No more Group Discussions in 2014's IIM admission procedure

11 out of the 13 IIMs in India have removed the Group Discussion round from their procedure for selection for admissions to management for 2014-2016 batch. Before this, the admissions considered CAT/GMAT scores, Written Aptitude Tests of individual institutions, Group Discussion and Personal Interviews.

IIM Lucknow and IIM Kozhikode have retained the Group Discussion as a part of procedure of selection. Rest on the IIMs will select students based on their performances in Written Aptitude Test and Personal Interview along with their scores in CAT/GMAT.

However, the work experience and past academic records will be considered at all IIMs.

To test the ability to communicate, logical thinking and analytical skills of the aspirants, the Group Discussion has been used. And the result has often been that very few of the candidates were able to express themselves and those who were aggressive dominated the discussion. This has lead to many students with high aptitude scores not clearing the round because they never got the chance to speak. This makes the procedure difficult for both the moderator and the participants.

When compared to Group Discussion, the Written Aptitude Test has multi-fold benefits. The candidate's thoughts can be expressed in a clear and organised manner. Through Written Aptitude Test, a candidate can put forward their views and ideas more clearly, and they can showcase their structured thinking and analytical ability as well.

The admission process will begin after the CAT 2013 results. The results for the same will be released on 14th January 2014. For Indian nationals CAT scores will be considered and for Foreign candidates GMAT scores will be considered.

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