Now, how I did that is not today's topic. Since I got a 99+ percentile as a B.Com (H) graduate, my parents and I started our 'dhindora'. I kept dreaming of the IIM A admit and how I am going to be a 'bada aadmi with bohot saara paisa' only to realise that IIM ABCL did not even call me for an interview as I got to know a lot of caveats involved. I was very disheartened and disappointed. I was mostly propagated the myth that 99+ as a non engineer and IIM ABC is the place you are going to if you have good acads.
(I had 95 in X, 91.2 in XII and 8.77 cgpa in my B.Com)
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I am glad you found my article as I am going to present some facts and suggestions which will give you a clear picture and set realistic expectations. They are :-
1) Percentile doesn't matter, Composite Score matters.
Composite Score is a cumulation of your cat score (not percentile), academics of X, XII and graduation, Work experience, gender and academic diversity points. Different B schools take different combinations and weightages of the above criteria for their Composite Score. You can find the previous year criteria on the official websites of different IIMs as well.
For example : IIM Indore gives 74% weightage to X, XII acads, only 20 % to CAT score and the rest 6% if you are a female candidate to prepare your CS.
Special Tip : Know the shortlisting criteria of the B schools you are interested in especially in terms of composite score from past year data and trends.
2) Different Composite score for different categories/reservation.
General category Composite score is normally substantially higher than categories like EWS, NC-OBC, SC or ST.
3) All Non engineers are not the same.
Some B-schools like IIM Ahmedabad, differentiates between a B.Com/Eco graduate and a Literature/Fashion technology graduate. The former might require a much Higher CAT score compared to the latter to get shortlisted for an interview.
4) Apply to Non IIMs
Apart from the BLACKI IIMs, there are some non IIMs which are at par with top IIMs and better than the second generation (New IIMs) and third generation IIMs. (Baby IIMs). Some are XLRI, SPJIMR, FMS, MDI etc. They can drastically boost your chances of getting into a good B school. Some of their shortlisting criteria might work better in your favour due to your profile. Most Non IIMs don't have reservation.
5) Roles offered are the same in IIM ABC and other Tier 1 B schools
Corporates don't differentiate in terms of roles offered at IIM ABC vs a B school like XLRI or MDI. For example, the best role in Marketing for an MBA graduate is considered that of an Area Sales Manager. The role and the salary will be at par in the same FMCG company.
But yes, when it comes to fields like Consulting and Front end IB, only the volume of roles offered at IIM ABC is higher than other Top B schools. However, for fields like Marketing, General Management, Product Management etc similar roles and in hand salaries are offered by the same company. LinkedIn is the best place to verify this.
6) Interviews MATTER a lot and can be UNPREDICTABLE
Even if you have a 100 percentile in CAT, you can get rejected by the top IIMs in the interview stage. Also, interviews can be unpredictable as well. You might think you had a great interview and end up being rejected and at the same time, your perception of an awful interview for you will be your direct convert.
Special Tip: Take your interview prep more seriously than your CAT Prep.
Key Takeaways
This should give you a very good starting point to know where you stand. Try to score as high as possible in your CAT 2023. Apart from CAT, give other exams like XAT, SNAP, NMAT, IIFT and MICAT etc. Don't be very stubborn about going only and only to IIM ABC and end up dropping/repeating another attempt. There are some scenarios where only the top 3-5 institutions will make sense. For example, when one is from an Old IIT or only wants front end IB roles. For others, there are plethora of opportunities/B-schools which will save your time, money and effort giving you the same career trajectory.
Thank you for reading and all the best to everyone for your MBA Prep journey ahead. Please don't smile during photo verification in the CAT/OMETs exam hall if you want to ace it ! XD.
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Comments
Mayukh Sur
PGDM SPJIMR '25 (Operations) | ex-ITC Ltd. | Jadavpur University '21
Very well written brother. You just wrote exactly what needs to be highlighted!
23 May 2023, 01.23 PM
+Read Replies (1)
G C Saikiran
G C Saikiran is born and brought up in Delhi. He is passionate about Business Development, Sales and Networking. He started off in his first year of undergraduate education (2019) as part of the founding team of Alacrous - a startup which used to cater internship programs for high school students. His aim was to supplement the goals of National Education Policy, 2020. 300+ high school students successfully had their first ever internship experience under his leadership with various corporate partners at the organization. He also led a social initiative 'Covid Combat' with 40+ school students to collate valuable and verified life saving resources to help people in Delhi NCR during the deadly second wave of Covid. Post that, he cofounded a Cloud Kitchen - 'Anju's Kitchen' (2020) to cater non onion and garlic based food in the Delhi NCR region. Currently, it is being expanded in the dessert market via stalls at Dilli Haat and Dastkar. His aim is to make such food accessible to all the spiritual communities and vegans pan India. Alongside his startup, in his third year of undergrad, he worked with Fermat Education; an IIT-IIM Venture.(2021) He helped expand one of their products to Delhi, Noida and Gurgaon markets via school collaborations without any team in the region. Post his undergraduate education, he worked with Wizako, Ascent Education(2022); a GMAT Test Prep company as a business developer. As a virtue of working at a startup, he not only handled sales but also hiring, marketing and people management. He loved working there as the sales was always challenging due to the high quality demographics of people with more than a decade of industry exposure. He thrived in this challenge and produced revenues in 8 figures INR within 11 months.
Thank you Mayukh bro !
23 May 2023, 01.53 PM |
Akhil Raj
SPJIMR Co'25 | Ex- TPL | NIT Calicut Co'20
An insightful read for all future aspirants..awesome brother!
23 May 2023, 04.00 PM
+Read Replies (1)
G C Saikiran BCH-19-47
Thanks Akhil bro !
23 May 2023, 04.34 PM |
R Chandrasekaran
This is really amazing. It is proven that if you have a strong dream you will be successful. I believe till you achieve your dream you might have sleepless nights:) Each dream is a journey. If one dream is achieved you should be ready with the other dream (journey) to engage yourself for innovative thoughts and execution. Please keep going and be a role model wherever you go. From your words I am able to feel your experience and maturity. Please keep the politeness always as your stepping stone in your life. All the very best for your bright future and growth. God bless Sai
23 May 2023, 08.47 PM
+Read Replies (1)
G C Saikiran
G C Saikiran is born and brought up in Delhi. He is passionate about Business Development, Sales and Networking. He started off in his first year of undergraduate education (2019) as part of the founding team of Alacrous - a startup which used to cater internship programs for high school students. His aim was to supplement the goals of National Education Policy, 2020. 300+ high school students successfully had their first ever internship experience under his leadership with various corporate partners at the organization. He also led a social initiative 'Covid Combat' with 40+ school students to collate valuable and verified life saving resources to help people in Delhi NCR during the deadly second wave of Covid. Post that, he cofounded a Cloud Kitchen - 'Anju's Kitchen' (2020) to cater non onion and garlic based food in the Delhi NCR region. Currently, it is being expanded in the dessert market via stalls at Dilli Haat and Dastkar. His aim is to make such food accessible to all the spiritual communities and vegans pan India. Alongside his startup, in his third year of undergrad, he worked with Fermat Education; an IIT-IIM Venture.(2021) He helped expand one of their products to Delhi, Noida and Gurgaon markets via school collaborations without any team in the region. Post his undergraduate education, he worked with Wizako, Ascent Education(2022); a GMAT Test Prep company as a business developer. As a virtue of working at a startup, he not only handled sales but also hiring, marketing and people management. He loved working there as the sales was always challenging due to the high quality demographics of people with more than a decade of industry exposure. He thrived in this challenge and produced revenues in 8 figures INR within 11 months.
Thank you so much !
26 May 2023, 01.36 PM |
kaushik siddharth
Thanks for the info!!
24 May 2023, 12.56 AM
+Read Replies (1)
G C Saikiran
G C Saikiran is born and brought up in Delhi. He is passionate about Business Development, Sales and Networking. He started off in his first year of undergraduate education (2019) as part of the founding team of Alacrous - a startup which used to cater internship programs for high school students. His aim was to supplement the goals of National Education Policy, 2020. 300+ high school students successfully had their first ever internship experience under his leadership with various corporate partners at the organization. He also led a social initiative 'Covid Combat' with 40+ school students to collate valuable and verified life saving resources to help people in Delhi NCR during the deadly second wave of Covid. Post that, he cofounded a Cloud Kitchen - 'Anju's Kitchen' (2020) to cater non onion and garlic based food in the Delhi NCR region. Currently, it is being expanded in the dessert market via stalls at Dilli Haat and Dastkar. His aim is to make such food accessible to all the spiritual communities and vegans pan India. Alongside his startup, in his third year of undergrad, he worked with Fermat Education; an IIT-IIM Venture.(2021) He helped expand one of their products to Delhi, Noida and Gurgaon markets via school collaborations without any team in the region. Post his undergraduate education, he worked with Wizako, Ascent Education(2022); a GMAT Test Prep company as a business developer. As a virtue of working at a startup, he not only handled sales but also hiring, marketing and people management. He loved working there as the sales was always challenging due to the high quality demographics of people with more than a decade of industry exposure. He thrived in this challenge and produced revenues in 8 figures INR within 11 months.
Glad, it helped !
26 May 2023, 01.36 PM |
Himang Sabharwal
Very well crafted explanation of your journey. The key takeaways you provided are really good and will surely help a CAT aspirant in planning his/her journey.
24 May 2023, 12.00 PM
+Read Replies (1)
G C Saikiran
G C Saikiran is born and brought up in Delhi. He is passionate about Business Development, Sales and Networking. He started off in his first year of undergraduate education (2019) as part of the founding team of Alacrous - a startup which used to cater internship programs for high school students. His aim was to supplement the goals of National Education Policy, 2020. 300+ high school students successfully had their first ever internship experience under his leadership with various corporate partners at the organization. He also led a social initiative 'Covid Combat' with 40+ school students to collate valuable and verified life saving resources to help people in Delhi NCR during the deadly second wave of Covid. Post that, he cofounded a Cloud Kitchen - 'Anju's Kitchen' (2020) to cater non onion and garlic based food in the Delhi NCR region. Currently, it is being expanded in the dessert market via stalls at Dilli Haat and Dastkar. His aim is to make such food accessible to all the spiritual communities and vegans pan India. Alongside his startup, in his third year of undergrad, he worked with Fermat Education; an IIT-IIM Venture.(2021) He helped expand one of their products to Delhi, Noida and Gurgaon markets via school collaborations without any team in the region. Post his undergraduate education, he worked with Wizako, Ascent Education(2022); a GMAT Test Prep company as a business developer. As a virtue of working at a startup, he not only handled sales but also hiring, marketing and people management. He loved working there as the sales was always challenging due to the high quality demographics of people with more than a decade of industry exposure. He thrived in this challenge and produced revenues in 8 figures INR within 11 months.
Thank you so much Himang for your kind words !
26 May 2023, 01.36 PM |
Paridhi Garg
SPJIMR Marketing '25 | Ex-HUL | Chemical Engineering, RVCE '21
A must-read for any B-school aspirant. A brilliant POV!
24 May 2023, 03.03 PM
+Read Replies (1)
G C Saikiran
G C Saikiran is born and brought up in Delhi. He is passionate about Business Development, Sales and Networking. He started off in his first year of undergraduate education (2019) as part of the founding team of Alacrous - a startup which used to cater internship programs for high school students. His aim was to supplement the goals of National Education Policy, 2020. 300+ high school students successfully had their first ever internship experience under his leadership with various corporate partners at the organization. He also led a social initiative 'Covid Combat' with 40+ school students to collate valuable and verified life saving resources to help people in Delhi NCR during the deadly second wave of Covid. Post that, he cofounded a Cloud Kitchen - 'Anju's Kitchen' (2020) to cater non onion and garlic based food in the Delhi NCR region. Currently, it is being expanded in the dessert market via stalls at Dilli Haat and Dastkar. His aim is to make such food accessible to all the spiritual communities and vegans pan India. Alongside his startup, in his third year of undergrad, he worked with Fermat Education; an IIT-IIM Venture.(2021) He helped expand one of their products to Delhi, Noida and Gurgaon markets via school collaborations without any team in the region. Post his undergraduate education, he worked with Wizako, Ascent Education(2022); a GMAT Test Prep company as a business developer. As a virtue of working at a startup, he not only handled sales but also hiring, marketing and people management. He loved working there as the sales was always challenging due to the high quality demographics of people with more than a decade of industry exposure. He thrived in this challenge and produced revenues in 8 figures INR within 11 months.
Thank you Paridhi !
26 May 2023, 01.36 PM |
Manish Virmani
Couldn't agree more with the content. An amazing read indeed!
26 May 2023, 09.45 PM
+Read Replies (1)
G C Saikiran
G C Saikiran is born and brought up in Delhi. He is passionate about Business Development, Sales and Networking. He started off in his first year of undergraduate education (2019) as part of the founding team of Alacrous - a startup which used to cater internship programs for high school students. His aim was to supplement the goals of National Education Policy, 2020. 300+ high school students successfully had their first ever internship experience under his leadership with various corporate partners at the organization. He also led a social initiative 'Covid Combat' with 40+ school students to collate valuable and verified life saving resources to help people in Delhi NCR during the deadly second wave of Covid. Post that, he cofounded a Cloud Kitchen - 'Anju's Kitchen' (2020) to cater non onion and garlic based food in the Delhi NCR region. Currently, it is being expanded in the dessert market via stalls at Dilli Haat and Dastkar. His aim is to make such food accessible to all the spiritual communities and vegans pan India. Alongside his startup, in his third year of undergrad, he worked with Fermat Education; an IIT-IIM Venture.(2021) He helped expand one of their products to Delhi, Noida and Gurgaon markets via school collaborations without any team in the region. Post his undergraduate education, he worked with Wizako, Ascent Education(2022); a GMAT Test Prep company as a business developer. As a virtue of working at a startup, he not only handled sales but also hiring, marketing and people management. He loved working there as the sales was always challenging due to the high quality demographics of people with more than a decade of industry exposure. He thrived in this challenge and produced revenues in 8 figures INR within 11 months.
Thank you so much for your kind words Manish !
27 May 2023, 12.14 AM |
Apoorva Prasad
Sai giving a reality check to many.
1 Jun 2023, 06.58 PM