In this section, we will look at the following:

Selection Process of Management Institutes
Eligibility Criteria for Applying to Management Institutes
Financing Your Management Education

The selection process and the eligibility criteria for most management institutes are pretty similar. What is given in this section is what is applicable to management institutes in general. However, there could be institute specific variations which the student is well advised to understand by going through the information bulletins and/or the websites of the respective institutes.

Selection Process of Management Institutes                                                       Top

While the selection process differs from institute to institute, most institutes follow a similar process while choosing candidates. The selection process consists of two stages:

a. Written examination
b. Group Discussion (GD) and Interview

The written exam tests the aptitude of the candidate in a number of areas such as quantitative ability, reading comprehension, vocabulary, verbal ability, data interpretation, data sufficiency, reasoning/logical ability and general awareness. However, CAT did not test the candidates on general awareness area till now Click here to know in detail the areas of the test and how to prepare The written exam is generally of two to two and a half hours duration and has about 150 to 250 questions. The candidate is tested not just on his understanding of the concepts but also on the speed with which he can apply these concepts. Most such exams place a lot of emphasis on time management and require fairly intensive preparation and practice. The process of applying to a good management institute has become a fairly expensive one. Each institute charges anywhere between Rs.600 and Rs.1, 000 for its application form. The application form for the written exam of the IIMs (CAT - Common Admission Test) costs Rs.1, 300. The exam is valid for applying to all seven IIMs at Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Calcutta, Lucknow, Indore, Kozhikode and Shillong. CAT is also used by around 100 other management institutes as the written exam for admission to their course. Students need to write CAT and also apply to these management institutes separately. XAT (Xavier Aptitude Test) of XLRI, JMET (Joint Management Entrance Test) of the IIT Schools of Management, SNAP (Symbiosis National Aptitude Test) of the Symbiosis group of institutes, Management Admission Test (MAT - conducted by All India Management Association) and ATMA (conducted by Association of Indian Management Schools) are some of the other written exams that are used by a number of management institutes for admission to their courses. In this case too, students have to apply separately to each of the management institutes concerned. This year also apart from the five exams - CAT, XAT, SNAP, MAT, ATMA, JMET - it is expected that there will be other entrance exams also. Among the more popular of the other entrance tests are NMAT (Narsee Monjee Aptitude Test), IRMA, IIFT, FMS, DFS, TISS etc. However the preparation required by the students is going to be pretty similar for all these entrance exams.

Based on the candidate's performance in the written exam, the institute issues calls for group discussion and interview to the short-listed candidates. In most cases, all the candidates who are called for the group discussion are also interviewed. A few institutes do short-list candidates even after the group discussion stage and only the short-listed candidates are interviewed.

The number of students short-listed after the written exam varies from institute to institute. Institutes like the IIMs short-list anywhere between three to five candidates for every seat that they have on offer. XLRI short-lists approximately five to seven candidates for each seat. Some of the management institutes have a short-list ratio as high as 15:1.