High sectional and overall percentile scores in CAT 2016 will be the major criterion for admission to MBA/PGDM courses beginning 2017 not only at IIMs but also at the other top B-schools in India.
Common Admission Test (CAT) is convened by IIMs. Earlier the partner testing agency was Prometric but since 2014 TCS has replaced Prometric as partner Testing agency for CAT.
CAT: Largest management entrance exam: CAT exam has become a favourite of professionals and experts. There are many such intellectuals who appear in CAT and get shortlisted by many B-schools but prefer to sharpen their skills further and aspire for 100 percentile in next attempt.
Common Admission Test (CAT) is the largest MBA entrance exam. Its popularity can be understood by the fact that the number of CAT aspirants have been increasing year after year.
CAT Year | Total Registration in Lakhs |
2008 | 2.76 |
2009 | 2.42 |
2010 | 2.04 |
2011 | 2.05 |
2012 | 2.14 |
2013 | 1.95 |
2014 | 1.97 |
2015 | 2.19 |
Source: CAT data and MBAUniverse.com analysis
If we compare the number to other exams, it is more than twice the number of any MBA entrance exam in India including XAT, MAT, CMAT, NMAT by GMAC or SNAP.
CAT 2016 scores: Gateway to top B-schools
There are more than 3000 management institutes who accept CAT scores as one of the major criteria for admission. A few of the top rated ones among them are –
20 IIMs
- Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad
- Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Bangalore
- Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Calcutta
- Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Lucknow
- Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Indore
- Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Kozhikode
- Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Shillong
- Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Kashipur
- Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Raipur
- Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ranchi
- Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Rohtak
- Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Tiruchirappalli
- Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Udaipur
Highly Ranked Non-IIMs
Other top B-schools who accept CAT scores for admission to MBA and PGDM programmes in India include the University affiliated autonomous B-schools, other autonomous B-schools and Private PGDM B-schools. These B-schools are second to none and compete with highest international education standard:
- Faculty of Management Studies (FMS) University of Delhi, Delhi
- Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) Delhi & Kolkata
- International Management Institute (IMI) Delhi
- Institute of Management Technology (IMT) Ghaziabad
- Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies (JBIMS), University of Mumbai, Mumbai
- Management Development Institute (MDI) Gurgaon
- Birla Institute of management & Technology (BIMTECH) Greater Noida
- T A Pai Management Institute (TAPMI) Manipal
- Xavier School of Management (XLRI) Jamshedpur
- Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar (XIMB)
- National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE) Mumbai
- Shailesh J Mehta School of Management (SJMSoM) IIT Mumbai
- Department of Management Studies (DMS) IIT Delhi
- Department of Management Studies (IIT) Madras
High sectional score in CAT: Key requirement of IIMs
CAT 2016 aspirants should be aware that IIMs prescribe minimum qualifying sectional scores alongwith overall score to shortlist the candidates.
Candidates desirous of pursuing management study with IIMs are supposed to score above 85-90 percentile in each section alongwith high overall percentile. Scoring only high overall percentile will not entitle a candidate to get shortlisted by any IIM.