Which B-Schools To Apply, Based On Your CAT Percentile?
After the declaration of CAT results on Jan. 9,2017, MBA aspirants must be exploring B-School admission options based on the CAT percentile scored. No matter what the percentile is, it is just the beginning of the admission process. Your result is only deciding factor to pursue your MBA dream in the large universe of B-schools and MBA seats available in India.
AfterGraduation presents you the percentile brackets and a corresponding set of B-schools where you stand a chance of admission based on your CAT percentile and the B-School Cutoffs. The CAT 2016 result is only an indicator towards narrowing your available admission options and targeting the set of best-fit B-schools for yourself. Based on your percentile bracket, you can target the right set of B-schools for your MBA admission and optimize your search option.
Below is the percentile brackets basis of which you stand a chance of admission:
i) 90+ percentile
ii) 80 to 90 percentile
iii) 60 to 80 percentile
iv) < 60 percentile
Let us analyse each percentile bracket in detail and accordingly the admission opportunity for you.
Category 1: 90+ CAT Percentile
If MBA aspirant belong to this category, there are opportunities galore for their MBA admissions. Being among the brightest MBA aspirants, your high percentile brings you in the zone where you fulfill the cut-off for a majority of the IIMs along with other top B-schools such as MDI Gurgaon, NITIE Mumbai, FMS, University of Delhi, DMS-IIT Delhi, Bombay and Kharagpur and many more. A call from the apex IIMs, popularly referred as BLACKIS (IIM Bangalore, Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Calcutta, Kozhikode, Indore and Shillong) consider 90+ percentile only for the General category candidates can be expected depends on your academic record and individual subject score.
Provided you qualify the other admission criteria such as academic records, work experience and diversity factors and others of IIMs, you are most likely to get calls for Group Discussion, Written Ability Test and Personal Interview, the another round of admission procedure.
The following table indicates the list of top B-schools with more than 90 percentile CAT cutoff.
Top B-schools With CAT 90+ Percentile Cutoff
|
B-School |
CAT Cutoff (in percentile) |
| IIM Ahmedabad | 90+ |
| IIM Bangalore | 90+ |
| IIM Calcutta | 90+ |
| IIM Kozhikode | 90+ |
| IIM Lucknow | 90+ |
| IIM Shillong | 90+ |
| IIM Udaipur | 90+ |
| IIM Kashipur | 95 |
| IIM Indore | 90+ |
| VGSoM, IIT Kharagpur | 95 |
| FMS, University of Delhi | 95 |
| NITIE Mumbai | 97 |
| SJMSoM, IIT Bombay | 95 |
| MDI Gurgaon | 92 |
| DIME, IIT Kanpur | 95 |
| DoMS, IIT Madras | 95 |
| IIM Raipur | 90+ |
| Great Lakes Institute of Management chennai | 90+ |
| IMT Ghaziabad | 90+ |
| IIM Trichy | 94 |
| IIM Ranchi | 90+ |
| XIMB | 94 |
| DMS, IIT Roorkee | 95 |
| DMS, IIT Delhi | 95 |
| BIM Trichy | 95 |
Category 2: Range of 80-90 CAT Percentile
If you belong to this category, you can have calls from the top B-schools including the new IIMs. Among the top B-schools, you may expect calls from LBSIM Delhi, SPJIMR Mumbai, LIBA Chennai, TAPMI Manipal, IMNU Ahmedabad to name a few. Refer to the table below to get the list of B-schools with CAT cutoff range of 80 to 90 percentile.
Top B-schools With 80-90 CAT Percentile Cutoff
|
B-School |
CAT Cutoff (in percentile) |
| TAPMI Manipal | 86 |
| IIM Rohtak | 85 |
| SPJIMR Mumbai | 85 |
| DMS, NIT Trichy | 85 |
| XISS Ranchi | 85 |
| FORE School of Management, New Delhi | 85 |
| Lal Bahadur Shastri Institute of Management, New Delhi | 85 |
| FMS, BHU, Varanasi | 85 |
| University Business School, Panjab University, Chandigarh | 81 |
| Goa Institute of Management | 80 |
| MANAGE Hyderabad | 80 |
| XIME Bangalore | 80 |
| IFMR Chennai | 80 |
| LIBA Chennai | 80 |
READ Too: What Do Business Schools Seek From MBA Applicants?
Category 3: Range of 60-80 CAT Percentile
If you have secured a percentile in this category, you can aim for admission in Tier 2 or Tier 3 B-schools. The admissions are likely to be open till February or March. The admission process mainly includes GD and/or PI. MBA institutes like Institute of Public Enterprise (IPE) Hyderabad, Amrita School of Business Coimbatore, IFIM Bangalore,Xavier Institute of Management Enterprise (XIME) Bangalore, and many others are suitable for application based on your CAT result.
Check the table below to know the list of suitable B-schools for this range of cutoff.
Top B-schools With 60-80 CAT Percentile Cutoff
| B-School | CAT Cutoff (in percentile) |
| IIFM Bhopal | 75 |
| IBS Hyderabad | 75 |
| MNIT, Allahabad | 75 |
| IFIM Bangalore | 75 |
| Amrita School of Business, Coimbatore | 75 |
| IPE Hyderabad | 70 |
| Balaji Institute of Modern Management, Pune | 70 |
| PSG Institute of Management, Coimbatore | 75 |
| Alliance School of Business, Bangalore | 70 |
| Jaipuria Institute of Management, Lucknow | 60 |
| SCMS Cochin School of Business, Cochin | 75 |
| KIAMS, Harihar | 60 |
| MS Ramaiah Institute of Management, Bangalore | 60 |
| Thiagarajar School of Management, Madurai | 60 |
| IISWBM Kolkata | 70 |
| Siva Sivani Institute of Management, Secunderabad | 70 |
| VIT School of Business, Vellore | 60 |
| Acharya Institute of Management and Sciences, Bangalore | 60 |
| ITM Business School, Navi Mumbai | 70 |
| Jaipuria Institute of Management, Noida | 60 |
| Balaji Institute of Telecom Management | 70 |
| MIT School of Business, Pune | 70 |
| BIMTECH Greater Noida | 75 |
| FLAME University, Pune | 70 |
| SDMIMD, Mysore | 70 |
| IMS Ghaziabad | 60 |
| BIMHRD, Pune | 70 |
| Balaji Institute of International Business, Pune | 60 |
| Acharya Bangalore B-School, Bangalore | 60 |
| Myra Business School, Pune | 75 |
| IMS Noida | 75 |
| VJIM Hyderabad | 75 |
Case 4: Below 60 CAT Percentile
If you have obtained a percentile below 60, you have options of almost all B-School beyond the ranking of 50. In many of the Tier 3 B-schools, there is no particular admission deadline or cutoff percentile. However, you need to select your admission offer carefully after strictly cross-checking the factors below:
- Affiliation and recognition of the B-School
- Return of Investment – Compare fee vis-a-vis placements
- Programmes/Specializations offered
- Faculty size including the permanent and visiting members
- Infrastructure including technology
- Industry tie-ups of the institutes
- Pedagogy (Classroom hours, field study, industry visits, case studies module etc.)
Top B-schools With <60 CAT Percentile Cutoff
| B-School | CAT Cutoff (in percentile) |
| ABV – Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management, Gwalior | 50 |
| Indian School of Mines. Dhanbad | 50 |
| Pondicherry University, Puducherry | 50 |
| Rajagiri Center for Business Studies, Cochin | 50 |
| SIES College of Management Studies, Navi Mumbai | 50 |
| School of Petroleum Management, Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University, Gandhinagar | 55 |
| Jaipuria Institute of Management, Jaipur | 50 |
| Vel Tech University, Chennai | 50 |
| Karunya University Business School, Coimbatore | 50 |
| Indian Institute of Health Management Research, Jaipur | 50 |
| Hindustan University | 50 |
| Fortune Institute of International Business, New Delhi | 50 |
| Army Institute of Management, Kolkata | 50 |
| Amrut Modi School of Management, Ahmedabad University, Ahmedabad | 40 |
| Shri Ram Murti Smarak International Business School, Lucknow | 50 |
| MIT School of Telecom Management, Pune | 55 |
What Next?
- Your next step will include preparing for the WAT, GD and PI rounds for top B-schools. Reading newspapers and keeping yourself abreast with the current affairs is the primary step for the GD, PI and WAT preparation.
- Apply to the top B-schools whose application window is still open with cutoff lies in your scored percentile .
- Keep an eye on the B-School application notifications. While several B-schools have closed the application process, they might reopen the process after the declaration of the result.
- If you are taking the other MBA entrance exams such as IRMA 2017, MICAT 2017 or the state level MBA entrance exams like MAH CET 2017, focus on the dedicated preparation. Although most of the exams have some common sections such as Quant and Verbal Ability, still it is suggested that you have a focused and dedicated approach towards the sections.
- In case you score better in XAT or CMAT, apply to the participating institutes of these exams through the scores. If you decide to take admission through your CAT result itself, do a comparative analysis of your admission offers and choose the right B-School.