The IIMs have come up with the detailed data of CAT 2011 registrations. MBAUniverse.com analyzed the data, received from IIM Calcutta, to find out the key trends in this year’s CAT. We came out with five key trends that point to the changing profile of CAT aspirants. Read further:
1) More work experienced candidates opting for CAT: 32% of the total registered candidates for CAT 2011 have work experience of more than 6 months, compared to 27.35% in CAT 2010, which is an increase of 4.65%. Of the total work experience candidates,13% have worked for a period of 1 to 2 years and 12.5% have worked for more than 2 years. This is surely an indication of the strong demand for MBA degree amongst the executives, who understand the importance of the degree for zooming on to the next stage of their career.
2) More engineers join the CAT league: Amongst the candidates who have registered for CAT 2011, the maximum belong to the engineering domain. 64% are engineers/engineering students. In CAT 2010 the number of engineering background candidates was 60%. This means that there is an increase of about four per cent this year, which some experts have attributed to the DMSs of IITs joining the CAT exam.
3) Commerce, BBA next biggest stream: About 15 % of the registered candidates are from Commerce background and 9.5% have graduate business education (BBA). The rest 11.5% of the candidates belong to Science, Humanities and other educational backgrounds.
4) Number of female test takers rise: This year, the percentage of female test takers has increased by 1.3 per cent, which means 3,000 more female candidates. 27.3 per cent of the total candidates are women. In 2010, the percentage was 26. This rise can be attributed to the growing women power in the corporate world with icons like Indra Nooyi, Vinita Bali, Chanda Kochhar.
5) Delhi NCR remains the hub of CAT aspirants: About 24 per cent of test-takers are from Delhi NCR region, which includes Gurgaon, Faridabad, Noida and Ghaziabad. Mumbai and Bangalore are the second and third biggest test centers with 9 per cent and 8.9 per cent test takers respectively. Hyderabad, Pune and Chennai follow suit at 6.4 per cent, 6.3 per cent and 6.2 per cent respectively.
Delhi NCR is home to large number of leading B schools, which includes FMS, IIFT, IMT, IMI, BIMTECH and many other quality B schools.
Delhi NCR already boasts of large number of MBA aspirants with its many universities and other educational institutions. Students from the neighbouring towns and cities also add to this population, as they flock to Delhi to prepare themselves for the big exam and also dream to pursue their MBA in Delhi NCR, due to large number of B school options available to them.
Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more updates on CAT 2011
