IIM Admission Process | How to get into an IIM?

The Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) are independent management schools in the country. They offer a range of postgraduate, executive, and doctoral programs. The Minister of Human Resource Development is in charge of the institutes, ranked as some of the best business schools in the world.

Even though many IIMs offer courses that are different from each other, most of the programs at IIMs are the same. A candidate's CAT or GMAT score usually determines whether or not they get into an IIM. The acceptance rate at IIMs is generally between 1% and 2%, which is in line with its reputation. This is probably why IIM alumni include people like Raghuram Rajan (former RBI Governor), K. Radhakrishnan (former ISRO chairman), Indra Nooyi (CEO and Chairwoman of PepsiCo), etc.

How to Get into IIM: Steps

Stage 1: The first step is to take the Common Aptitude Test (CAT), which is given by the IIMs (GMAT for international candidates).

Stage 2: If a candidate meets the minimum score and cutoffs, they are called in for a written test, a group discussion, and an interview (PI). For academic and professional validation, the candidate must give two letters of recommendation from people who know them well. Since the PI round for 2020 is being done online.

Final Stage: The final offers of admission to candidates in each category will be made strictly based on the final aggregate score, with different factors, like work experience, gender, school board, etc., being given different amounts of weight.

1. Step 1: CAT, or Common Aptitude Test If you want to get into an IIM, the CAT exam is the first step. The Common Aptitude Test, or CAT, is a test that IIMs use to decide who gets into their management programs. A lot of people take the CAT exam because they want to get into one of the over 4,318 PGP programs. To meet the IIM cutoffs, candidates should work on getting a good overall score and good scores in each section. Click here for a detailed plan on how to pass the CAT and get a 99%ile.
2. Second stage: WAT/GD and PI
   Most of the time, IIM faculty, former faculty, or even alumni conduct Personal Interviews (PI) at IIMs. This round tests your soft skills and how well you get along with other people.

   Questions can be about anything from personal information to work and school. Along with PIs, IIMs also give a Written Ability Test (WAT) to see how well you can write and how well you understand the topic. Group Discussions (GDs) are no longer used by IIMs, with the exception of IIM Shillong, which uses GDs in the second stage of its hiring process.

3. The final choice in an IIM
   Some parameters, which may be different for each IIM, are used to make the final choices. Different marks are given based on your overall CAT score, how well you did in school, how much work experience you have, and how well you did in the WAT/GD and PI. Final choices are made based on these final scores.

   You can now easily find out which IIM is most likely to invite you to the WAT/GD and PI rounds and at what CAT percentile. Visit IIM Profilizer to put together your own list of IIMs.

How to Get into IIM: Scores and Weightages

After the CAT results are out, IIMs hold their own interviews and admissions processes. So, the details of how to get into an IIM can be different from one to the next. But the CAT scores, WAT/GD, and PI rounds are not the only parts of the IIM admissions process.

IIM admissions are based on a candidate's Composite Score, which is used to determine who moves on to the WAT/PI stage, and their Final Composite Score, which is used to determine who gets in. Since, the process is not centralized, the weight of each parameter in these scores varies. So, each IIM gives more weight to things like work experience, 10th-grade marks, 12th-grade marks, WAT/PI scores, CAT scores, and so on.

How to Get into IIM: Eligibility

The rules for getting into IIMs are the same as those for getting into CAT. But here are a few more things to think about.

• For general, EWS, NC-OBC, SC, ST, and PwD categories, the minimum requirement is a graduate degree with a score of at least 50%.
• Candidates in their last year of college can also apply.
• To take part in the WAT/PI rounds and get an interview call, candidates must meet the minimum cutoffs.

Common Admission Process: How to Get into an IIM

After the CAT exam, each of the older IIMs has its own admissions process. But nine of the new IIMs have a Common Admission Process (CAP) that makes the process of choosing students the same. Here are some important things to remember:

IIM Udaipur, IIM Kashipur, IIM Trichy, IIM Raipur, IIM Bodh Gaya, IIM Jammu, IIM Ranchi, IIM Sambalpur, and IIM Sirmaur are the nine IIMs that are taking part in CAP.

IIM Rohtak used to be part of the CAP group, but in 2020, it decided to leave.

IIM Trichy has been given the job of running CAP in 2022.

For CAP 2022, the Writing Ability Test (WAT) will not be given. So, the Personal Interview will be part of CAP 2022. (PI).

After the last steps of CAP are done, the IIMs make their own decisions about who to admit.

Tips for the CAT: How to Get into an IIM by Rabbit

• Review the math and English concepts you learned in grades 8 through 10, along with practice exercises that put these concepts to use.
• Invest in good study materials from a well-known institute, or you could look into taking classes there.
• You can choose to take classes in person or online, depending on your schedule and how much time you have. Candidates can choose programs based on what they need, whether they just graduated, are in their last year of school, or are already working.
• Master a few of the most-asked-about topics. On the CAT exam, Arithmetic, Algebra, and Numbers for Quant and Reading Comprehension for VARC are all very important. Make sure you start practicing them right away.
• Write a sectional test every week to make sure you're ready for each part since there are also sectional cut-offs.

Give practice tests to see how well you are prepared and how much you understand from the first day. Spend money on good mock tests or test series. Every 10–12 days, you should take a mock exam and spend at least 5–6 hours analyzing its quality.

Ending Thoughts

Without a good all-India test series, you can't be fully ready. You need a good CAT test series to check how well you've been studying and to do well on the exam. At Rabbit, you can use the drill-down analysis and booster analysis to get a detailed look at how your mocks did.