I want to do mba in agribusiness from iima. I've scored 76% & 84% in 10&12th resp. I'm doing B.Sc(agri.). Did I've any chances for iim now??

Hi Durga,

IIM-A offers 2year full-time residential program called PGP-FABM (Post Graduate Programme in Food and Agri-Business Management). Apart from agriculture, the course also covers its allied areas such as food processing and rural development sector and hence have applicants from agriculture and food technology background apart from other streams such as engineering. As per IIM-A's website, the batch size of the course is 46 (as on 2018) selected from a pool of  >125,000 applicants and it is the best such course offering in the world which implies tough competition.

As per the eligibility criteria for FABM course as of now, you being from BSc. Agriculture will have to secure at least 50% marks or equivalent CGPA [45% if from SC/ST/DA] in your undergrads. You will have to take CAT/GMAT (in case of overseas candidates) in/after you final year of undergrads to be eligible for the consideration for the course.

The admission process is of 2 stages (Application rating stage and GDPI stage)

Shortlisting for GDPI as on 2019:

70% weightage is for CAT score and 30% for Application Rating Score. Since the programme is sector specific preference is given to applicants from agriculture and related disciplines which gives you an advantage.

The application rating (AR) looks at marks obtained in 10th (A), 12th (B) and Bachelor's Degree (C) examinations where the highest score anyone can get for A/B/C is 10.

AR=0.5*A+1.5*B+2.5*C [Maximum Score for AR = 45]

Final Composite Score used for shortlisting for GDPI = (Obtained CAT Score/Max. CAT Score)*0.7 + (AR/45)*0.3

As per 2019 rating, your grades would be rate score of 4 in 10th (A) and rate score of 7 in 12th (B). So as per 2019 criteria, you already have AR= 12.5 out of 45. If you score a 10 in C, you can get a max of 37.5 in AR.

Since the cut off composite score varies each year depending upon the applicant pool (diversity) and changes in weightage for each component. As per my opinion, given the preference for students from agriculture background, you have a fair chance of getting admission provided you have a really good undergraduate score, decent CAT score (around 90+ percentile for general category) and do well in GDPI stage.

Keeping working hard till you reach your aim! Best wishes for your future!

Hi Durga!

Yes, you do have a fair chance in securing a seat in IIM-A and IIm-L for their FABM course which deals with the food and agro-business industry. That being said, it's important for you to score really well in your graduation and also in the CAT examination. A percentile of around 98-99 should get you a call and after that it depends on your PI-WAT.

First of all, the basic eligibility for CAT is 50% in your graduation and you are in the safe harbor. Getting into an IIM is a different story though. Each IIMs have their own admission criteria and vary accordingly, and the weight given to CAT percentile is also different. Some colleges like IIM Bangalore depend heavily on your academics, which in your case could be of low chance ( IIM Bangalore expects 90-90-85 generally), but other IIMs like IIM-Calcutta go easy on the academics and weigh heavily on the CAT and this becomes your hunting ground. Thus, it becomes important for you to jot down the IIMs you are eligible for and aim for the particular CAT score accordingly.

Your degree would give you an advantage though. Your arts degree fetches you additional marks while getting calls and also while converting the call during final admission. Again, the amount of weight given varies accordingly. But if you're an engineering grad, you might have a back foot.

Since nothing can be done about the academic score right now, it becomes rather important for you to score as high as possible in your CAT exam. Assuming you get somewhere around 98-99 percentile, there is a very high chance of you securing a seat given that you do your PI-WAT very well. With a score like 99+ percentile, you will certainly get calls from all the old IIMs, baby and new IIMs but please be assured that there is cutthroat competition by now. At around 96-97 percentile most of the new IIMs start giving calls and you stand a chance there because they go light on the academics. Getting a call from IIM B and IIM Indore is almost impossible with this academic record as they weigh heavily on it.

That being said, once you get a call from the IIMs, another obstacle to cross is the PI-WAT. Again, it depends upon different IIMs. Some IIMs like IIM Bangalore and IIM Indore give very less weight for your CAT percentile ( a mere 25%) and others like IIM Udaipur give 55% to your CAT score while calculating your composite score for the final admission. Thus scoring high only in CAT doesn't guarantee a seat and the real game begins only after that. Please prepare well and focus on current affairs and work experience related stuff if you get calls.

Good luck belling the CAT! Feel free to drop in your queries.

Find out about IIM admission criteria here - https://bschool.careers360.com/articles/iim-admission-criteria

hi,

surely you wil have chances to jin IIMA provided you score good in the entrance CAT exam,

Considering you’re from General category An overall score of 96+%ile with more than 70%ile in sectionals & a background in agriculture/food industry(just to be on the safe side) will definitely give you a fair chance of securing a seat for IIM-A’s ABM program.

fro more information check the link below

https://bschool.careers360.com/articles/iim-ahmedabad-cutoff

good luck