IIM Sambalpur Admission Criteria 2026-2028 for MBA: PI Shortlist Out; Check CAT 2025 Cut Off

The answer to this question of whether an average student can get into IIM can be both yes and no depending on the definition of an average student.

• Based on Academics (Class 10/ Class 12/ Graduation): While a student with average scores in Class 10, Class 12 and graduation with a good CAT score certainly has good chances of getting a call from IIM-A, chances are less for someone with an average CAT score.
• Based on student category (General or Reserved): While it is tough for a General category average student to grab a seat at IIM due to high score requirements, a reserved category student can get admission being at average scores as well.
• Based on past work experience, diversity and other factors: Gender and academic diversity is also a factor on which students are shortlisted at IIM. IIMs judge the past academic category based on the degree obtained by the students before MBA and then a weightage is allotted based on that. For Engineers, the percentage for scoring the highest marks is higher as compared with other streams
• Performance in selection rounds: Once you make it to the final selection rounds, i.e., AWT/PI process, it can be considered a fresh start. At this stage, students can forget their past average-ness but definitely require good grasp over the past subjects as academics-related questions are asked in the interview.

Based on the above factors, it can be considered that while getting into top Management institutes, such as IIM is extremely tough, the past performance, CAT performance, student category and a lot of factors can be the reasons for a student to receive that final call.

The CAT cut offs for IIM Bangalore hovers between 97-100 percentile. The qualifying CAT cut off required for being eligible for IIM Bangalore's Written Ability test (What) and Personal Interview PI is 85 percentile for General category students, whereas for SC candidates, it is 70 percentile. For ST candidates, it is 65 percentile and for PwD candidates it is 60 percentile. Given below are the sectional and overall qualifying CAT cut offs for IIM Bangalore.

• General category: 80 VARC 75 DILR 75 Quantitative Aptitude 85 (Overall)
• NC-OBC category: 75 VARC 65 DILR 65 Quantitative Aptitude 75 (Overall)
• EWS category: 70 VARC 65 DILR 65 Quantitative Aptitude 75 (Overall)
• SC category: 65 VARC 60 DILR 60 Quantitative Aptitude 70 (Overall)
• ST category: 55 VARC 55 DILR 55 Quantitative Aptitude 65 (Overall)
• PwD category: 50 VARC 50 DILR 50 Quantitative Aptitude 60 (Overall)

A good number of private MBA colleges accept CAT score of 70 percentile in CAT. We have listed some of the colleges in which admission is possible with 70 percentile. Amity University AIMS Institutes (AIMS), Bangalore Amrita School of Business - Bangalore Acharya Bangalore B-School Asian Business School (ABS), Noida Amrita School of Business, Kochi Bengal Institute of Business Studies (BIBS), Kolkata Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani Christ Institute of Management, Pune Doon Business School (DBS), Dehradun Eastern Institute For Integrated Learning In Management, Kolkata FOSTIIMA Business School, Delhi International Institute of Business Studies, Noida International School of Business and Media (ISB&M) Bangalore JK Lakshmipat University-Institute of Management, Jaipur National University (JNU), Jaipur JRE Group of Institutions (JRE), Greater Noida Lotus Business School, Pune Lovely Professional University, Jalandhar MATS University, Raipur IIKM Business School, Calicut IILM Institute for Higher Education, Delhi For full list, click here: https://www.shiksha.com/mba/articles/colleges-accepting-cat-scores-range-70-to-80-percentile-blogId-11956.

Experts recommend that aspirants must practice at least 40 CAT mock tests to score above 99 percentile well in the exam. Most of the CAT test takers take up to 50 mock tests of various types and difficulty level. CAT toppers in previous years have practiced even up to 80 mock tests during their preparation. However, candidates must decide the number of CAT mock tests depending on their control and confidence on topics as the exam day comes closer. Mock tests are the best way to judge your performance viz. The important topics of CAT. The more one practices CAT mock tests, the more accurate they get in solving questions from all subjects. It is very important to know which formula to apply to which type question to solve the problem accurately. Mock tests help candidates in this aspect which is why practicing mock tests is most important in CAT preparation.

Qualifying CAT cut off percentiles of an IIM is the minimum percentile (sectional as well as overall) required by candidates to be eligible for the Written Ability Test (What) and Personal Interview PI round. These are only eligibility score and not the score for selection. The final CAT cut off percentiles are the scores on the basis of which a candidate is actually selected for the What-PI round. The qualifying CAT cut offs are released publically before the CAT exam and result as a part of selection criteria for the MBA/PGP batch of that year. The qualifying cut offs for CAT are release category wise - General, NC/OBC. General-EWS, SC/ST, PwD. The qualifying cut offs percentiles of General category candidate is higher than then rest. The final CAT cut offs are not released publically. The cut offs are estimate on the basis of candidate's selection for What-PI. The final CAT cut offs for General category candidate is also higher than then rest.

There are quite a few MBA colleges who accept CAT score of 80 percentile and above for admission. The admission process for these colleges include group discussion and Personal Interview . Fore School of Management Goa Institute of Management International Management Institute, Delhi Indian Institute of Forest Management, Bhopal Indian Institute of Management, Visakhapatnam Loyola Institute of Business Administration, Chennai Lal Bahadur Shastri Institute of Management National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli Praxis Business School, Kolkata Prin. L. N. Welingkar Institute of Management development & Research, Bangalore Shiva Institute of Management Studies, Ghaziabad Sydenham Institute of Management Studies, Research and Entrepreneurship Education S. P. Jain Institute of Management and Research TA Pai Management Institute Trinity College for Management and Technology, Ghaziabad Click on this link for more: https://www.shiksha.com/mba/articles/colleges-accepting-cat-scores-range-80-to-90-percentile-blogId-11981.

Qualifying CAT cut off percentiles of Iims for Written Ability Test (What) and Personal Interview PI are listed below. Candidates who MET the qualifying CAT cut off, were eligible for What-PI round. These qualifying CAT cut offs are for General Category. The cut offs for Reserved category students are lower:

1. IIM Ahmedabad: 95 percentile
2. IIM Bangalore: 85 percentile 
3. IIM Calcutta: 85 percentile
4. IIM Lucknow: 90 percentile
5. IIM Kozhikode: 85 percentile
6. IIM Indore: 90 percentile
7. IIM Udaipur: 93 percentile
8. IIM Shillong: 75 percentile
9. IIM Trichy: 93 percentile
10. IIM Visakhapatnam: 80 percentile
11. IIM Rohtak: 95 percentile
12. 1IIM Nagpur: 85 percentile
13. IIM Jammu: 93 percentile 
14. IIM Ranchi: 90 percentile
15. IIM Sirmaur: 92 percentile
16. IIM Bodhgaya: 93 percentile
17. IIM Sambalpur: 93 percentile
18. IIM Kashipur: 94 percentile 
19. IIM Raipur: 93 percentile
20. IIM Amritsar: 90 percentile

For complete details of IIM selection and admission process read this article: https://www.shiksha.com/mba/articles/iim-shortlist-selection-admission-criteria-blogId-18787.

CAT cut offs for non-IIMs is usually lower than IIMs.

Top MBA College	CAT Cut Offs (percentile)
FMS, Delhi	98-99
IIFT Delhi	95-99
SPJIMR, Mumbai	95-99
IMT, Ghaziabad	95-97
JBIMS, Mumbai	96
MDI, Gurgaon	97-99
IMI, New Delhi	90
XIM, Bhubaneshwar	91
GIM Goa	85
K J Somaiya, Mumbai	86
TAPMI, Manipal	80
FORE, New Delhi	85
IFMR, Chennai	80
IRMA, Anand	80
MICA, Ahmedabad	80
LIBA, Chennai	70
XIME, Bangalore	70

On an average, about 10-15 CAT aspirants score 100 percentile. Given below is the data of CAT 100 percentilers of last 4 years:

Exam year	CAT 100 percentilers	State wise numbers
CAT 2025	12	1- Uttar Pradesh 1- Karnataka  1- Maharashtra 3- Delhi 2- Haryana  2- Gujarat 1- Jharkhand 1- Odisha
CAT 2024	14	1- Andhra Pradesh 2- Delhi 1- Haryana 1-Kerala 5- Maharashtra 1- Odisha 1- Rajasthan 2- Telangana
CAT 2023	14	1 – Andhra Pradesh 1 - Delhi 1 – Gujarat 1 – Jammu & Kashmir 1 - Karnataka 1 - Kerala 4 – Maharashtra 1 – Tamil Nadu 2 - Telangana 1 - Uttar Pradesh
CAT 2022	11	2 - Delhi 1 - Gujarat 1 - Haryana 1 - Kerala 1 - Madhya Pradesh 2 - Maharashtra 2 - Telangana 1 - Uttar Pradesh

 

In CAT 2025, the number of 100 percentilers was 12. Check state wise data:

Overall Percentile	Total	Gender and Discipline	State wise distribution
100	12	Female - 2 Male - 10 Engineering - 3 Non-Engineering - 9	Uttar Pradesh 1 Karnataka 1 Maharashtra 1 Delhi 3 Haryana 2 Gujarat 2 Jharkhand 1 Odisha 1

Having a good academic profile for IIM admission is very critical. The top 6 IIMs lay a lot of emphasis on Class 10 and Class 12 score for selection of candidates for WAT-PI round. The academic profile is evaluated again at the time of preparation of final merit list. It has been seen in the past that some candidates despite having 99+ percentile, were not selected for PI round due to low score in Class 12.

The academic profile is assessed for academic as well as gender diversity. Which means a candidate who studied Arts in Class 12 may be selected for PI with lower marks than a candidate who studied Science in Class 12.

Candidates aiming for IIMs must know that while the importance of academic profile is very important for top IIMs, it is moderately important for rest of the IIMs. For, other top MBA colleges, overall profile matters more than academic score. So, if you do not have superlative scores in Class 10 and 12, build a good profile with work experience and extra curricular activities to increase your chances of selection.

Minimum qualifying cut off for IIM Ahmedabad is 95 percentile whereas for IIM Bangalore and IIM Calcutta, it is 85. However final cut offs for these three top IIMs are between 99 to 100 percentile.