CAT, XAT Application: Students find MBA experience rewarding; take first step now!

If you are reading this article, you surely have some interest in MBA education, and are evaluating your options. You are perhaps working, or graduating from your college this year. So have you applied to CAT 2013 yet? Do you know that last date to apply for CAT is now just a few days away Sep 26. And you can also apply to other key MBA exams like XAT, NMAT, SNAP now. But you may still be asking the question, why now, and why so many exams. This article will clarify your doubts.

Students find MBA experience rewarding Lets start with the most basic reason why you must apply to CAT, and other exams. Students who are studying at well known B-schools are quite satisfied with their MBA experience.
IIM-A student Mr Debjit Nag who scored 99.97 percentile in CAT 2012 and also secured final admission offers from 10 top B-schools including 9 IIMs and FMS Delhi, says that the kind of industry exposure one gets at top B-schools like IIMA is indeed a great value addition and learning opportunity for shaping up managerial skills. I would like to say that MBA is really worth investing time and money if pursued from a top notch B-School of the country, he says.

Sharing his three-month learning experience at an IIM, Mr Rohit Anand Garg who cracked CAT 2012 with an overall 99.16 percentile, says that MBA develops ones interpersonal skills and decision making capabilities. These skills become important when one is required to handle bigger responsibilities and lead a group in an organization.

The B-schools environment also changes your perspective towards business and develops a thought process that leads you to land yourself successfully into corporate world or build your own business.
Before joining the institute I had a mindset that I would be joining the corporate world after completing my MBA, but now after spending some time at my B-school, my plans have changed and I am more inclined towards being an entrepreneur, shares Mr Garg.

Ms Sumedha Deogharia who scored 99.35%ile in CAT 2012 and presently pursuing PGDIM at NITIE, Mumbai, says that the best part of doing an MBA is that you get to meet and interact with a lot of people: your seniors, alums and people from the industry. You get to learn a lot from these people.

Another aspect that the B-schools touch upon is honing your people skills. Going for a management career enhances ones decision making and problem solving skills, vision, creativity and innovation.Once you enter the corporate world, you are led by a group along a specific path but whether the path being traversed is the right one or whether there are any alternative paths available to do the job more efficiently, you dont know. Hence, going for an MBA would help bridge the gap between your technical and management skills and would help you contribute to the society by doing your job more effectively, she adds.

CAT, the first step So is getting into a top B-school is your dream, then take the first step by registering for key MBA exams. By taking one single exam CAT, you get admission opportunity at IIMs and more than 100 other B-schools who accept CAT scores like MDI Gurgaon, SPJIMR Mumbai, IMI New Delhi and so on. More details on this link.

While you would have made up your mind to take the CAT test, you may be wondering why take other exams.

XAT, NMAT, SNAP expand your options While admissions to IIMs are conduct through a Common Admission Test (CAT), XLRI conducts its own test XAT, for admission to its management programmes. Similarly, Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS) and Symbiosis International University (SIU) conduct NMAT and SNAP respectively for admissions to their management programmes.

More exams offer you more option on a later stage when you start selecting B-schools you wish to apply. Your score cards of different MBA exams broaden your options for B-schools and offer a wide range of B-schools which you can apply for. Also, in case you dont perform well in one exam, you will have other MBA exam score cards to rely on.

Different MBA exams bring you admission opportunities to different set of top B-schools. For example, apart from IIMs, your CAT score will make you eligible to apply to many other top B-schools like FMS Delhi, SPJIMR, MDI Gurgaon, IMT Ghaziabad amongst others. Similarly, XAT scores are also accepted by more than 100 B-schools in India including GIM, XIMB, BIMTECH, TAPMI and many other top B-schools.

Does it cost too much to apply to 4-5 exams? The application cost is also not very high as you only need around Rs 6000 to register for all these four MBA exams. With such small investment, you can secure options to apply for different B-schools which shortlist candidates on the basis of such exams. You can however, decide on a later stage on your selection of specific B-schools which you wish to apply for as most of the B-schools keep their application process open until the month of December January.

How do Exams compare? So, what are the unique features of different MBA exams? While more MBA Exams offer you more opportunity to apply to different B-schools at a later stage, there are also unique features attached to these different MBA Exams.

Common Admission Test (CAT):
- You get admission opportunity at IIMs and more than 100 other B-schools who accept CAT scores
- Open question pattern: CAT follows a set pattern. You know exactly the areas from where questions are asked and also know the number of questions and total marks
-Online testing and long testing window: CAT offers you convenience to choose date and schedule for your testing as per your convenience

Xavier Aptitude Test (XAT):
- Entry to XLRI, which is above several IIMs in many prestigious rankings, and many other top B-schools
- Paper-pencil mode which may be preferable for students who are not much familiar with computer based testing

NMAT:
- You can get admission opportunity at NMIMS which has top ranked MBA programmes India
- Offers more than 600 seats under its different MBA programmes
- Facility of 3 re-takes which brings you opportunity to improve your score and increases possibility to enter an MBA programme

SNAP:
- Simplified process: One application for all 13 colleges under Symbiosis International University after registering for SNAP
- Centralized PI-WAT process for all colleges based on your SNAP score
- The last date for registering is Nov 26 which gives you enough time after CAT exam to evaluate your performance and register for this test
So now that you know, why you should apply for these exams, take the first step, and apply now. So you will miss the IIM and MBA bus!

Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more news and updates on MBA exams.