[vahgar]

"Are you saying that once shortlisted, two students with the same cat percentile - but one with 45 percent marks in the undergraduation and the other with 80 percent marks in undergraduation - are on the same plane during the remaining part of the admission process?

Absolutely. At IIM Calcutta, yes."

WOW..this is really freaky..there has to be some diff atleast! CAT seems to make up about 60-70% of the final score!

[catcracker99]

In my opinion, the Prof. Sinha is right. An MBA aspirant with bad past academics should not be left to pay for his earlier mistakes. Moreover, we have GD and PI to evaluate how the candidate has improved in developing a good vision for himself in futre. Bad past academics is mistakes from which the student would have learned. Let the present decide whether she is fit for MBA.

[Apurv]

In my opinion, the Prof. Sinha is right. An MBA aspirant with bad past academics should not be left to pay for his earlier mistakes. Moreover, we have GD and PI to evaluate how the candidate has improved in developing a good vision for himself in futre. Bad past academics is mistakes from which the student would have learned. Let the present decide whether she is fit for MBA.

He has not justified his claim using this reason. You are attaching your own assumed reason as the actual reason.

[dhruvv]

well while seeing acads 1 major factor is that in india most of the learning has been root learning and when it comes to cat its a lot abt thinking outside the box and analytical thinking,even when it comes to maths i know many ppl who were maths toppers while in school struggling in the cat....when we talk abt managers we need out of the box thinkers may be thats why past acads really dont matter,though i must when we do have ppl with similar percentiles past acads should matter cos 1st it shows consistency plus the fact that the person with a good acad score has retention capacity while the other person may not put in an affort in an assignment which does not int him.

many pts need 2 be looked at but overall i feel the way cat is structured its a good judge ,and for all those who say its just 1 exam then i may add that the IIT entrance exam and so many damn other exams r also 1 exam which decide ur undergrad future and with cat atleast 1 has an option of taking up a job and trying next yr and 1 doesnt really feel as if they have lost a yr...... plsu dont we other entrance exams like xat and all!!!!

[dhruvv]

well just 1 more pt .....when XLRI and SPjain have gone beyond the cat scores and xat scores and looked at past acads and work ex they have come under heavy fire by ppl..so in the end all that matters is which side of the fense ur!!!!

[pranav10]

guys personallly i feel that institutes have to have a borderline and there is no harmin a cut off system. Also the IIMs are continously increasing their intake cause they see the need to increse supply but you must realise it takes more than time and money to build an institution which is credible and worth its salt. They need faculty, other facilities, etc.

Also all of us have done poorly at some stage or the other in our past academic record and that is just a way of saying that the marks dont matter but nowhere does he mention that they will not check the candidates ability to answer questions related to his academics and subjects encoutnered in the course of his graduation. Thus they mean to say that the actual %s dont matter what matters is whether you know your stuff or not.

[nikhilanurag]

Now this is what I believe,

Just because you were not good at studies while you were doing your undergraduate exam doesnt mean that you are suffer for it for the rest of your life. I mean, that is quite sadistic isnt it?

When it comes to the argument about the fact that they could not do well in their acads because they weren't interested in it and thus might not qualify for the MBA course, but if they were supposed to be THAT unfit for MBA course how were they able to get thru the exam?

CAT is, I am sure we all agree, not an exam where formulas tend to decide the supremacy but rather your intellect(?) and approach. And, if a candidate of lower academic score were to get thru the exam doesn't that mean that maybe he has the right approach for this course than the one he had been previously employed in?

As for the student who has got a good record in his acads.... well, looking at it from business point of view, I would say he would do better cause he is more of an all rounder. Looking at it from philanthropic point of view, we can hope that the one with good academic % can get a job while the one with lesser score might not thus helping out the lesser % one by giving him a seat is better. But, dont think they would select for the sake of karma now would they?

I seem to be undermining my own statement... now that aint entertaining.

[dhruvv]

well another imp pt is that in india we have var boards and the marking system is not the same everywhere, a 65% in 1 good be the topper in that board while in another a 80% could be just a above avg student ,so how can u compare both!!!the eg given by the prof is an exaggerated,we wont really come across cases of having to choose between 45% and 80%,so lets look at it practically!! most foreign univs also clearly state that ur gmat/gre scores r wht will reflect ur acads background cos its diff 2 compare marks of students from var backgrounds and univs!!

[pranav10]

Thats true that we have various boards in India but looking at the distribution of people who apply to management institutes and the experience that the panelists have it can be said that they have an idea of the various avergaes across the boards. Also if they doubt your competence in your earlier knowledge they will definitely ask questions to that effect in the interviews

[nikhilanurag]

I wholeheartedly agree with dhruvv, this is in itself prevalent here at hyd.

basically we have two universities here... JNTU and OU.

Some of my friends say that for top most companies, who come for campus interviews... till a fe years back, the selection criteria was something of such sort.

JNTU: 70~75%+
OU: 85%+

this shows the difference in marks weightage for both the institutes and their affliated colleges.

Thus, it is better to have one's own method of determining who is better than to rely one marks and percentages realyed by academic score when we are talking about ppl who come from diff universties.