Step 1: Eligibility Criteria
As CAT becomes a 3 section paper from a 2 section paper, the sectional cutoffs for all the three sections for General Category students has been reduced to 80 percentile from 85 percentile. The overall cutoff percentile remains the same at 90. Similar changes in the sectional cutoffs has been done for other Categories as well. The below table details the eligibility criteria.
Step 2: Shortlist for WAT and PI
The shortlisting criteria for IIM Indore last year gave weightage to CAT Scores for the first time. The criteria this year continues to give weightage to CAT Score but the weightage has been reduced.
-The weightage of CAT Score has been reduced to 21% from last years' 27%. This is one of the major change in the shortlisting criteria of IIM Indore.
Apart from this, the SSC Score weightage has been changed from 35% to 36% this year, HSC Scores from 35% to 40%. The Gender Diversity Factor continues to stay on with the Female Applicants getting a score of 3. This means that a lower CAT Score as compared to last year can also fetch you an IIM Indore call if your Academic Scores are good.
Hence, this year again, shortlists will be made by ranking students on a composite score which comprises 36% SSC Score, 40% HSC Score, 21% CAT score and 3% Gender Diversity Factor. Your SSC and HSC scores will be a number between 0 and 1, computed by normalizing the raw scores. The exact process for normalization is not described (we don’t know whether adjustments will be made for different levels of leniency in marking across different boards. Getting 90 plus in graduation is definitely easier in the Andhra Board as compared to the Maharashtra board).
IIM Indore started awarding marks for gender diversity from last year and this can be seen in their batch profile as well. The current 2015-17 batch has 178 females as compared to 130 last year in a batch of 450 participants. Three points is not a lot and it is a deficit that can easily be overcome by better performance in other sections (perhaps CAT alone). But this is important because it signals a shift in thinking. In such a competitive world as B school selection, the three points are enough to make a difference between making the cut and missing out narrowly.
Step 3: Final Selection
There are no major changes in the final selection but only minor tweaks to percentages allocated for academic scores. The criteria mentions that the score will be a weighted average of scores of SSC, HSC, Graduation, WAT and PI. The SSC and HSC scores had a weightage of 17% each last year. This year the weightage will be 17.5% each. Graduation will have a 15% weightage this year as compared to 16% last year. The PI score and WAT score will have a weight of 35% and 15% like last year.
The final formula therefore reads as (17.5%)*(SSC Score) + (17.5%)*(HSC Score) + (15%)*(Graduation Score) + (35%)*(PI Score) + (15%)*(WAT score).
This is a very minor change from last year. Again, CAT score does not matter in final selection. Performance at the PI stage has the highest weightage in deciding your chances in final selection. Overall, the final selection criteria are balanced between two areas – academic performance and performance in the interviews. With the reduction in the weightage of CAT, the shortlisting criteria clearly gives an indication that preference will be given to those candidates with good academic scores, especially HSC scores.
Other salient features of selection criteria
– Work experience continues to get no weightage – either in the shortlisting stage or the final selection stage, just like last year. We expect a relatively high proportion of freshers in the new batch (compared to other b schools).
– No weightage for academic diversity. People from non-engineering backgrounds will not get special preference. Chances are that IIM Indore will continue to have a really high proportion of engineers.
The bottomline: The shortlisting in WAT and PI stage will be heavily influenced by SSC and HSC Scores. Although, a very good CAT Score can cover up for the poor academic scores. Final selection is based on a set of criteria that are heavily influenced by past academic performance (HSC, SSC, and graduation).
However, do bear in mind that a good CAT score can really boost your chances of getting a shortlist, and you might be able to squeeze in by doing really well in the interview.
We invite our readers to comment with their views on the selection criteria. Do you like it, or do you prefer the status quo?
The detailed shortlisting and selection criteria for IIM Indore is available here.
Do ask us, our experts and partner schools for a 360 Degree evaluation of your profile here
For last year’s selection criteria at IIM I, read here
For selection criteria of IIM A, click here
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