In the recent past, the older IIMs have exceedingly given more importance to past academics. It is no longer just about belling the cat, you have to be consistent throughout your life. *sigh* With CAT around the corner and the admission criteria of all the colleges released, let us look at which college values what metric more.
In this entire article, I will be focussing more on the importance of past academics and how it can be a make or break in terms of admission to the IIMs. Fasten your seatbelts. This is going to be factual and data-driven.
Note -
The data for IIM Kozhikode's selection criteria have been updated on 12th October 2018.
Let us go one college at a time –
1. IIM Indore
| Particulars |
Weightage |
| 10th |
40%
|
| 12th |
36%
|
| CAT |
20%
|
| Diversity - Gender |
4%
|
IIM Indore is one college which is brutal as far as past academics is concerned. It places a whopping 76% weightage on 10
th and 12
th std. Rest assured, if you have a 70% in 10
th or 12
th, IIM Indore will not be calling you even if you score 100 percentile. Just to give you some perspective, they give past academics 4 times as much weightage as they give CAT. A bit crazy, I would say.
Read the criteria here.
2. IIM Bangalore
| Particulars |
Weightage |
| 10th |
20%
|
| 12th |
10%
|
| Graduation |
20%
|
| CAT |
40%
|
| Work experience |
8%
|
| Diversity - Gender |
2%
|
IIM Bangalore is another IIM which values academics a lot. However, it is still a bit balanced as compared to IIM Indore. IIM Bangalore, like Indore, does not give points for academic diversity. It values work-ex quite a bit, which can be seen from their student base as well.
Read the criteria here.
3. IIM Calcutta
| Particulars |
Weightage |
| 10th |
20%
|
| 12th |
20%
|
| CAT |
56%
|
| Diversity - Gender |
4%
|
IIM Calcutta gives 40% weightage to past academics and 56% weightage to CAT. For any score above 80%, you get full points in the academic category. Basically, the competition boils down to higher CAT percentile. Normally, for any person to get an interview call, he needs to score 99.6/7+. Most commerce and arts background candidates find it tough to crack this score and hence the diversification factor is mostly on the lower side in IIMC.
Read the criteria here.
4. IIM Ahmedabad
| Particulars |
Weightage |
| 10th |
10%
|
| 12th |
10%
|
| Graduation |
10%
|
| CAT |
70%
|
IIM Ahmedabad gives 30% weightage to academics. However, the competition is so cut-throat, you might end up losing your seat with an 80% in 1 or 2 of the 3 years. Surprisingly, IIM Ahmedabad gives absolutely zero weightage to work experience. It values a fresher and an investment banker with 3 years work experience equally, definitely raising some eye-brows. However, it's IIM Ahmedabad. Who can question the boss?
Read the criteria here.
5. IIM Lucknow
| Particulars |
Weightage |
| 12th |
10%
|
| Graduation |
10%
|
| CAT |
60%
|
| Work experience |
10%
|
| Diversity - Gender |
5%
|
| Diversity - Academic |
5%
|
In my opinion, IIM Lucknow has one of the best shortlisting criteria. It gives 20% weightage to past acads, 60% to CAT, 10% to work-ex and 10% to diversity. It covers all bases. Apart from the obvious inclination towards CAT, IIM Lucknow values both academics and workex to a reasonable extent. No wonder it has seen such a meteoric rise in the past few years.
Read the criteria here.
5. IIM Kozhikode
| Particulars |
Weightage |
| 12th |
20%
|
| CAT |
75%
|
| Academic Diversity |
5%
|
If you have completely given up hope till now, DON’T!! The other IIMs may not give you another chance at redemption, but IIMK will. It gives 20% weightage to 12
th and that too, full marks if you score above 80%. Basically, in this case, the major differentiating factor is the CAT score. IIMK also gives diversity points if you are a non-engineer. If your past is screwed up for some or the other reason, you can always make up for it in God’s own Kampus.
Ek galti toh aakhir bhagwan ko bhi maaf hai. Read the criteria for this year here.
So do IIMs value past academics? Hell yes. But is it the end of your IIM dream if you have messed up a little? Naah.
CAT abhi baaki hai mere dost…