What Are The Selection Criteria For Admissions In IIM

The Indian Institutes of Management are the most coveted and sought-after post-graduation institutes in India for a reason - their placement records. The IIM students are placed for the highest salary packages in the industry. Why? Due to a lot of reasons!

For one, the creamiest of the layers get into IIMs, meaning, students who have a great academic record and qualification are screened for admissions. Such students, with some good training, are soon industry-ready and churn out big bucks.

Thus, lakhs of candidates aspire for a seat in the IIMs. Are you one of the aspirants? Then, here is what you need to know to secure admissions at the Indian Institute of Management.

Report Card

A good lot of us love to believe the fact that marks we score do not have anything to do with our career. While it is true to an extent, your grades at school and college are not a virtual reality meant to simply scare you to excel in life.

One of the selection criteria for IIM admissions is your marks in school and college. While the eligibility to apply requires only passing marks, the selection process is quite different.

Application Rating Score

On a scale of 1 to 10 (1,2,3,4,7,10), you will be evaluated based on your percentage of marks in class 10 (A), class 12 (B) and undergraduation (C). This is called Application Rating Score. Depending on the points for your grade, your application will be calculated according to the following formula: AR=0.5*A+1.5*B+2.5*C.

Score Card

Less than 55 - 1
55 to 60 - 2
60 to 70 - 3
70 to 80 - 4
80 to 90 - 7
Above 90 - 10

CAT Scores

The Common Admission Test (CAT) is the entrance exam for aspirants to get into the IIMs. Once they fulfill the academic qualification, they must work on clearing this entrance exam.

How Does IIM CAT Work?

The difficulty level of the CAT question paper is considered to be average to high every year especially because there are so many applicants and not as many seats available. Hence, the percentage secured does not matter as much as the percentile secured in CAT.

What Is Percentile?

For instance lets assume that 100 candidates take part in the CAT exam. If a candidate scores 90 percentile, it means that he has performed better than 90 candidates. The marks secured could vary depending on the difficulty level of the paper. But the average of marks will be taken for percentile calculation and the top performers in the exam will be shortlisted for admissions.

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What Is The Method To Calculate Percentile

Percentile is also termed as composite score. It is calculated as follows:
Composite Score= (Obtained CAT Score/Max. CAT Score)*0.7 + (AR/45)*0.3

Diverse Background

Some seats are reserved for students from diverse backgrounds with exceptional records. By diverse background, it means graduation in a niche subject with excellent academic and achievement records. Nevertheless, the number of seats allocated for this category differs every year. If there are totally 1000 seats available, out of which 800 are for students with relevant background and 200 for diverse background, even if you have good scores, you might not secure a seat if you don't get into the top 800.

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Graduation From Tier I Colleges

Again, this could be a criteria that people hate to hear because not everyone gets a seat in the Tier I colleges during their undergraduation. However, this is one of the criterion that IIM evaluates in the candidate's profile.

While some colleges boast of the best academic records, only if it fulfills all other criteria of a Tier I college, will a passed out student have an edge over other candidates for IIM admissions.

Work Experience

This is another prime unannounced selection criteria for admissions in IIM. Although like other parameters, such as a degree from a Tier I college and a diverse educational background, this is not the eligibility criteria; the screening will be done considering the weightage for the work experience of the candidates. A minimum of 12 to 15 months work experience will be an added advantage to secure admissions.