CAT 2016: What profile IIM Ahmedabad , Bangalore , Calcutta, FMS Delhi need beyond CAT scores? Check admission criteria

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MBAUniverse.com News Desk |
November 14, 2016
Even after scoring very high percentile in CAT 2016 you may not expect to get admission in IIMA, B, C, L or FMS Delhi as their focus has shifted to your profile
If you are a non-engineer, have good academic record, have good written and spoken communication skills, have 1 or 2 years of work experience, your low scores in CAT 2016 may not be any hindrance

Making a swift move from awarding high weightage to CAT 2016 scores to profile based importance IIM Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Calcutta. Lucknow and FMS Delhi have changed their admission criteria for PGP 2017-19. Now even after scoring very high percentile in CAT 2016 you may not expect to get admission in any of these top B-schools as their focus has shifted to your profile which will be awarded higher weightage in final admission round as well as in shortlisting process.

IIMs, FMS: Higher weightage to Profile
Conveying the message loud and clear that IIMs are no more a domain only for Engineers, not only CAT 2016 exam pattern has been revamped to make it more aspirant friendly especially for non-engineers but also the earlier criterion to award high weightage to CAT 2016 percentile scores has substantially been reduced and has been shifted to other parameters. Now if you are a non-engineer, have good academic record, have good written and spoken communication skills, have 1 or 2 years of work experience, your low scores in CAT 2016 may not be any hindrance to your admission to PGP 2017-19 at IIM Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Calcutta, Lucknow, Kozhikode or FMS Delhi.

What do IIMs & FMS need?
With the revised admission criteria for PGP/MBA 2017-19 batch, a 99+ percentile may remain out of the shortlisting arena by these IIMs or FMS Delhi while a candidate with low percentile of 95-96 in CAT 2016 may get through. 

Besides your CAT 2016 scores, now IIMs need number of other things in you before offering admission to their flagship PGP 2017-19 batch. Your 99 percentile may turn into ‘zero’ percentile as far as call from IIMs is concerned unless you have complied with other key parameters. Now if you think that this percentile score in CAT 2016 will suffice to get a call from IIM Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Calcutta, Lucknow or FMS Delhi, you are mistaken.

You need to understand the complex shortlisting criteria and CAT score parameters prescribed by these top IIMs and FMS Delhi to determine what else you need along with the high CAT 2016 scores to get shortlisted by the desired B-school.

In fact only a high score in CAT 2016 may not be taken as granted to cover all the essentials for admission in IIMs, FMS Delhi in 2017. Along with high overall percentile you must qualify as per the prescribed score of IIMs, in each of the 3 sections in CAT 2016. If you have done it, your score of 95 or 99 could be an asset for you else it is of no use.

IIMs award low Weight to CAT 2016
Almost all the IIMs have changed their admission policy for PGP 2017-19 batch and will look beyond your high overall percentile in CAT 2016 before offering you admission.

IIMs have reduced the weightage substantially to be awarded to CAT 2016 scores in shortlisting and final admission round. Now higher weightage will be awarded to your academic profile, written and verbal communication skill, gender diversity among others.

IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Calcutta, IIM Lucknow among other IIMs have taken lead and have reduced the weightage to be awarded for CAT 2016 scores by about 10 points. A dip of 10% in awarding the weightage to CAT 2016 scores can be rated as the major change in the admission policy of the top IIMs in the country. 

IIMs focus on excellent Academic record
If you have a good academic record with 90 percent marks in class X, XII and graduation, you stand better chances of getting shortlisted even if you have scored less in CAT 2016.

On the academic diversity front, IIMs will prefer candidates with background from Humanities, Arts, Commerce etc for PGP 2017-19 batch. Accordingly higher weightage for the candidates coming from non-engineering back ground will be awarded to the students of Arts, Commerce, Economics and other non technical courses.

Bonus points for Work Experience
If you have work experience between 2 to 3 years in supervisory cadre, you will be awarded weightage by IIMs in admission. Please remember no IIM gives any weightage to the work experience of less than 6 months. Work experience beyond 4 years onwards also has very less or no weightage and is not much preferred by IIMs.

The work experience with an NGO; your participation in spread of education and other contribution to social cause reflect your leadership skills. A quality internship may also be included to express your work experience. Maximum weightage in the range of 5 to 10 percent will be awarded for the work experience which includes the quality of work also.

IIM Ahmedabad: Admission Criteria
Check if you have the right profile to be shortlisted and offered admission by IIM Ahmedabad. No doubt you will need a high percentile in CAT 2016 to get shortlisted at the 1st stage but the qualifying scores for each section in IIM Ahmedabad is very low. In the final admission process the weightage to CAT 2016 score will further go down.

IIM Ahmedabad has reduced its qualifying sectional percentile in CAT 2016 from 80 to 70 so that non-engineers who find it difficult to score high in Quant and Data Interpretation can also qualify and can be shortlisted at the 1st stage.

At the 1st Stage Shortlisting for Academic Writing Test (AWT) and Personal Interview (PI) the minimum CAT 2016 Qualifying scores are 70 sectional and 80 overall percentile. In addition to this high weightage of 30% will be awarded to Class 10, 12, and bachelor’s degree scores in accordance with different streams of academics.

The Final composite Score (FCS) of a candidate who appears in AWT & PI will be computed as follows: FCS = 0.50 (Normalised PI Score) + 0.10 (Normalised AWT Score) + 0.40 (CS). The normalised PI and AWT scores of a candidate are their scores in the respective field divided by the average of the top 1% scores in the same field respectively.

After the AWT & PI round, admission offers are made by IIMA to successful candidates. The ranking and the final selection is based on a diverse set of attributes which includes performance in CAT, performance in AWT & PI, academic, co-curricular and extra-curricular achievements, work experience among others

Read more about IIM Ahmedabad admission criteria http://www.mbauniverse.com/article/id/9652/IIM-Ahmedabad

IIM Bangalore: Admission Criteria
IIM Bangalore while announcing its admission policy for PGP 2017-19 batch has made it clear that it would award only 40% weightage to CAT 2016 scores and rest 60% weightage will go to excellent academics, academic diversity, work experience and gender diversity.

Now if a candidate cracks CAT 2016 with 100 percentile but has only 60% or less marks in his academics will get 40% weightage only and almost 0% weightage in academics. The chances to get shortlisted are remote as against those candidates who have scored 90 percentile in CAT 2016 but have 90% and above marks in their academics from class 10 to bachelor’s degree.

The second category candidate will get 36% weightage for CAT 2016 scores; 50% for academic profile and on the top of it, if he has 3 years or above work experience, an additional weightage of 8% will be given to him. 2% weight will be awarded to female candidates.

Read more about revised admission criteria at IIM Bangalore http://www.mbauniverse.com/article/id/9780/IIM-Bangalore

IIM Calcutta: Fully changed Admission Criteria
IIM Calcutta has drastically reduced the weightage to CAT 2016 scores. For the first stage shortlisting for Personal Interview round, IIM Calcutta will award only 28 out of total 50 points to CAT 2016 score. This weightage was 67% last year but for admission to PGP 2017-19 batch it has been reduced to only 56%.. IIM Calcutta has increased award of weightage percentage from 30% to 40% upto class 12 marks to shortlist candidates at the first stage.

Final selection Criteria
A candidate’s final score for selection at IIM Calcutta is calculated on the basis of different weights to be used for the final selection for PGP-PGDM 2017-19 batch.

On a scale of maximum score of 50, CAT 2016 score will be awarded a weightage of 15 points; Personal Interview (PI) – 24 points; Written Ability Test (WAT) – 5 points; Academic diversity – 2 points; Work experience – 4 points.

Accordingly, check if you have the right profile as required by IIM Calcutta, you could be the winner in the race.

Read more about overhauled admission criteria of IIM Calcutta http://www.mbauniverse.com/article/id/9683/IIM-Calcutta

IIM Lucknow: Admission criteria with low CAT 2016 weightage
IIM Lucknow has reduced the weightage to CAT 2016 scores in 1st stage shortlisting to 60% from 78% in last year. In the final selection also CAT 2016 scores will be awarded weightage of only 30%. Read more about the updated admission criteria of IIM Lucknow http://www.mbauniverse.com/article/id/9701/iim-lucknow

IIM Kozhikode: 25% weight to academics & Work-ex
The fastest upcoming IIM among the 7 older IIMs, IIM Kozhikode has also changed its admission criteria for PGP 2017-19. CAT 2016 aspirants shall have to score a minimum of 90 overall and 80 sectional percentile to qualify for shortlisting by IIM Kozhikode alongwith a minimum of 60% marks in class 10 & 12.

For admission to PGP 2017-19, IIMK will award 75% weight to CAT 2016 and rest 25% is divided among academic profile, Work experience, gender and academic diversity.

Read more about the IIMK admission criteria http://www.mbauniverse.com/article/id/9792/IIM-Kozhikode

FMS Delhi: Admission Criteria changed
Faculty of Management Studies (FMS) Delhi which used to shortlist the candidates on the basis of overall CAT scores, has announced different admission 2017 criteria for CAT 2016 toppers to improve the ratio of non-engineers in its MBA 2017-19 batch. Apart from scoring a high percentile in CAT 2016, candidates will have to ensure that they also score a high sectional score as each section will be awarded varying weightage at the time of shortlisting. Read more about the Changed MBA 2017-19 shortlisting criteria at FMS Delhi http://www.mbauniverse.com/article/id/9867/FMS-Delhi-Admission

Different weightages shall be assigned to the scores of different sections of the CAT 2016 while shortlisting candidates for Extempore and PI round,. A composite score shall be computed giving weightages of 30%, 30%, and 40% to the scores of QA, DI/LR and VRC sections respectively as provided by the CAT Centre for the CAT 2016 Examination for candidates who apply to FMS.

Read FMS Dean interview - why FMS Delhi changed the admission criteria http://www.mbauniverse.com/article/id/9872/FMS-Delhi-Admission-2017

Going by the admission criteria of these top B-schools, it can be well understood that scoring high percentile in CAT 2016 is although necessary for admission to top rated IIMs, but it is not the only requirement. It is not necessary that your 99+ percentile may make you eligible to receive a call from IIM Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Calcutta, Lucknow or FMS Delhi given the reduced weightage to CAT 2016 scores in the changed admission criteria. On the other hand, you can expect to be shortlisted by these top institutes even if you score 92 or 94 percentile in CAT 2016 provided you have right profile with you.

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