MBA Admissions 2014: Five big MBA Admission trends

Updated on January 10, 2014

This article gives you an insight of the changes in MBA admission 2014 process in various B schools including IIMs and other top PGDM B schools.

All the top B schools are making perceptible changes in their admission process

All the top B schools are making perceptible changes in their admission process. Aspirants may benefit more with the emerging MBA admission trends and utilise their CAT scores to the optimum in getting to their dream B school.

1. WAT, the new yardstick

Writing Ability Test (WAT) has now been playing very important role in second round of admission.

While XAT, gateway to XLRI and other important B schools has made Essay writing an important part of its written examination, most of the IIMs and top rated B schools have substituted GD by Writing Ability Test(WAT) in post CAT scenario. Looking at the significant increase of importance on the performance in WAT during the past few years, you will also have to focus more in improving your writing skill.

IIM A, IIM B, IIM C only use WAT for PI Round.

The six new IIMs, namely IIM Ranchi, Raipur, Rohtak, Trichy, Udaipur and Kashipur, have started conducting a common admission process since the academic year 2011-13 and have substituted Group Discussion(GD) by written ability test (WAT).

IIM I, IIM L, IIM K use both GD & WAT assessments.

2. Work Experience becoming more important

If you are a working professional, you have all the reason to be happy as you stand a better chance to get admission in these top B schools since prior work experience for a specified period is given a good weightage in final admission round.

IIMA awards 5-7% out of its 30 percent weightage, IIMB 10; IIMC 8; IIML 4; IIM Kashipur 5 and IIM Kozhikode provides 8 percent weightages respectively to candidates having post degree work experience.

CAT 2013 Results to be declared on January 14, 2014

3. Women candidates preferred
IIMs are now very much aware that women empowerment will change the surging face of management education in India. If you are a female candidate, you may get some bonus points to get into your dream B school. Top three IIMs A, B, C earlier didn’t provide any weightage to gender diversity but now old as well as new IIMs have begun assigning some points to fair sex.

IIML awards 10; IIMC 3; IIMA and B have devised a formula to entertain more girl candidates out of their total weightage points; IIM Kashipur awards 7 points; IIM Rohtak and Raipur 20; other top ranked institutes have also started following suit. Women candidates have all the reason to smile on this count.

4. IIMs and XLRI no more engineers’ domain

MBA aspirants from other than engineering background used to have a second thought before registering for CAT and XAT as getting admission in IIMs and XLRI was considered easy for the candidates with engineering background. To a great extent it is a fact also. But now the scene has changed. In case you are from non engineering background you also stand a good chance to get admission in top rated B schools.

To encourage the candidates from humanities, commerce, Law, economics, science, computer application, medical and paramedical, fine arts, the admission criteria in IIMs has been changed with the award of some bonus points to non engineering background candidates. IIMC followed by other IIMs started to award extra marks in the final admission round to non engineers. IIML awards 2 marks; IIM Rohtak 20; IIM Raipur 10 (Out of 30 awarded to female and non engineers).

CAT changed its pattern of examination and reduced the sections in test from 3 to 2. Now the Quantitative Aptitude section which was a stronghold of engineers has got Data interpretation clubbed to it. Now the percentile will be calculated based on both the parts in the section. Questions on Data Interpretation can be solved with a little more practice and no mathematical formulas are so much required for the same. This has also increased the admission chances of non engineers.

XAT another most coveted but paper pencil based MBA entrance test added two sections of General Awareness and essay writing so that the students from diverse backgrounds on XLRI campus can be admitted. Now the institutes associated to XAT are no more the sole domain of engineering students. XLRI also wants to have versatile students who can excel in the management field with equal knowledge of business, economics, politics and social developments.

5. Fading charm of GD

Group Discussion hitherto used to play a very important role in the second stage of admission round which has now been either replaced or added by WAT. Still there are a few institutes that conduct Group Discussion as an integral part of their admission process like IIM Lucknow, IIM Shillong, IIM Kozhikode, although the weightage to the same is getting reduced year by year and now it stands in the range of 5 to 10 percent. Another interesting feature is that although these IIMs have not done away with GD, WAT has been added to the final selection round.

CAT 2013 Results

CAT 2013 results on Jan 14; more than 15,000 candidates to get calls for IIMs

CAT 2013 Results to be declared on January 14, 2014

IIM Admission criteria 2014: Final Selection criteria of seven older IIMs?

IIM Admission criteria 2014: How to get shortlisted for seven Older IIMs?

New IIMs’ Common Admission Process 2014 to reduce burden on candidates

IIM Admission Process: 10,000 candidates to be shortlisted for 6 new IIMs

Solved WAT Essay topic for MBA Admission 2014

WAT Topic for MBA: 2014 General elections will be a watershed for Indian democracy

WAT Topic for MBA: Corruption is the root cause of current economic and social woes in India

WAT Topic for MBA: India`s 1.2 billion population is an asset for the country

WAT Topic for MBA: India has more skilled Human Resource

WAT Topic for MBA: Indo-US relations; how much beneficial for India

WAT Topic for MBA: FDI in multi brand retail is a boon or bane

WAT Topic for MBA: Is ASEAN a defunct Group

WAT Topic for MBA: Essay writing; fasten your belts

Essay Writing and WAT in IIMs: Role, Importance and Weightage

Click for more WAT topics for MBA

Solved GD Topics for MBA Admission 2014 :

GD Topic for MBA: What India gained at the WTO DOHA Round

GD topic for MBA: Political activism is the only way to root out corruption

GD Topic for MBA: New Lokpal will be effective in curbing corruption

GD Topics: Gender bias in portraying Women in Advertisements

GD Topic for MBA: RBI's new governor has taken adequate steps to improve Indian Economy

GD Topic for MBA: Corruption is the root cause for Indian Economy slowdown

GD Topic for MBA: The rise in vegetable prices is a man made farce

GD Topic for MBA: Opinion Polls be banned in pre election period

GD Topic for MBA: Should business lobbying be made legal in India?

GD Topics: Will India remain way behind China?

For any doubts and queries related to the exam pattern, preparations and other related queries about MBA entrance exams like XAT,IIFT, NMAT, SNAP, CMAT, IBSAT, MICAT and MBA Admission 2014, click here http://www.mbauniverse.com/mbau_faq/client.php

Following articles will provide all the key details decide which B school to apply:
MBA in Delhi/NCR	MBA in Cochin	MBA in Bangalore	MBA in Chennai
MBA in Ahmedabad	MBA in Bhubaneswar	MBA in Hyderabad	MBA in Mumbai/ Pune
MBA in Delhi	MBA in Pune	IIM Ranchi	XLRI Jamshedpur
FMS Delhi	SPJIMR Mumbai	IIFT Delhi	TAPMI Manipal