How can I get an Interview Call from IIM Kozhikode ? – CAT 2014 : PGP 2015-17

-  Number of women on campus will reduce further: From the 5% weightage for gender diversity last year, combined with a 2% weightage for academic diversity, IIM Kozhikode has now moved to a new set of criteria where 5% weightage will be allocated to gender/academic diversity. Thus, in this 5% component, a female engineer will be on par with a female 'non-engineer' and a male 'non-engineer'. This will put all contestants on a more even footing, all except male engineers.

- Graduation scores become slightly less important for getting an interview call: Last year's criteria had a 12% weightage for Graduation score. This year, there is a 15% weightage, equally divided between Graduation score and Std XII score. The marking scheme for both Graduation Score and Std XII score is identical - we believe this will be slightly unfair to students graduating from streams like arts and humanities, and also slightly unfair to students from less lenient boards.

Other Salient features of selection criteria

-   Basic filters for CAT scores and Std X, XII scores remain unchanged: The basic filters for CAT score (80% sectionals and 90% overall), and Std X and Std XII score (60%) remain unchanged.

-  Work experience will be updated with quality of work experience: Just like last year, work-experience will continue to have a 5% weight in the initial shortlist, and then in the final selection criteria, quality of work experience will have  a 5% weightage.

The selection criteria explained (for first timers)

The shortlisting and selection criteria for IIM Kozhikode are explained below:

Shortlisting

This is a two-step process - basic filtering, followed by profile scoring and shortlisting.

Basic filter

The basic filter is a set of conditions like minimum CAT percentile (sectional and overall), minimum Std X score and minimum Std XII score. The basic filters are given below

Basic Filter

Minimum requirements for Stage 1 shortlist at IIM Kozhikode (2014-16 PGP)*
	CAT Score	Sectional	SSC/X	HSC/XII
Category	Percentile	Percentile	Percentage	Percentage
General	90	80	60	60
OBC (NC)	80	70	60	60
Scheduled Castes	65	50	55	55
Scheduled Tribes	55	40	55	55
Persons with Disability	55	40	55	55
* The cut-offs of those called for Stage 2 could be much higher.

Profile scoring and shortlisting

The profile score depends on CAT score, graduation and Std XII scores, work experience (quantity), and academic/gender diversity. The weightages across these fields are given below.

Profile Scoring and Shortlisting Criteria

Basis for giving out Calls
Parameter	Weight
CAT Index Score	75%
Class XII Score	7.5%
Grad Index Score	7.5%
Work Experience	5%
Academic Diversity/Gender diversity	5%

The method for calculating the Graduate Index Score out of 7.5 and Class XII score out of 7.5 is identical, and shown below.

The final selection: After you get shortlisted, you undergo another round - GD/WAT, and Personal Interview. The weightages for these stages is given below. The weightage for performance at the personal interview has increased from 35% to 45%, and for the CAT score, it has decreased from 45% to 35%. 

Final Selection

Final Selection
Parameter	Weight
Personal Interview	45%
CAT Score	35%
WAT/GD	15%
Quality of Work Experience	5%

Comparison with other B School selection criteria

Compared to IIM C, IIM K's selection criteria places a little more weightage on academic record. IIMC's emphasis on previous acads is negligible and it is quite unlikely to be a differentiating factor. IIM K on the other hand gives  solid 15% weightage to Graduation and Std XII.

On the other hand, the emphasis on acads (for shortlist) is not as high as IIM A (30% weight). Nor are the selection criteria very evenly balanced and distributed across several parameters like IIM B. In short, a person with a very good CAT score and normal acads can definitely get an interview call from IIM Kozhikode.

We invite our readers to comment with their views on the selection criteria. Do you like it, or do you prefer the status quo?

Visit the Final Admit Page – InsideIIM’s one stop shop for everything related to admissions. Ankit Doshi’s analysis on the changed CAT 2014 can be found here

For last year’s selection criteria at IIM K, read here

For this year’s selection criteria at IIM A, read here

For this year’s selection criteria at IIM B, read here

For this year’s selection criteria at IIM C, read here

For this year's selection criteria at IIM L, read here

Follow IIM K on InsideIIM here

Selection Criteria for CAT 2013

Our analysis of IIM Lucknow’s criteria

Our analysis of IIM Kozhikode’s criteria

Our analysis of IIM Indore’s criteria

 Selection Criteria for CAT 2012

Our analysis of shortlisting criteria