With CAT 2013 preparation in its kick-off phase, here is what an aspirant with average
academics should think before starting his preparation. Given the fact that any percentile less than
99.6 would fetch you not even a single call from the elite b-schools, it is
time to introspect about your decision of CAT.
For the first timers, here, I would like to quote some
figures. Let me divide the number of applicants into three categories
1.
Candidates who have wonderful academics
throughout i.e. greater than 80 throughout your career.
2.
Candidates who are fortunately lucky or
unluckily unfortunate i.e. greater than
80 in 2 out of 3(X XII and graduation)
3.
Candidates who are utterly helpless i.e. if you
have at least 2 out of 3 less than 80.
Candidate belonging to third category needs
to worry the most. Let me take an example out of my experiences. Let’s say your
academic scores are 85, 79.9 and 79.8 in class X XII and graduation
respectively. No matter what your CAT
score is, you are straight away shown the exit door from IIMA, IIMB, IIMK,
IIMI, IIMS which constitutes 5 out of 7 older IIM’s. If you have a sigh of
relief that you can book a seat in remaining two older IIMs i.e. IIMC and IIML
, let me tell inform you , the cut off for these 2 IIMs hovers around 99.6
percentile. Unless you get a 99.6+ percentile; your dream of studying in an
elite b-school with IIM tag is bound to be shattered. 99.6+ percentile simply
means you have to be in top 700-800 out of the little over 2Lac applicants. Not
to end with a disappointment, you should be thankful to few institutes like
older IIM’s, FMS, IIT’s, MDI, and NITIE for providing a fair chance if you
clear the cut off. Do not forget that the cut off for these colleges usually
fall above 97; exception being MDI.
The second category of candidates as I call
them fortunately lucky because they would have a fair chance to be shortlisted
by IIMK as it gives same marks for all the applicants with greater than 65% in
graduation. In case you have a score of less than 80 in either class X or XII;
the door is closed. Also a score of just above 80 would not fetch you a call as
IIMK does normalization of the score across different boards. Your score should
be close to the highest score of your board; if not the highest.
The first category of the students enjoys
the dignity of their good deeds during their school and college days. It is to be kept in mind that the closer you
are to 80, the lesser number of calls. If you have 90 throughout 95+ percentile
with both sectionals being 90+, you can be sure to get most of the calls.
I am not asking you not to stop thinking
about MBA, cracking CAT etc. My point is simple
“You have been an average performer, so do
not dream BIG; lest you may hurt yourself”
ALL THE BEST
