IIM Process

IIM CAP is a common selection process for newer Iims. Under the CAP candidates eligible for admission to the nine new Iims - IIM Bodhgaya, IIM Kashipur, IIM Sambalpur, IIM Sirmaur, IIM Jammu, IIM Ranchi, IIM Trichy and IIM Udaipur are shortlisted for What-PI round by a single IIM, the one who is given the responsibility to conduct the CAP round in a particular academic year. CAT cut offs, admission parameters and their weightage are same for all CAP Iims. The participating Iims send the list of candidates shortlisted by them for the What-PI process to the institute conducting CAP. The CAP conducting IIM conducts the What-PI round for all the participating Iims. The IIM CAP conducting institute then share the What-PI scores and results of the candidates with the participating institutes. Those institutes then prepare the final shortlist for admission. Those who are selected for admission are informed by the Iims via email. The offer of admission is sent to selected candidates which they have to accept within the given time limit. For more details of IIM CAP, read this article: https://www.shiksha.com/mba/articles/what-is-iim-cap-know-admission-process-selection-criteria-and-participating-institutes-blogId-51225.

Written Ability Test or WAT is a 30-minute essay-writing test on topics from fields like socio-political, economic and business affairs, sports, etc. PI refers to Personal Interview held on the same day as WAT. The WAT-PI round of all IIMs is conducted after CAT result declaration. The shortlisting for WAT-PI is done on the basis of CAT cut off, which is fixed by the institutes. The IIM cut offs range between 95-100 percentile, which means candidates scoring in this range get shortlisted for WAT-PI. The CAT cut offs for Reserved category students are lower. In the WAT round, candidate has to write a short essay of about 250 words on a given topic. The topics can be from any field. For example, one candidate at IIM Ahmedabad got 'writer was facing some health issues, he got cured because of laughing' as a WAT topic this year. The purpose of Written Ability Test is to assess the candidate's general awareness, clarity of ideas and ability to make a convincing argument. The Personal Interview or PI is all about personality assessment. In PI, a panel of professors and admission officials meet the candidates one by one. They assess the on their knowledge, confidence, communication skills, managerial skills and leadership qualities, etc.

The CAT shortlisting process begins in the first or the second week of January after the result has been announced. The IIM shortlisting process starts with every IIM releasing the shortlist cut off and inviting candidates to fill the PI shortlist form. The candidates have to fill the Personal Interview form if they meet the eligibility criteria. It is reflected in the application form dashboard when they login with their CAT ID. In the PI form, candidates have to fill the following details:
1. Candidate details
2. CAT ID
3. CAT score
4. Academic details/work experience etc. The shortlist panel analyses every form and select candidates for the What-PI round. Those who are selected for the What-PI round, are informed via an email. The Iims conduct their What-PI round in March-April and announce the final selection list in May.