PGP Admission Process for IIMB Batch of 2016

This document details the process that will be adopted for selecting candidates for admission to the
Post Graduate Program in Management (PGP) at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore
(IIMB) for the batch of 2016.
IIMB has internally developed an admission process that seeks to identify the most promising
candidates for the PGP program. This process has been progressively refined over the years, based
on cumulative data of the Common Admission Test (CAT) applicants and the academic
performance of the candidates that were admitted at IIMB. The process arrived at, is based on the
relationship of academic performance in IIMB to past academic performance, CAT score,
performance in interview and prior work experience. The selection criteria and weights given to
various parameters are based on data from previous cycles as well as on inputs from the IIMB faculty
body and other relevant stakeholders and are usually revised every year. The admission committee
fixes these criteria and weights at the beginning of each admission cycle before looking at
information pertaining to candidates applying in that cycle so as to avoid any bias.
IIMB has found over the years that students who perform well in the academic program are typically
those who have a consistently good academic record during their secondary school, higher
secondary school and graduation level, besides exhibiting sufficiently high aptitude as measured by
the CAT. Therefore IIMB uses multiple parameters, namely academic performance in 10th & 12th
grades, graduation programs as well as candidates's section wise scores in CAT to judge the
suitability of candidates for the PGP program. Relevant work experience, if any, is also given
weight in the selection. Evaluation by multiple criteria is also consistent with empirical research on
recruitment and selection that shows greater efficacy of recruitment processes that uses multiple
criteria. The CAT score, over and above being a selection criterion, is also used to establish the
minimum level of proficiency that is expected from the candidate in respective faculties as indicated
by section wise minimum scores in the CAT. Multiple criteria are used to arrive at a composite
score for every candidate, which is used to select candidates for the subsequent stage. The
remaining part of the document explains this process in detail.
IIMB adopts a two-phase selection process and accordingly these selection criteria are applied in
two phases. The first phase process is applied to all eligible candidates who appear for CAT 2015
to determine those qualifying candidates who will be called for personal interview (PI). During
the PI process the candidates selected for interviewing during a particular half-day (morning or
afternoon) session will have to write a short note (one page) on a topic provided by IIMB. The
topics chosen will typically reflect current political, economic and business affairs, though other
topics such as sports and those that require more creative thinking may also be included. The
time provided for writing the note will typically be about 30 minutes. During the interview, the

panel will evaluate each candidate's performance on academic background, quality of work
experience and other personal traits. The written note will be evaluated separately. Scores of
both, written note and interview, in combination with pre-PI selection parameters will be used
cumulatively in the second and final phase of selection to identify the candidates who will merit
selection from among those candidates who appear for the PI.
The selection process, parameters and weights used are uniform for all categories of applicants.
Sufficient candidates are shortlisted at each stage in each category to meet the reservation
requirement for each group, as applicable at that time.
Phase1
1. The first shortlist of candidates is based on candidates securing minimum section-wise and
aggregate percentile scores in the CAT. Candidates obtaining a positive (greater than zero)
raw score in all sections of the CAT 2015 will only be considered. The percentile cut-off
scores used for CAT 2015 are shown in Table 1. All the subsequent processing,
standardization and selection was limited to candidates belonging to this first short list alone.
This means that the CAT score alone was used as the basis for arriving at the first short list.
Table 1: First Shortlist For the batch of 2016-18 based on CAT 2015
Minimum Percentile requirements for the 1st shortlist (2016)*
Data Interpretation
Verbal Ability &
Quantitative
CATEGORY
& Logical
Reading
Aggregate
Ability
Reasoning
Comprehension
General
80
80
85
90
NC-OBC
70
70
75
80
SC
65
65
70
75
ST
60
60
60
75
DA
60
60
60
75
* These cut-offs are not for those called for interview whose scores would be much higher.

2. For all candidates in the first shortlist as stated in Table (1), the candidates percentage scores in
the 10th and 12th board exams are initially adjusted by dividing each such score by the 90th
percentile score obtained in that board. The database of 10th and 12th scores of all CAT
applicants of the past two years is used for identifying the 90th percentile score for each 10th
and 12th board for this purpose.
3. For all candidates in the first shortlist as stated in Table (1), final scores obtained by the
candidate are used for the bachelors degree and professional degrees (if any). Incomplete or
intermediate scores are considered only if the candidate's final score is pending. Thus, for final
year bachelors degree candidates, their incomplete graduation score would be taken in lieu of
final graduation score. Graduation scores are adjusted within their respective categories. This
gives the adjusted score for the bachelors degree for all candidates in the first shortlist.

4. For all candidates in the first shortlist as stated in Table (1), candidates with Chartered
Accountancy, Cost Accounting, and Company Secretary certifications are eligible for weight
under professional course. No other professional course is eligible for weight under
professional course. The professional course score is also standardized for all candidates in the
first shortlist.
5. For all candidates in the first shortlist as stated in (1), the score / weight for work experience is
calculated as: Pre PI score forWork Experience
= 5x/36 if 0 < x < 36
= 5 if x >= 36
Where x is the months of work experience up to September 2015, as captured in CAT
application form (and substantiated in the application to IIMB). This implies that the score will
peak at 36 months work experience and will remain at that level for candidates with work
experience exceeding 36 months. The work experience score (maximum 5 in the pre-PI stage)
will be multiplied by the quality of work experience score on a 5 point scale (0.25 - 0.5 1 - 1.5 2) as given by interviewers in the PI process in Phase 2 to give a maximum score of 10 for work
experience.
6. For all candidates in the first shortlist as stated in Table (1), the maximum of the work
experience score and the professional course score is considered for selection under a common
weight of 10 for work experience or professional course since both provide professional
work experience relevant to a management programme.
7. For all candidates in the first shortlist as stated in Table (1), other than work experience or
professional course, the weights for the remaining five components are fixed as:
CAT = 20, 10 th board = 15, 12th board = 10, Bachelors = 15, Gender Diversity = 1 .
The 20 points for CAT are derived from the performance in each of the three sections as
follows: Quantitative Aptitude (QA) - 5 points, Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning
(DILR) - 8 points, and Verbal & Reading Comprehension (VRC) - 7 points.
Gender diversity component is applicable only for the pre-PI rank list for interview
calls, and will not be applicable for phase 2 of the admissions process (final offers of
admission)
8. For all candidates in the first shortlist as stated in Table (1), the weighted total of the six
components namely (a) work experience or professional course, (b) CAT, (c) 10th board, (d) 12th
board, (e) bachelors, (f) gender diversity as stated above is used to prepare a pre-PI rank list for
calling candidates for the PI. Sufficient candidates will be invited for PI to enable selection
based on the additional PI evaluation components: (a) note content, (b) note style, (c) personal
interview, and (d) review of work experience (if any).
9. For all candidates in the first shortlist as stated in Table (1), the top 10 candidates in each of the

following : total score in CAT, adjusted Bachelors score (commerce, arts, and science disciplines),
and Professional (CA / ICWA / CS), from the first shortlist, as created using the criteria in Table
(1) automatically qualify for PI. These candidates are given a chance to appear for PI due to
their exceptional performance in these categories. However, at the end of Phase 2, all such
candidates must merit selection at an identical level of composite aggregate score like any other
candidate.
10. For all candidates in the first shortlist as stated in Table (1), normalization or standardization in
any component stated above is carried out as per the following formula. All standardization
is done with reference to the qualifying first shortlist or its subdivisions; Standardized score,
truncated between 0 and weight (wt) is computed from the raw score (val) as:
Max [0, min {wt, wt/2 + ((val-mean) / sd) * wt / 6}]

Phase2
11. The performance of each candidate on the note will be scored in terms of content and style.
Each interviewer will use the Personal Interview to comprehensively evaluate the candidate's
motivation and ability to fit in and benefit from the PGP program. All candidates will be
required to provide three confidential reference letters from their employers or faculty and this
will also be used in the personal interview evaluation. For Personal Interview the average of
the scores given by the interviewers will be considered, while for the note content and note style,
the scores given by an independent evaluator will be considered..
12. The work experience score will be multiplied by the quality of experience score, as evaluated by
the interviewing panel as an assessment of the relevance of the work experience to the program.
The quality of work experience score will be evaluated on a 5 point scale (0.25 - 0.5 1 - 1.5 - 2)
by each member of the panel during the interviews. The average quality of work experience
score will be multiplied by the pre-PI work experience score and accordingly the work /
professional experience component score (maximum score 5) used in Phase 1 will be revised in
Phase 2 (maximum score10).
13. The scores in all past academics will also be updated, if required, on the basis of actual mark
sheets / grade cards submitted. Unless otherwise mentioned, percentages would be
calculated by considering all subjects that the candidate has appeared for examination.
14. The note content score (weight =7.5), note style score (weight =7.5), and the personal
interview score (weight =20), after standardization across interview panels and sessions, will be
added to the pre-PI total (excluding gender diversity score) to arrive at the final aggregate score.
15. The final offers of admission to candidates will be made strictly on the basis of ranks in each
category on the final aggregate score as mentioned in (14).

Since IIMB follows a comprehensive multi-criteria process at the pre-PI stage, it is able to identify
many candidates for the PI who have an excellent academic record and work experience but who,
while doing well enough in the CAT to be in the first shortlist, may have narrowly missed the high
score that would have been required if CAT alone was the basis for the PI shortlist. Such candidates
effectively replace candidates who have only a high CAT score but score poorly in terms of their past
academic record and work experience. IIMB emphasizes consistent and high performance in past
academics and all other parameters. 1

All information in this document is pertinent to the admissions cycle (2016) alone and

therefore, no inference can be made from this document about the admissions process that will be
used for future admission cycles at IIMB.

IIMB reserves the right to change, modify or adopt

any new admissions process that it deems necessary, at any point.

Any dispute concerning Admissions for the PGP Batch 2016-18 would be subject to jurisdiction of
the competent courts within the territorial jurisdiction of city of Bangalore Only

Admission into the Post Graduate Program through GMAT

A separate process will be used for processing applications from candidates who apply with a GMAT
score. To be eligible to apply with a GMAT score, a candidate must have resided abroad for at
least 18 months in the preceding three years (January 2013 to December 2015) and should not be /
have been in a position to appear for CAT2015. The GMAT code for IIMB PGP is Q9H-KK-49.
The first shortlist among such applicants is created by applying the same percentile cut-offs for
CAT2015, as used for the general category candidates.
For each applicant in this shortlist, each member of the evaluating committee (5 faculty members
were involved in the selection process of the 2015-17 batch) will go through the applications in
detail and in particular will evaluate the academic background and the international experience of
the candidates. The evaluating faculty will also assess whether the candidate is likely to gain
admission through CAT. Finally each member will recommend in favor of the candidate or
recommend rejection.
All candidates who have been recommended would be required to appear for a Personal Interview
(PI) process, either in person or through remote video conferencing. The candidates appearing for
the PI process in person would be interviewed along with the candidates using the CAT 2015 score,
and the same PI process would be followed. Candidates appearing for the PI process through
remote video conferencing would be required to submit their notes through email.
The performance of each candidate on the note will be scored in terms of content and style. Each
interviewer will use the Personal Interview to comprehensively evaluate the candidate's motivation
and ability to fit in and benefit from the PGP program. All candidates will be required to provide
three confidential reference letters from their employers or faculty and this will also be used in the
personal interview evaluation. For each of the three elements of evaluation during the PI process
Note Content, Note Style and Personal Interview the average of the scores given by the
interviewers will be considered.
The evaluating committee would again assess the performance of the candidates in the PI process and
make a final offer. There will be no quota or fixed number of seats for such candidates. There
will also be no wait-lists for the same reason.
Document Uploaded : November 28, 2015
Document Updated : January 14, 2016