MBA admission 2014: No GDs at 11 out of 13 IIMs under revised admission process
The selection process for Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) has undergone some major overhauls in the last few years. Now, most of the IIMs – except IIM Lucknow and Kozhikode – have dropped the Group Discussion (GD) rounds. Why is it so? According to the alumni of some top Business Schools (B-Schools) such as IIM-Calcutta and Ahmedabad, the idea behind GD is to asses a candidate’s communication skills along with logical reasoning. “However, there is no point of proving such skills by outshouting nine more candidates in a group,” says Soumendu Ganguly, IIM-Ahmedabad alumnus. A written test and interviews are equally good ways to assess logical reasoning and communication skills, say these alums.
Most of the IIMs have now incorporated Written Ability Tests (WAT) and Personal Interviews (PI). WAT is basically an essay-writing test within a stipulated time. The time can vary from 30 to 10 minutes at the different IIMs. Interviews on the other hand measure the candidate’s communication skills along with analytical views and confidence. PI is generally a two-way discussion.
Here’s a look at the 13 IIMs and what constituents the final selection apart from CAT scores and previous academic records.
| Institute |
GD |
WAT |
PI |
Work Experience |
Gender Diversity |
Academic Diversity |
| IIM Ahmedabad |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
| IIM Bangalore |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
| IIM Calcutta |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| IIM Lucknow |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| IIM Indore |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
| IIM Kozhikode |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| IIM Shillong |
No |
No |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
| IIM Ranchi |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| IIM Trichy |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| IIM Rohtak |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| IIM Udaipur |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| IIM Raipur |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| IIM Kashipur |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
