Dear Aspirant,

The first step in admission into the IIMs is to take the CAT test. The CAT Exam 2019 took place on 24 November 2019 and the result was announced on 4 January 2020. The IIM admission process will soon begin with the shortlisting of candidates for written skills test (WAT), group discussion (GD) and personal interview (PI) rounds.

The IIM admission criteria and selection process not only involves the selection of candidates on the basis of their CAT percentile, but also on the basis of WAT / GD-PI results, academic history, academic diversity, gender diversity and work experience.

Admission criteria and the selection process of each IIM are announced in advance for candidates to know the shortlist cut-off, selection criteria, Group Discussion (GD), Written Ability Test (WAT), Personal Interview (PI) process and the calculation of CAT scores / percentages.

Once the CAT results have been announced, the 20 IIM campuses screen the test participants on the basis of their respective CAT scores and academic record (Performance in Class 10, Class 12 and Graduation). CAT cut percentiles are set for each IIM, section wise and division wise. Cut off the percentiles and the weight assigned to CAT (and other parameters) for the WAT / GD-PI round varies for each IIM.

Applicants from non-engineering background are provided with additional points to ensure fair representation of students from other sources. The points of cultural diversity for each campus differ. Similarly, The IIMs give extra points to female / transgender candidates to encourage a fair representation of each gender. The gender diversity points for each campus vary.

Extra points (from 1-5) are given to candidates with work experience. For this purpose, the range is defined from the lowest to the highest. The points of work experience for each campus vary.

Hope this helps. All the best!