Now, the CAT wants to shed weight

BANGALORE: Your entry into the premier IIMs has just got tougher. For, the fat CAT wants to shed weight.

In a move that will affect thousands of IIM aspirants, directors of the six IIMs have taken a collective decision to fix a minimum academic eligibility to take the common admission test (CAT). Though there has been no official confirmation, the figure is likely to be 50%.

This means candidates have to secure a minimum percentage of marks in the qualifying examination to be eligible to appear for the CAT — let alone cracking one of the toughest B-school entrance exams this side of Harvard.

"The number of applicants are far too many for us to handle. Every year the number of applicants goes up by 20,000. Last year about 1.7 lakh students took the CAT. We want to reduce the number by fixing a minimum eligibility criteria so that the best minds get into IIMs," IIM-B director Prakash G Apte told TOI.

At the recent meeting in Ahmedabad, directors of all the IIMs decided to take up the issue with the respective faculty councils to seek their feedback. The decision was taken after the CAT Group, involving admission chairpersons of IIMs informed the directors the chunk of faculty time was taken away in conducting CAT and completing the admission process.

"Traditionally, IIMs had insisted on having a minimum marks in graduation. But I don't know at what stage this was discontinued. We are only going back to an earlier practice. This move will further filter the number of applicants taking the CAT," S P Parashar, IIM-Indore, said.

Not just that. There are other sweeping changes IIMs are contemplating for CAT 2006. Like the erstwhile IIT-JEE style of admission, IIMs are mulling a two-tier selection procedure, where applicants have to appear for two CATs — preliminary and mains. "We are also thinking of keeping the group discussions and personal interviews short so that these do not take away teaching and research time of our faculty," Apte said.

But, the IIMs' proposal to take CAT online has hit a roadblock. "We are yet to find a credible agency, with integrity to conduct CAT. We are still discussing the outsourcing issue," Apte added.


Source : http://economictimes.indiatimes.com
 

Mahesh Belthur

Par 100 posts (V.I.P)
thanx venga...
i even got mail tellin that there will be different cutoffs for different branches.... shud wait and c this time's cat bulletin for more surprises... and about cat being outsourced..this time its cancelled ... i think in future they may look into that matter... but for this year cat its not there... and this time cat is conducted by IIM Bangalore....
 

bhavin_3

Par 100 posts (V.I.P)
vengabeats said:
BANGALORE: Your entry into the premier IIMs has just got tougher. For, the fat CAT wants to shed weight.

In a move that will affect thousands of IIM aspirants, directors of the six IIMs have taken a collective decision to fix a minimum academic eligibility to take the common admission test (CAT). Though there has been no official confirmation, the figure is likely to be 50%.

This means candidates have to secure a minimum percentage of marks in the qualifying examination to be eligible to appear for the CAT — let alone cracking one of the toughest B-school entrance exams this side of Harvard.

"The number of applicants are far too many for us to handle. Every year the number of applicants goes up by 20,000. Last year about 1.7 lakh students took the CAT. We want to reduce the number by fixing a minimum eligibility criteria so that the best minds get into IIMs," IIM-B director Prakash G Apte told TOI.

At the recent meeting in Ahmedabad, directors of all the IIMs decided to take up the issue with the respective faculty councils to seek their feedback. The decision was taken after the CAT Group, involving admission chairpersons of IIMs informed the directors the chunk of faculty time was taken away in conducting CAT and completing the admission process.

"Traditionally, IIMs had insisted on having a minimum marks in graduation. But I don't know at what stage this was discontinued. We are only going back to an earlier practice. This move will further filter the number of applicants taking the CAT," S P Parashar, IIM-Indore, said.

Not just that. There are other sweeping changes IIMs are contemplating for CAT 2006. Like the erstwhile IIT-JEE style of admission, IIMs are mulling a two-tier selection procedure, where applicants have to appear for two CATs — preliminary and mains. "We are also thinking of keeping the group discussions and personal interviews short so that these do not take away teaching and research time of our faculty," Apte said.

But, the IIMs' proposal to take CAT online has hit a roadblock. "We are yet to find a credible agency, with integrity to conduct CAT. We are still discussing the outsourcing issue," Apte added.


Source : http://economictimes.indiatimes.com


Reducing no of ppl for cat.. A battle between jst incredible brains. But does 50% criteria actually eliminate alot frm tht 170k lst yr or mebbe 190k dis yr.. Ma blv wouldnt be much strong on this one though we dont have any statistics which shows us hw many below 50% do actually give cats..!! And the best part is if this rule is gettin passed does it actually imply to quota's 2.. I guess der would be a good no of reduction if its further put to 60%.

Infrastrucutre has been a being concern for taking CAT online as we have a huge amnt of ppl giving cat frm all arnd da country..!!
 

kartik

Kartik Raichura
Staff member
I say make it 65 % .. and only maximum 3 attempts to crack cat .. you cannot appear for cat or cet more than 3 times... Work hard, Take it and get into a b school or leave it ... there are other people waiting in que.
 

bhavin_3

Par 100 posts (V.I.P)
kartik said:
I say make it 65 % .. and only maximum 3 attempts to crack cat .. you cannot appear for cat or cet more than 3 times... Work hard, Take it and get into a b school or leave it ... there are other people waiting in que.

Lol 65% is raising the bar 2 much... Hv some sympathy to engineeering students. They slog like anythig and some times they results are just not up2 the mark.. I do have many engg frnds who hv brains for IIMs, great decision power making capabilities , and can work they like anything.. BUt mumbai univ hasnt been that kind to them all time.. Expactations and reality have had 2 complete diff roads.. A student expecting 70's lands up in 60s and the 1 jst tryin to pass gets rock n roll mrks.. So 60% becomes quiet a good mix blend..!!:pound:
 

Mahesh Belthur

Par 100 posts (V.I.P)
bhavin_3 said:
Lol 65% is raising the bar 2 much... Hv some sympathy to engineeering students. They slog like anythig and some times they results are just not up2 the mark..

perfectly told....and wat about different cutoff for different university students ??? ... in vtu (karnataka) they give above 87% for a 5th or 6th semester electronics student... but not the case with other universities...
 

bhavin_3

Par 100 posts (V.I.P)
Mahesh Belthur said:
perfectly told....and wat about different cutoff for different university students ??? ... in vtu (karnataka) they give above 87% for a 5th or 6th semester electronics student... but not the case with other universities...

Ya true, we do have so much diversity in different programs across diff states and diff cut off for more no of univ's..!! If you are in a good engg coll they would care to give u good mrks in both internal nd external but if u got in2 a bad coll than your internals are gettin screwed for sure and even externals. I guess its jst the quality of papers which tend to come before and after you that the paperchecker doesnt emphasize on checking wts in it..!!
 

amardeep.rishi

Par 100 posts (V.I.P)
Well true.60% would b fine as here in punjab there's a huge diffrence in the results of colleges funded by govt and private colleges.Private colleges give numbers with open hearts and that is not true for govt institutions.Moreover i disagree with number of attempts critiria as CAT cannot be compared with IAS afterall more exp u have u r better suited for management degree..Caz v don't have age critiria v should'nt have attempts critiria either.:smash:
 

kartik

Kartik Raichura
Staff member
If you guys are considering all these things then there should be any criteria. Everyone should be judged only on the base of their CAT score and their GD / PI's .

If you are so considerate about university differences in percentages, then why have a percentage cut off. Anyways only the elite CAT scorers get a call and even then there is screening.

And dude.. would'nt it be good if the number of seats are increased ?

Common sense is not so common ;)
 

bhavin_3

Par 100 posts (V.I.P)
kartik said:
If you guys are considering all these things then there should be any criteria. Everyone should be judged only on the base of their CAT score and their GD / PI's .

If you are so considerate about university differences in percentages, then why have a percentage cut off. Anyways only the elite CAT scorers get a call and even then there is screening.

And dude.. would'nt it be good if the number of seats are increased ?

Common sense is not so common ;)

The minimum cutoff have been kept so that we dont see a huge increase in no of ppl giving cat... Otherwise instead of 2 lac giving cat we might see 3 odd lakh ppl giving cat..!!:pound:

Dont wanna degrade CAT wherein every 3 person giving a CAT..!!

Secondly an increae in no of seats is the best thing to happen for every1..But i believe as IIM's have said that they have a constraint of good professor... Nd if the institute is jst increasing the no of seats without good profs than again that is of no use...!!
 

amardeep.rishi

Par 100 posts (V.I.P)
kartik said:
If you guys are considering all these things then there should be any criteria. Everyone should be judged only on the base of their CAT score and their GD / PI's .

If you are so considerate about university differences in percentages, then why have a percentage cut off. Anyways only the elite CAT scorers get a call and even then there is screening.

And dude.. would'nt it be good if the number of seats are increased ?

Common sense is not so common ;)

Well it's important to set a line to limit the number of candidates,the way u r saying gives an impression that either only those 4-5% should give the test who can get 98% plus in CAT or let every person on planet give it.don't forget brother it's a matter of those 2 hours which decides the future.To put your efforts on paper requires considerable amount of luck too..
The way MBA is gaining the popularity every 2nd graduate is intrested in doing MBA so %increase per year are is high enuff.so it;s imp for IIM's to set a least threshold.MBA selection is a long process lots of work and money involvment make it more tough.So it's a rite idea to set a minimum
qualifying percentage.
CAT is just an exam.....give a thought:)
 
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