IIM Calcutta announces minimum cutoff scores

MBA CAT 2023
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With the quota row not completely over, IIM Calcutta has quietly followed IIM Ahmedabad in 2007 in announcing their minimum acceptable cutoff scores in the CAT bulletin to maintain minimum standards. The cutoff applied even to reserved categories,…

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With the quota row not completely over, IIM Calcutta has quietly followed IIM Ahmedabad in 2007 in announcing their minimum acceptable cutoff scores in the CAT bulletin to maintain minimum standards. The cutoff applied even to reserved categories, says the bulletin.



The IIM Calcutta notification in the CAT 2007 bulletin reads, "A candidate (including a reserved category candidate) to be shortlisted for GD and PI for admission to post-graduate programmes should obtain a minimum of 20%, 20% and 10% in 'quantitative', 'logic and data interpretation' and 'verbal' sections respectively."

IIM Calcutta's Chairman of Admissions Prof Ashish Bhattacharya said, "This has been done to introduce more transparency into the admission process. Potential students need to get at least this much in CAT in order to pass the courses at IIM Calcutta and handle the academic rigor." He confirmed that these minimum cutoff scores were being used internally anyway but had been exposed to the public this year.

A source in IIM Calcutta however said that the institute has stated the cutoff as a shield against admitting compromised quality students in case the OBC quota is eventually implemented by the Union Human Resource Development Ministry.

The bulletin further reads for IIM Calcutta, "The actual cut-off used for short-listing, however, may be higher than the minimum cut-off and would depend upon the performance of candidates inCAT 2007."

IIM Ahmedabad had initiated exposing their minimum acceptable cutoffs in CAT 2006 and have continued with in CAT 2007. However, they have placed their minimum cutoffs at 25% in each section of CAT and 33% on the aggregate. Asked why IIM Calcutta's minimum cutoffs were lower than those of IIM Ahmedabad, Prof Bhattacharya said, "Both schools are very different and therefore have different criteria. You should ask IIM Ahmedabad why their cutoffs are higher."

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A very welcome move by IIM-C!

Chalo, some uncertainty goes away. We can actually have a target score.

Yes, it may be "easier" for everyone now and so the competition is still the same. But still, with some uncertainty going away, everyone should feel atleast a wee bit relaxed.


:)

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the uncertainty hasnt gone away !

The bulletin further reads for IIM Calcutta, "The actual cut-off used for short-listing, however, may be higher than the minimum cut-off and would depend upon the performance of candidates inCAT 2007."

so i guess that means the cut offs cud still be something like 33%,30%,28% section wise and 40% overall or absolutely anything at all. same holds for IIM A.

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A very welcome move by IIM-C!

Chalo, some uncertainty goes away. We can actually have a target score.

Yes, it may be "easier" for everyone now and so the competition is still the same. But still, with some uncertainty going away, everyone should feel atleast a wee bit relaxed.
They're not saying that anyone scoring those numbers will get a call. They've just announced the minimum acceptable cutoff. That is, nobody scoring below 20,20,10 would be admitted, even if (theoretically) they fall short of students making that cut. The actual cutoffs would absolutely be above this much! 😃
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With the quota row not completely over, IIM Calcutta has quietly followed IIM Ahmedabad in 2007 in announcing their minimum acceptable cutoff scores in the CAT bulletin to maintain minimum standards. The cutoff applied even to reserved categories, says the bulletin.



The IIM Calcutta notification in the CAT 2007 bulletin reads, "A candidate (including a reserved category candidate) to be shortlisted for GD and PI for admission to post-graduate programmes should obtain a minimum of 20%, 20% and 10% in 'quantitative', 'logic and data interpretation' and 'verbal' sections respectively."

IIM Calcutta's Chairman of Admissions Prof Ashish Bhattacharya said, "This has been done to introduce more transparency into the admission process. Potential students need to get at least this much in CAT in order to pass the courses at IIM Calcutta and handle the academic rigor." He confirmed that these minimum cutoff scores were being used internally anyway but had been exposed to the public this year.

A source in IIM Calcutta however said that the institute has stated the cutoff as a shield against admitting compromised quality students in case the OBC quota is eventually implemented by the Union Human Resource Development Ministry.


1.) It has nothing to do with quota

2.) last year cutoff for obc n general category students(in case of iima) was same except in english n that too very small difference

3.) Most interesting aspect is that english in cat 2007 will be very difficult n confusing reason: lesser cutoff in English
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Apurv Says
They're not saying that anyone scoring those numbers will get a call. They've just announced the minimum acceptable cutoff. That is, nobody scoring below 20,20,10 would be admitted, even if (theoretically) they fall short of students making that cut. The actual cutoffs would absolutely be above this much! :)

I understand. That's why I said "some of the uncertainty".

And from the looks of the last mock I took, "minimum acceptable" may be just what I should look at for the time being. Heh.
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One of the wisest thing done by Management Gurus of IIM calcutta.......
In my opinion all this thing is to give justice to General category students.......even if HRD ministry force to let IIM OBC 27% quota without any increment of seats(if happened)....
Ultimately even if OBC candidates manage to have 27% quota than also they wont get seats if dont fulfill the requirement....In this way all the OBC vacant seats will be given on the basis of merits to other candidates.......!!
They might have done this on the back side of IIM rather than disclosing it this year but this would have cause conflict to Reserved category students due to less occupancy of OBC quota which Lead to HRD and ultimately give headche to IIMs authorities .......
This is not actually biasing towards General candidates but the wise solution for the forecoming problem............!!!! So that everybody will get Justice.......:neutral:
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Rahi baat cut offs ki.....than there is not much difference......!! Because it is already expected that there cut offs will be higher than this and also since the cut offs will be totally based on merit......as we cant think this cut offs as the ground mark for getting a call from IIM cal.... So Competetion and everything is same for all the candidates:grab:

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I think the followed footsteps part was quite unnecessary and questionable as well.

The data is misinterpreted - IIMA has different cutoffs for the open category and the SC - ST category while IIMC has announced only one common cutoff criteria .... So there is no reason to compare IIMA and IIMC over this cutoff issue. For CAT 2006 - last yrs CAT - cutoffs were 16.66% for SCST category for each section individually for IIMA while IIMC had no pre-announced cutoffs .... In tht sense - IIMC cutoffs for math and DI for the year 2007 are infact higher at 20% each .

Hope that clears the doubts and/or confusions ,

cheers ,

siddhesh

PS : An earnest request to all readers - do NOT go by the press reports - the press as u already know does not always present the true picture.

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well the lower cut off set for va indicates it is goin to be on the same lines of 06 as far as toughness is concerned..must watch out....

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I think the followed footsteps part was quite unnecessary and questionable as well.

The data is misinterpreted - IIMA has different cutoffs for the open category and the SC - ST category while IIMC has announced only one common cutoff criteria .... So there is no reason to compare IIMA and IIMC over this cutoff issue. For CAT 2006 - last yrs CAT - cutoffs were 16.66% for SCST category for each section individually for IIMA while IIMC had no pre-announced cutoffs .... In tht sense - IIMC cutoffs for math and DI for the year 2007 are infact higher at 20% each .

Hope that clears the doubts and/or confusions ,

cheers ,

siddhesh

PS : An earnest request to all readers - do NOT go by the press reports - the press as u already know does not always present the true picture.


Siddhesh,

I really did not get the intent of your post. As for the facts, IIMA was the first institute to declare the criteria for cutoffs.

CAT 2006:
IIMA: 25% each section; 33% overall
IIMC: No cutoffs

CAT 2007:
IIMA: 25% each section; 33% overall
IIMC: 20% in DI,Quant, 10% in Verbal; No overall cutoff specified.

The above cutoffs are for general category. The SC-ST cutoffs for IIMA are somewhat lower but that does not really matter, does it?

It is very evident, IIMC followed footsteps, isn't it? 😉
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I think the followed footsteps part was quite unnecessary and questionable as well.

The data is misinterpreted - IIMA has different cutoffs for the open category and the SC - ST category while IIMC has announced only one common cutoff criteria .... So there is no reason to compare IIMA and IIMC over this cutoff issue. For CAT 2006 - last yrs CAT - cutoffs were 16.66% for SCST category for each section individually for IIMA while IIMC had no pre-announced cutoffs .... In tht sense - IIMC cutoffs for math and DI for the year 2007 are infact higher at 20% each .

Hope that clears the doubts and/or confusions ,

cheers ,

siddhesh

PS : An earnest request to all readers - do NOT go by the press reports - the press as u already know does not always present the true picture.

The footsteps part refers only to the fact that IIMC released their cutoffs before CAT like IIMA did, and anybody reading it gets that much. Are you saying that the 'following footsteps' phrase should mean that each and every figure should match up down to the second decimal place or else there is no 'following footsteps'? By your logic, if I say that 'the son followed his father's footsteps by becoming an engineer', you would say, 'No, he did not follow his father's footsteps because the father studied from IIT and the son from NIT and the father mostly wore trousers to college while the son wore jeans'. What kind of logic is that

Anyway, your pointing out the fine detail is appreciated.
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I have a different perspective of the whole situation, and quite surely it is not about following the footsteps of A.
This declaration of the cut off is just to announce that whether you are General Category student, SC, ST or for that matter OBC , the cut off will not go below those mentioned.
All the best puys for CAT 2007

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Interesting discussion. Don't read too much into the footsteps angle.
It's just the classic IIMC abhorrence of any suggestion (even remotely so) that we follow anyone else.

But yeah it is indeed a major step forward in understanding CAT results and making the whole process transparent in general. Although I wonder when the IIMs will move out of the whole CAT business and into a better system of identifying their students. Let's see as to who moves first to get out of the grip of CAT ;). My bet is on IIM Shillong!

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bharathkrishnan Says
well the lower cut off set for va indicates it is goin to be on the same lines of 06 as far as toughness is concerned..must watch out....



I was thinking the same!!!!

Regards
Tanveer
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I was thinking the same!!!!

Regards
Tanveer


Seriously , theres no need to get speculative or anything .CAT is about going there with an open mind and doing on-the-spot decisions . Basically have a feel of the difficulty level and formulate what you have to do then and there .
See if you go to the exam with a prejudiced mindset about VA - be sure self doubt will take over and psyche you out. Right now , the only thing to be done is to do lots of practice and remember that its relative ..... If you are getting screwed in a section , don't deny the possibility that others might have been screwed in a worse manner - thts exactly what happened with me in VA of CAT 2k6 😉 So just focus and make the most of the available time.

cheers ,

sid
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convolutedsignal Says
ILet's see as to who moves first to get out of the grip of CAT ;). My bet is on IIM Shillong!

Any specific reasons why you think IIMs will be out of the CAT grip?
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Apurv Says
Any specific reasons why you think IIMs will be out of the CAT grip?


CAT will continue to remain the primary rejection mode, (It is also one of the biggest money spinners for the IIMs). But there is also a debate (internally) on decreasing the dependence on CAT scores here for selection. Of course different IIMs have been doing that in their own ways as we see in the 'single call' phenomenon, but we will definitely see a step towards increasing ways of judging the candidate's qualifications over the next few years(essays, profile based interviews and the likes). The PGPEX program has raised a lot of questions on the PGP process. The same would hold true for A I would presume with it's PGPX. Interesting times.

The point on IIM Shillong was a bit of extended reasoning actually, cos if they use the exact same system as the others do, they will be rendered pretty low on the food chain after the SPJains, NITIEs and MDIs of the world.
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A high cutoff like in IIMA means that fewer people will be considered for GDPI and they will then make fewer offers. But IIMC has to make a lot more offers and therefore has to have lower cutoffs.