IIM Admission Criteria for 2020-22 batch

IIM Admission Criteria 2020 for all the 20 IIMs have been announced with several changes in the admission policy. The Admission Criteria for each IIM is announced individually with the respective shortlisting and final selection parameters. However, the admission policy for all the 20 IIMs contains common eligibility criteria. Each IIM follows its own admission criteria and the CAT 2019 score cut offs and selection process is therefore different.

The IIM Admission Criteria describes everything from key requirements, process,weightage parameters, CAT exam to the final admission offer. The key components in IIM Admission Criteria are pretty much the same but are used at different stages. The most important aspects of the IIM admission are the Eligibility for admission, cut off and weightage for CAT exam score and applicability of age limit.  

The admission criteria at each of the IIMs differ from one another and it consists of CAT score cut offs, weightage points for other components like academics, work experience, diversity. However, the applicability of this weightage can either be at the shortlisting stage or the final stage and this differs from one IIM to the other.

The IIMs in India were established in the 1960’s of which IIM Calcutta and IIM Ahmedabad were the first to be opened in 1961. After this two more were set up at Bangalore and Lucknow. Initially, there were only four institutes for a very long time. Gradually more and more institutes were set up and today there are 20 IIMs located all over India. The admission process is based on a Common Admission Test conducted by IIMs – IIM CAT and unless a candidate clears the qualifying marks, he/she is not eligible for admissions to any of the IIMs.  

IIM CAT: Mandatory Exam for IIMs Admission

IIM-CAT is the mandatory MBA entrance exam to be taken for admission into the IIMs and many other top MBA colleges. This exam has one of the most number of test-takers and the number increases every year. Last year, over 2.44 lakh candidates have applied as against 2.41 lakh candidates registered in 2018.

IIMs Admission criteria with CAT cut offs

All the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) have announced their admission criteria for admission to MBA/PGP 2020-22 batch and each will shortlist candidates for the final admission round on the basis of CAT 2019 scores and other parameters like Work experience, Academics, Diversity, etc.. Each of the individual IIMs has also announced its distinct weightage to different parameter apart from announcing the qualifying CAT scores.

This year, the weightage for CAT 2019 exam scores is less in order to improve the academic diversity in the IIM class rooms.

The admission criterion followed in an IIM is distinct and is independent of the other IIMs. Except for the case of new IIMs which is under the mentorship of another IIM, no IIM has a role in deciding the admission policy of another IIM. The following IIMs have announced their Admission criteria. The CAT cut offs and programme fee is also mentioned below:

IIMs MBA Admission Process

At present there are 20 IIMs in India and all start their admission process at the same time as the CAT registration process. Two of the four step Admission process are carried out along with the CAT exam and the remaining two are conducted separately by each IIM or in the form of group as in the case of the new IIMs.

Step-1: Register & Apply for CAT exam

The admissions commences in August and remains open till the last week of September, till the closure of the Registrations for CAT exam. Candidates planning on getting an admission in IIMs should register and apply for CAT exam within the specified registration window which is open forabout to 45 to 50 days.

Step-2: Appear in CAT Exam

Those who are looking to pursue the management course PGP/MBA programme at the IIMs must have appeared for the Common Admission Test (CAT) 2019.

Step-3: Shortlisting Process

Once the results are published, each IIM prepares a shortlist ofeligible candidates for the final admission round on the basis of CAT exam scores, academics, diversity, work experience among other parameters based on the IIM’s admission policy and weightages. The newer IIMs prepares the 1st stage shortlist on the basis of CAT scores but the older IIMs takes into account other parameters as well.

Step-4: Final Admission Process- GD-PI-WAT Round

All the shortlisted candidates have to appear for the Written Ability Test (WAT) followed by Personal Interview (PI) round. A few of the IIMs like IIM Shillong, IIM Kozhikode also conduct GD round on the basis of the WAT. The final merit list will be generated and admission offers will be prepared by each IIM on the basis of the performance in the last round and on the basis of weightage awarded to CAT scores, academic profile & diversity, work experience and gender diversity.

New IIMs conduct Common Admission Process (CAP)

The Common Admission Process (CAP) which is the common WAT and PIround, is conducted for 9 to 11 new IIMs namely IIM Kashipur, Raipur, Ranchi, Rohtak, Trichy,Udaipur and 5 of the newest IIMs – IIM Amritsar, IIM BodhGaya, IIM Jammu, IIM Sambalpur, IIM Sirmaur. The CAP is controlled by one of the comparatively older IIMs. Selection of candidates is based on the performance in the CAP round along with other individual admission components.

IIM Visakhapatnam and IIM Nagpur conduct own final admission process

IIM Visakhapatnam and IIM Nagpur do not participate in CAP, instead they conduct their own selection rounds. The admission offers are on the basis of CAT scores, Academic profile, Work experience and gender diversity in accordance with the weight-age awarded to each of these factors.

The short-listing criteria, parameters and weight-ages for admission process to IIMs are shared below:

IIM: Ahmedabad

• Overall CAT 2019 percentile: 80
• Sectional CAT percentile:70
• Weight to CAT 2019 score: 70%
• Weight to Academic profile: 30%
• Weight to Academic diversity: Clubbed with profile
• Weight to Work Experience: In final selection
• Weight to Gender Diversity: In final selection

Note: The admission process of IIM Ahmedabad is different. The actual CAT cut offs can be anywhere from 82 to 100. There have been cases where a candidate witha 82 percentile has secured admission while a candidate with a 100 percentile may not get admission.

IIM Bangalore

• Overall CAT 2019 percentile: 85
• Sectional CAT percentile: 75 for Quant and DILR and 80 for VARC
• Weight to CAT score: 40%
• Weight to Academic profile: 50%
• Weight to Academic diversity: Clubbed with Academic Profile
• Weight to Work Experience: 8%
• Weight to Gender Diversity: 2%

IIM Calcutta

• Overall CAT 2019 percentile: 85
• Sectional CAT percentile: 75
• Weight to CAT score: 56%
• Weight to Academic profile: 40%
• Weight to Gender Diversity: 4%
• Weight to Academic diversity: Nil
• Weight to Work Experience: In Final selection

IIM: Lucknow

• Overall CAT 2019 percentile: 90
• Sectional CAT percentile: 85
• Weight to CAT score: 60%
• Weight to Academic profile: 20%
• Weight to Academic diversity: 5%
• Weight to Work Experience: 10%
• Weight to Gender Diversity: 5%

IIM: Indore

• Overall CAT percentile: 90
• Sectional CAT percentile: 80
• Weight to CAT score: 20%
• Weight to Academic profile: 74%
• Weight to Diversity: 6%
• Weight to Work Experience: Nil

IIM: Kozhikode

• Overall CAT 2019 percentile: 85
• Sectional CAT percentile: 75
• Weight to CAT 2019 score: 45
• Weight to Academic profile: 45
• Weight to Academic/Gender diversity: 10*

*IIM Kozhikode awards maximum 10 point weightage which includes both academic & gender diversity. No separate weightage to each factor is awarded.

IIM Shillong

• Overall CAT 2019 percentile: Considers Sectional Percentile
• Sectional CAT percentile: 75
• Marks required in class X: 80
• Marks required in class XII: 80
• Weight to Academic profile: In Final selection
• Weight to Academic diversity: In Final selection
• Weight to Work Experience: In Final selection
• Weight to Gender Diversity: In Final selection

6 New IIMs Admission Criteria

Six New IIMs that were established in 2010 also conduct the Common Admission Process (CAP) after the CAT results are published. All these six IIMs will shortlist the candidates on the basis of CAT 2019 and the list of candidates should be announced by mid-January 2020. Those within the shortlist will be eligible for WAT and PI process for admission to the PGP/MBA 2020-22 Batch of IIM Kashipur, Raipur, Ranchi, Rohtak, Tiruchirappali, Udaipur.

Except for IIM Rohtak where the extra weightage is given for academics, work experience, gender diversity at the shortlisting stage, the other IIMs assign the weightage at the time of preparation of the final merit list after the WAT and PI round.

IIM: Kashipur

Shortlisting

• Overall CAT percentile: 90
• Sectional CAT percentile: 80
• Weight to CAT score: 100%

Final Selection:

• Weight to CAT score: 30
• Weight to PI: 20
• Weight to WAT: 10
• Weight to Academic profile: 20
• Weight to Academic diversity: 5
• Weight to Work Experience: 5
• Weight to Gender Diversity: 5
• Weight to CA/CS/ICWA qualification: 5

IIM: Raipur

Shortlisting Criteria

• Overall CAT 2019 percentile: 95
• Sectional CAT percentile: 80
• Weight to CAT 2019 score: 100%

Final Admission Criteria

• Weight to CAT 2019 Score: 35%
• Weight to PI: 25%
• Weight to WAT: 10%
• Weight to Academics: 10%
• Weight to Academic Diversity: 4%
• Weight to gender diversity: 8%
• Weight to Work Experience: 8%

IIM: Ranchi

Shortlisting

• Overall CAT percentile: 90
• Sectional CAT percentile: 80
• Weight to CAT score: 100%

Final Selection: To Be announced

• Weight to Academic profile:
• Weight to Academic diversity:
• Weight to Work Experience:
• Weight to Gender Diversity:

IIM: Rohtak

Shortlisting

• Overall CAT percentile: 95
• Sectional CAT percentile: 80
• Weight to CAT score in shortlisting: 100%

Final Admission Weights

• Weight to CAT Score: 35%
• Weight to PI-WAT Score: 30%
• Weight to Academics, Work Ex, diversity: 35%

IIM: Tiruchirappalli

Shortlisting

• Overall CAT 2019 percentile: 95
• Sectional CAT percentile: 80
• Weight to CAT 2019 score: 100%
  

Final Selection

• Weight to CAT score: 50
• Weight to Personal interview: 14
• Weight to WAT: 14
• Weight to Academic profile: 10
• Weight to Professional Qualification:2
• Weight to Work Experience: 5
• Weight to Gender Diversity: 5

IIM Udaipur

Shortlisting Cut offs

• Overall CAT percentile: 90
• Sectional CAT 2019 percentile: 80
• Weight to CAT 2019 score: 100%
  

Final Selection Weights

• CAT 2019 score: 55
• Personal interview: 15
• Written Ability Test (WAT): 6
• Weight to Academic profile: 8
• Weight to Academic diversity: 3
• Weight to Work Experience: 6
• Weight to Gender Diversity: 5
• CA/CS/ICWA: 2

7 Newest IIMs

Seven IIMs among the 20 are the newer institutes and these are guided by the older IIMs. The shortlisting process for admission into the new IIMs are based on CAT 2019 scores and some can also take into consideration academics, diversity, work experience and other factors. These new IIMs announce their admission policy in January every year. The cut offs, weightage on CAT score and other parameters for the 2020 admissions to the older IIMS are expected to remain unchanged.

IIM Amritsar

• Overall CAT 2019 percentile: 90
• Sectional CAT percentile: 70
• Weight to CAT 2019 score: 100%
• Weight to Academic profile: Not announced
• Weight to Academic diversity: Not announced
• Weight to Work Experience: Not announced
• Weight to Gender Diversity: Not announced

IIM Bodh Gaya

• Overall CAT 2019 percentile: 90
• Sectional CAT 2019 percentile: 80
• Weight to CAT 2019 score: 100%
• Weight to Academic profile: Not announced
• Weight to Academic diversity: Not announced
• Weight to Work Experience: Not announced
• Weight to Gender Diversity: Not announced

IIM Nagpur

• Overall CAT 2019 percentile: 90
• Sectional CAT 2019 percentile: 72
• Weight to CAT 2019 score: 35%

Final Admission Criteria

• Weight to CAT 2019 Score: 20%
• Weight to PI: 35%
• Weight to WAT: 5%
• Weight to Academics: 20%
• Weight to Work Experience: 20%

IIM: Sambalpur

• Overall CAT 2019 percentile: 90
• Sectional CAT 2019 percentile: 80
• Weight to CAT 2019 score: 100%
• Weight to Academic profile: NA
• Weight to Academic diversity: NA
• Weight to Work Experience: NA
• Weight to Gender Diversity: NA

IIM: Sirmaur

• Overall CAT 2019 percentile: 80
• Sectional CAT 2019 percentile: 75
• Weight to CAT 2019 score: 100%
• Weight to Academic profile: NA
• Weight to Academic diversity: NA
• Weight to Work Experience: NA
• Weight to Gender Diversity: NA

IIM: Visakhapatnam

• Overall CAT 2019 percentile: 85
• Sectional CAT 2019 percentile: 75 for Quant and DILR and 80 for VARC
• Weight to CAT 2019 score: 40%
• Weight to Academic profile: 50%
• Weight to Academic diversity: Clubbed with Academic Profile
• Weight to Work Experience: 8%
• Weight to Gender Diversity: 2%

IIM: Jammu

• Overall CAT 2019 percentile: 80
• Sectional CAT 2019 percentile: 75
• Weight to Academic profile: NA
• Weight to Academic diversity: NA
• Weight to Work Experience: NA
• Weight to Gender Diversity: NA