How to get Admission into IIMs and other B-schools in India

Studying in IIM's is a dream for many.  Weightages to work experience, academic record, performance in Group discussions, Personal Interviews, Written Ability test (WAT) and reservations for some social classes make it difficult to get admission into IIMs. Most freshers are of the opinion that getting a seat in IIMs without work experience is almost impossible. But we try to throw some light on  how to realize your dream of getting into a top class MBA college and look for a great career in Management.

Management graduates demand in India is fulfilled by government as well as private colleges as well.  There are top class colleges like XLRI, Symbiosis, XIM, SP Jain, MDI, NMIMS etc comes almost neck to neck with the academic standards and placements with IIMs.

There are total of 13 IIMs with almost 3300 seats of which nearly 1650 are for open category. Assuming that there are 1,80,000 test takers, 1% of this value is 1800.  So If you score 99 percentile or more the chances that you get a seat in IIM is most probably.  More over, IITs also run MBA program and there are nearly 600 seats of which nearly 300 are for open category.  The cut off for IITs range from 95 percentile for IIT - Roorkee to 99 percentile for IIT - bombay.

Top private colleges like SP Jain mumbai, MDI gurgaon, NITIE mumbai, TAPMI, KJ somaiya, Great Lakes chennai etc also give admission based on your CAT score which increases your chances of getting admission to these colleges if you score above 95 percentile.

If you belong to general category and in the final year of your engineering or graduation, along with taking CAT you should sit for XAT, SNAP, NMAT as these colleges have no reservations and take students based on their performance in the written test and subsequent rounds in the selection process. The preparation for CAT and these exams is almost same so no extra effort.  The only thing you have to do is taking mock exams for these tests along with mock CATs.

If you belong to any reserved category you can target IIMs and IITs by securing 85% or more.  So you can surely use this constitutional right for a great career.

What about Return of Investment: 
When it comes to MBA, be it IIM or any private B-School, the total tution fee ranges from 8 to 12 lakh. Top IIM's charge up to 12 lakh which is comparable with many other B schools. Most students think that only IIMs provide 100% placements so investing that much money is safe. But other top B-schools also provide 100% placements so worrying about placements is not worthy.  Almost all the B-schools try to provide loans though many public and private banks and it is of really little worry for any one.

So great future is ahead of you if you score well in these written tests. Even if you don't fare well in CAT, there are other exams which will give you cushion.