IIM-A changes admission criteria; encourages non-engineering students
In a major overhaul, the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) is making some significant changes in the admission criteria for the year 2014-16.
The institute is looking to increase the number of students from non-engineering background to 18% from the current 4%. The institute also plans to reduce the emphasis on work experience or a postgraduate degree during the personal interview stage.
Over 96% students are from engineering background in the last two batches. To reduce this figure to the mid-80s, IIM-A has proposed two major changes:
| · * Formula for calculating the application rating has been changed · * A provision for direct shortlist to the WA-PI round for top performers in the five academic categories has been included |
Previously, the Application Rating (AR) was calculated according to the formula: AR = (A*B*C) + D + E
Now, according to the new change, AR will now be calculated as – AR = 0.5*A + 1.5*B + 2.5*C.
The maximum possible score is 45.
The idea is to give “more weightage to performance in the undergraduate degree and shifting to a completely additive model, the proposed system makes sure that recent performances are given adequate weightage as performances farther back,” informed the institute.
Currently, freshers constitute around 27% of the batch. With implementation of the new changes, number of freshers to be shortlisted for WA-PI round is expected to increase.
“Work Experience and postgraduate education will however be used as a criteria while evaluating candidates for final selection (i.e. in the calculation of the Aggregate Rating that would be used to determine the final list of selected candidates),” the institute informed.
In the second criteria, IIM-A is considering direct short listing of candidates from each academic category (see Table 3: http://www.iimahd.ernet.in/users/admission/files/IIMAProfile_13.pdf), to WA-PI round, if candidates clear the minimum percentile cut-offs below:
“The candidates will be categorised into five academic categories on the basis of the information they provide in the CAT Application form. For every such academic category, the top 1% or top 50 candidates (whichever is lower) will be directly shortlisted for the WA-PI round irrespective of their Application Rating (AR),” informed the institute.
The step has been taken to introduce more diversity and holistic approach in the new batch. The change will affect the overall profile spectrum of the candidates shortlisted for the WA-PI round.
“The conversion ratio from a WA-PI shortlist to a final admit has historically been 1 in 3 candidates (unofficial figures). Assuming that top 50 students are shortlisted to WA-PI round directly from each category and the conversion ratio remains same, the number of students from non-engineering background is expected to increase.”
Source: IIM Ahmedabad Media Cell & Blog
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