IIM Lucknow's latest admission policy for admission to the PGP program via CAT 2021 has now been released. In 2021, IIM Lucknow has assigned a 60 percent weight to a candidate's CAT 2021 score, which is one of the highest across the top-ranked IIMs. IIM Lucknow has also assigned up-to 10 percent weight for diversity, implying that female applicants and non-engineers will have an advantage in IIM Lucknow's selection process for the PGP program. Here is a simple breakdown of IIM Lucknow's 2021 selection criteria.
IIM Lucknow 2021 Selection Criteria - Important Facts To Remember
Overall, there have been no changes in IIM Lucknow's admission policy as compared to last year. Here are five key highlights from IIM Lucknow's admission policy document.
- For the General category, IIM Lucknow has set the sectional CAT 2021 percentile cut-offs at the 85th percentile, while the overall CAT 2021 cut-off has been set at the 90th percentile.
- IIM Lucknow has assigned 60% weight to CAT 2021 scores to shortlist candidates for the Writing Ability Test and Personal Interview (WAT-PI) round.
- IIM Lucknow has assigned a total of 30% weight to a candidate's profile, i.e., 12th marks (10%), graduation marks (10%), and work experience (10%). Candidates with less than 6 months of work experience will not be awarded any marks for that component.
- In 2021, IIM Lucknow has assigned 10% weight for diversity, i.e., 5% weight for academic diversity and another 5% for gender diversity.
- In the WAT-PI round, IIM Lucknow has assigned 40% weight to a candidate's personal interview performance, followed by 30% weight for a candidate's CAT 2021 score.
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Understanding IIM Lucknow's 2021 Admission Policy
Each IIM sets a category-wise minimum CAT overall and sectional cut-off which candidates must meet to become eligible for being shortlisted for the Writing Ability Test and Personal Interview round. Please note that simply meeting the minimum CAT cut-offs does not mean that you will be shortlisted for the WAT-PI round. Additionally, you must meet both the overall and sectional cut-offs set by an institute to become eligible for being shortlisted.
The table below captures IIM Lucknow's minimum CAT 2021 overall and sectional cut-offs.
Candidates who meet the minimum CAT 2021 cut-offs set by IIM Lucknow are now eligible to be shortlisted by the institute for the WAT-PI round. Each IIM has a particular method of calculating a candidate's weighted composite score, which includes giving weight to a candidate's CAT 2021 score as well as their profile. Depending on the IIM, female applicants as well as candidates from a diverse undergraduate background are given extra marks while calculating the composite score.
IIM Lucknow considers a candidate's CAT score, 12th marks, graduation scores, work experience (in months), and also provides marks for academic + gender diversity. The table below captures the latest IIM Lucknow selection criteria for admission to the PGP batch of 2022-2024.
Please note - IIM Lucknow has made use of the word 'percentile' and not 'percentage' while awarding scores for candidate's 12th (HSC) marks in their 'respective Board and Discipline', and it is important to note this distinction.
Given that the pool of Engineers taking the CAT exam is significantly larger than those from other undergraduate streams, all 20 IIMs in the country have been, for the past few years, pushing for a more academically diverse MBA classroom by awarding extra marks for being a non-Engineer. In the case of IIM Lucknow, non-Engineers will be provided 5 more marks than Engineers in calculating the composite score to shortlist candidates.
The table below captures which undergraduate streams are eligible for academic diversity marks.
Based on the various selection criteria and the weights assigned to them, IIM Lucknow will shortlist candidates for the Writing Ability Test and Personal Interview round. The shortlist usually comes out in the month of January, a few days after CAT results are released.
After completing the WAT-PI round, IIM Lucknow will calculate a new weighted composite score to create the final shortlist of candidates that will be invited to join the PGP 2022-2024 batch. The table below encapsulates the various components and their corresponding weights in the IIM Lucknow selection criteria.
IIM Lucknow has specified that if you don't score at least 12 out of the 40 marks assigned to PI, you will not be sent an admission offer regardless of your academic profile, diversity, or CAT 2021 scores. Your CAT 2021 scores will have a 30% weight in the final shortlisting process, while your WAT performance will have a 10% weight in the shortlisting process.
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What Does IIM Lucknow's 2021 Admission Policy Mean For You?
- The most important component for admission to IIM Lucknow will be your CAT 2021 score, which accounts for 60% of the total weight during the WAT-PI shortlisting process. This means that 60% of the WAT-PI selection criteria is entirely in your hands, while the other 40% is defined by your academic background and profile.
- Your 12th and graduation marks will account for 20% of the total weight in the WAT-PI shortlisting process, and also accounts for 10% of the total weight in the final shortlisting process. Please note the distinction between 'percentage' and 'percentile' in the IIM Lucknow selection criteria.
- Female non-engineers will have a significant advantage in IIM Lucknow's admission process for the PGP batch of 2022-2024, while GEMs will find it tougher to make it to IIM Lucknow and will have to compensate for academic and gender diversity by an excellent CAT 2021 performance.
- Working professionals are going to have a clearly distinct advantage over freshers, freshers in this case being individuals with less than or equal to six months of work experience as of 31st July 2021.
Read IIM Lucknow's complete admission policy on the institute's official website.