IIM Bangalore's 2023 selection criteria are now out! The biggest change? Graduation marks have re-appeared in the selection process, likely to the dismay of many aspirants. But to offset this additional component, the weight for 10th and 12th marks has come down. Additionally, the minimum cut-offs for the QA and DILR sections have also gone up from the 75 percentile to the 80 percentile. The overall
CAT 2023 cut-off remains unchanged. Here's a complete breakdown of
IIM Bangalore's 2023 selection criteria.
IIM Bangalore Selection Criteria 2024-26: Key Points to Remember
In 2023, significant changes have been made to IIM Bangalore's selection criteria. Here's what you need to remember:
- The minimum overall CAT cut-off stays at the 85 percentile. The minimum cut-off for VARC remains at the 80 percentile. However, the cut-off for QA and DILR has gone up from 75 percentile to 80 percentile.
- After removing the graduation marks component in 2022, IIM Bangalore has re-added it to the pre-PI selection criteria and given it a weight of 10%. The weight for 10th and 12th marks has come down from 15% each to 10%.
- Graduation marks have also re-appeared in the post-PI shortlisting criteria, making up 5% of the total weight. The weight for 10th and 12th marks has come down from 10% to 5%.
- Candidates with equal to or more than three years of work experience (as of July 2023) will be given maximum points for work experience. But this is only valid during shortlisting for the WAT-PI round. In later rounds, panelists will also evaluate the quality of work experience for every candidate.
- IIM Bangalore has assigned a 5% weight for gender diversity in the initial stages of the process. No explicit weight has been assigned for academic diversity.
- The weight for the 'Personal Interview (PI)' component has gone up from 35% to 40% in 2023. This means your PI will be much more influential in the selection process.
Understanding IIM Bangalore's 2024-26 Selection Criteria
Here's a quick breakdown of IIM Bangalore's admission criteria and selection process in 2023.
Phase 1: Screening candidates on the basis of CAT 2023 minimum cut-offs
In this phase, IIM Bangalore screens candidates based on the institute's minimum overall and sectional CAT 2023 cut-offs. About 85% of all test takers are filtered out at this stage. The table below captures IIM Bangalore's CAT 2023 minimum cut-offs.
| Section |
| Category |
VA-RC* |
DI-LR* |
QA* |
Overall* |
| General |
80 |
80 |
80 |
85 |
| NC-OBC |
70 |
70 |
70 |
75 |
| EWS |
70 |
70 |
70 |
75 |
| SC |
60 |
60 |
60 |
70 |
| ST |
55 |
55 |
55 |
65 |
| PwD |
50 |
50 |
50 |
60 |
| *Figures indicate percentile. |
Please note that just because you have met all minimum cut-offs, you're not guaranteed a WAT-PI shortlist. That will depend on your CAT performance as well as other selection criteria that will become relevant in the next phase.
Phase 2: Shortlisting candidates for the WAT-PI process, based on weighted score
Here, candidates will be evaluated on the basis of their CAT 2023 score, 10th, 12th and graduation marks, and work experience. There are also additional points for gender diversity. The table below shows the IIM Bangalore's admission criteria and their weights.
| IIM Bangalore Selection Criteria 2024-26 | WAT-PI Shortlisting |
| Component |
Weight |
| CAT 2023 score |
55 |
| 10th marks |
10 |
| 12th marks |
10 |
| Graduation marks |
10 |
| Work experience / Professional course |
10 |
| Gender diversity |
5 |
| CAT 2023 Sectional Weights |
| Component |
Weight |
| VARC |
19 |
| DILR |
21 |
| QA |
15 |
| Work Experience* Score Calculation |
| Component |
Score |
| Experience between 0 to 36 months (X) |
10X/36 |
| Experience greater than and equal to 36 months |
10 |
| *For work experience in months up to July 2023. |
Beyond this, candidates with the top 10 highest scores in CAT 2023, and those amongst the top 10 in the CA/ICWA/CS category automatically qualify for the WAT-PI round.
Phase 3: Shortlisting candidates for final admission, based on weighted score
Once the WAT-PI process has finished, candidates will once again be evaluated based on a set of selection criteria. The table below shows IIM Bangalore's admission criteria for final shortlisting, and their weights.
| IIM Bangalore Selection Criteria 2023 | WAT-PI Shortlisting |
| Component |
Weight |
| CAT 2023 score |
25 |
| 10th marks |
5 |
| 12th marks |
5 |
| Graduation marks |
5 |
| Weighted work experience |
10 |
| WAT |
10 |
| PI |
40 |
At this stage, panelists will also evaluate the quality of work experience. To compute this, your work experience score from Phase 1 will be scaled down to a maximum score of 5 and then multiplied with a 'quality score' to arrive at the weighted score. For more details, explore the
official admission policy document.
What Does IIM Bangalore's 2024-26 Selection Criteria Mean for You?
1. With 55% weight in the first phase and 25% weight in the second phase, CAT continues to be amongst the most influential factors in your admission to IIM-B.
2. Your graduation marks will
again be influential in the admission process. This means at least two out of three academic criteria should be strong to have a fairly decent chance of making it to IIM Bangalore. Note: grad marks are
not segmented by graduation streams
(like we've seen at IIM Ahmedabad).
3. Within CAT, IIM Bangalore has also defined DILR performance > VARC performance > QA performance, which may be of some relief to those weak in QA. This is applicable to both the pre-PI and post-PI processes.
4. If you have three years or more of work experience, IIM Bangalore will reward you with the maximum possible marks in the WAT-PI shortlisting phase. But your quality of work will become more important in the final shortlisting phase.
5. Women will have a slight edge in the admissions process but are limited only to the pre-PI shortlisting phase. There continues to be no weight for academic diversity.
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