IIM Calcutta has come out with the details of its selection process for the batch of 2016-18. There have been a few minor changes compared to last year but overall it remains more or less the same. Let us study what exactly is required to get into IIM Calcutta next year.
Shortlisting for Personal Interview (PI)
CAT score
The overall cutoff remains almost the same across categories while the sectional cutoff has been dropped by 5 percentile points for each section for General candidates and raised by 5 percentile points for the DA candidates. Overall, nothing major has changed.
Initial shortlisting criteria
Candidates qualifying these criteria will enter a pool from which there will be a select few that would get a PI shortlist. A composite score would be used to determine the same. Composite score will be calculated on the basis of 10th standard, 12th standard, and CAT performance with 3 percentage points to be awarded (presumably to female candidates only, nothing has been explicitly mentioned unlike it was last year) to promote gender diversity.
Changes from last year
The not-so-good news for aspirants with average-low academics is that, the weight given to CAT scores has been reduced from 77% last year to 67% this year. The weights assigned to 10th and 12th scores has risen from 10% individually to 15% individually to accommodate the 10% shortage from the CAT score weight. This essentially means that, for every point you fall short in terms of academic performance, you will need to raise your normalized CAT score by 4.5 marks to be on equal footing. This translates into the fact that promotion of gender diversity would hand out around 13.5 marks worth of CAT score to female candidates.
Weights given to past acads
Although weights have been assigned to 10th and 12th standard marks, they are spread widely enough to accommodate for a minor hiccup in either of the two entrances or disparity across boards. Almost all the candidates who get through top b-schools have academics north of 80% in 10th and 12th and so, these 30 marks are more of a formality which would again mean that your CAT score would matter most when it comes to getting shortlisted.
Selection post PI/WAT
The subsequent point distribution also broadly remains the same. The academic background diversity factor has been split into two parts this year (2 points for diversity at graduation level and 1 point for graduation at post graduate/professional qualification level).
Formal vs. managerial work experience
A subtle change with regards to work experience has been mentioned wherein, till last year it mentioned ‘formal work experience’ but this year, it says ‘managerial work experience’. Both of them exclude the same training/project work/work done as an integral part of the curriculum and so, there should not be any difference in these two terms.
Overall, it remains more or less the same with a few subtle changes. IIM Calcutta still remains the only biggie IIM to focus majorly on a candidate’s CAT score and a strong CAT score can majorly enhance chances of getting shortlisted.
