Admission Process Beyond CAT: What Comes Next?

A student's success on the Common Admission Test (CAT) is merely the first step toward admission to the IIMs, one of India's top management schools. Following the announcement of the CAT results, the admissions process moves into a number of phases where candidates' complete profiles, communication abilities, and capacity to meet the demands of a management program are evaluated.
1. Making a shortlist
Each IIM's short list, along with those of other prestigious business schools, has a cutoff date. While CAT scores serve as the foundation for shortlisting, other diversity factors such as gender, academic background, and job experience also play a part.
Although CAT scores raise the likelihood of success, there is no guarantee because it is based on a holistic evaluation of the candidates.
2. Individual Interview
The majority of IIMs and B-schools use a Group Discussion (GD) or a Written Ability Test (WAT) to assess applicants' communication abilities, clarity of thought, and opinions on current events or social concerns.
While a WAT assesses writing expression, coherence, and argumentation skills, a GD requires group participation and requires extremely quick thinking.
3. Individual Interview (PI)
At the PI stage, factors like personality, motivation, professional objectives, and program fit are examined. The interviewer may inquire about the candidate's academic background, work experience, interests, and motivations for pursuing an MBA.
At this point, a far greater understanding of the candidate's leadership potential, interpersonal skills, and readiness for challenges in the management program is obtained.
4. The final composite score
Ultimately, the CAT results, academic background, work experience, GD/WAT, and PI performance are combined to create a composite score. Given the weights allocated to each institution, the scores are then utilized to decide which applicants would receive admission offers.
In conclusion
Since each component is crucial to getting admitted, success beyond CAT requires a well-rounded profile, excellent communication abilities, and efficient preparation for the GD/WAT and PI rounds.