It will not be applicable for phase 3 of the admissions process i.e. at the time of final admission offers.

WAT & PI round: Final shortlist
All the Qualified Confirmed Candidates with the weighted aggregate of all the components namely work experience or professional course; CAT 2017 percentile; 10th board; 12th board; bachelors and gender diversity will be used to prepare a pre-PI rank list based on which a second short list of candidates is prepared. The next phase of admission round will assess the candidates through personal interview and written ability test.  IIM Visakhapatnam proposes to shortlist sufficient candidates for the personal interview & written ability test.

The normalization or standardization in any of the above components will be carried out as per the following formula - Standardized score (truncated between 0 and weight (wt)) is computed from the raw score (val)as: Max [0, min {wt, wt/2 + ((val-mean)/ sd) * wt/6}].

Final selection: 40% weight to PI-WAT round
If you have low CAT scores, you may cover them in the PI-WAT round which has 40% weight in final selection. The other weightage criteria in pre-PI stage will stand reduced to 60 points in final selection.

Measuring on a scale of 100, IIM Visakhapatnam has shared following weightage on various components in admission process –

Final selection components

Weightage

Personal Interview (PI)

30

Written Ability Test (WAT)

10

CAT 2017 score

25

10th class board exam

10

12th class board exam

  5

Bachelor’s degree

10

Work experience

10

Intake: May increase from 60
IIM Visakhapatnam may increase from the intake of 60 students in its PGP 2017-19 batch. It is expected that the B-school may increase its intake for the PGP 2018-20 batch.

Fee structure at IIM Visakhapatnam
The tuition fee for PGP 2018-20 at IIM Visakhapatnam is slightly higher than other new IIMs. It is Rs. 10.5 lakhs for 2 years. It is the highest fee structure among the 7 new IIMs launched in 2015. Other IIMs have a fee structure between Rs.9 to 10 lakhs. Leading banks routinely offer educational loans at concessional terms as per Govt. of India guidelines for all IIMs including IIM Visakhapatnam.

IIM Visakhapatnam: Hostel facility
The temporary campus at IIM Visakhapatnam is not equipped with on campus hostel accommodation and candidates shall have to move to off campus hostel accommodation. While IIM Visakhapatnam operates from Andhra University campus, it has arranged two separate 5-storey buildings which are 3 KM away from campus with a capacity of 60 students each on a double occupancy basis. Institute provides transportation to students for commuting between the Institute and hostels. All the rooms are air conditioned and furnished.

IIM Visakhapatnam came into being in 2015 as one of the 6 IIMs announced in the Union Budget 2014. While 5 of the 6 IIMs got finalized in the Budget 2014, the fate of IIM Visakhapatnam took the final shape in the Budget 2015 till then it remained a Government Ordinance entity. IIM Bangalore is the mentor IIM to IIM Visakhapatnam. Classes at IIM Visakhapatnam are held at the temporary premises allotted to it at Andhra University campus and will continue at the temporary campus till the 300 acre campus of IIM Visakhapatnam gets ready.

Placement 2017 at IIM Visakhapatnam
The year 2017 was the 1st final placement season for IIM Visakhapatnam. The top 11 of offers accepted averaged Rs.14.57 lakhs. The next quartile of 11 offers accepted averaged Rs.11.16 lakhs.

The average salary of the 35 accepted offers is Rs.11.59 lakhs while the median of the 35 accepted offers is Rs.10.92 lakhs.

Top recruiters at IIM Visakhapatnam include Govt of Andhra Pradesh (10 offers), HSBC, ICICI Lombard, Sutherland Global Services, 4tiGo, Amul, Directi, GMR, Decimal point, HDFC Life, KPMG among others.

Good academics V/s CAT 2017 score
IIM Visakhapatnam PGP 2018-20 admission process involves 6 components with less weightage to CAT 2017 scores. According to IIM Visakhapatnam “The admission process seeks to identify the most promising candidates for the PGP batch of 2018 for IIMV.” With the excellent academics, even a low CAT 2017 exam score may be negotiated for admission to IIM Visakhapatnam. In final selection round the weightage to academics and to CAT 2017 score is equal at 25% for each component.

IIM Visakhapatnam offers good admission opportunity to CAT 2017 aspirants. The B-school despite being only 2 years old offers higher placement packages as compared to many other highly ranked B-schools.

Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more updates on IIM Visakhapatnam

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Take CAT 2017 Mock Full LengthTo assess your preparation in revised CAT 2017 exam pattern with 100 questions.
CAT Previous Year Question Papers, Answer With Solution:
CAT 2008    |    CAT 2007    |    CAT 2006    |    CAT 2005   |    CAT 2004
Section 1: Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension CAT 2017: Quiz 1 CAT 2017: Quiz 2
Section 2: Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning CAT 2017: Quiz 1 CAT 2017: Quiz 2
Section 3: Quantitative Ability CAT 2017: Quiz-1 CAT 2017: Quiz-2