CAT Diversity at IIM: Benefits for Non-Engineers and Female candidates

CAT admission process is conducted into several phases. The first step for candidates is CAT written test. However, after the completion of rounds like WAT, PI, etc. the final merit is prepared based on various factors out of which Gender Diversity and Academic Diversity are the two important factors that can get high scores in the final merit list of CAT 2025.

Contrary to the common misconception that IIMs favor engineering students, many top IIMs prioritize non-engineering students. This commitment to diversity is reflected by the practice of awarding bonus points. Students holding degrees in disciplines such as BCom, BA Economics, BBS, BBA, and related fields often possess a slight advantage when commencing the PGP academic curriculum. Not only this, the gender diversity has also changed. 

• At IIM Ahmedabad, the male-to-female ratio was approximately 2.75:1 in 2021, with women constituting just 26.6 per cent of the student body.
• By 2024, this figure had marginally increased to 27.3 per cent.
• A similar trend is observed at IIM Calcutta, where female enrolment slightly declined, reaching 26.3 per cent in 2024.

Also Read

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• CAT 2025 Reservation for OBC, SC, ST, EWS, and PwD

CAT IIM Diversity Profile

Now, regarding CAT Diversity, five Indian Institutes of Management have recently announced record female enrolments into their MBA programs, indicating a shift in cohort diversity within the country's business school classrooms. The percentage of women enrolments in this session ranged between 25 per cent and 75 per cent. While the number is most in newer institutes, there is a minor increase in women representation — ranging between 25 and 40 per cent in the older IIMs.

• IIM Sambalpur surpassed industry norms with its 60% female MBA cohort last year. 
• IIM Rohtak reported a similarly high proportion (73%) of women in its 15th batch this year.
• IIM Kozhikode (IIM-K) also created history by announcing a female cohort of almost 60%. 
• IIM Mumbai (formerly the National Institute of Industrial Engineering or NITIE) reported a female cohort of over 47% for 2024, more than double the 21% recorded at NITIE in the previous year.
• IIM Kashipur also joined the ranks of gender diversity record-breakers in 2024, with 42% women students enrolled in the 2024-26 flagship MBA cohort. 

Now, if we look at the diversity of academic background, the results are no different. Here also we can see an increase of non-engineering students. 

• At IIM Kozhikode, the count of non-engineering students surged by 28.4%, rising from 218 in the previous MBA batch to 280 in the current year. 
• At IIM Sambalpur, approximately half of the incoming batch did not have engineering backgrounds. In the current academic year, the institute admitted 160 students from non-engineering disciplines, closely matching the count of 163 engineering students.
• IIM Ahmedabad: 33.5% non-engineering students in the 2022-24 batch, and a 28.6% increase in the subsequent year.
• IIM Kozhikode: A 28.4% increase in non-engineering students from the previous batch.
• IIM Sambalpur: An almost equal number of non-engineering and engineering students in the incoming batch.

Check How to Build a good MBA Profile

The video from CATKing will explain the IIM diversity in details and will also help you build a good profile to secure IIM Admission. The video explains

• What is a Profile?
• What are the sections checked in a Profile
• How much weightage is given to each profiles

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• CAT Score vs Percentile
• CAT Percentile Calculation

Weightage of Diversity at IIM

The inclusion of B.Com and BA graduates improves the overall learning experience by fostering a diverse mix of perspectives and ideas. B.Com graduates, in particular, have a solid foundation in business principles, financial management, and accounting. To understand how much emphasis is put on the diversity aspect at IIM, you can check the table below:

IIM Entrance Exam: Academic Diversity Points

Certain IIMs have taken intentional measures to mitigate the engineering-centric bias often associated with the CAT exam. To ensure a more equitable representation of students from diverse academic backgrounds, candidates from non-engineering streams are granted extra points during the admission process. The specific allocation of these points varies from one IIM campus to another.

• IIM Lucknow incorporates academic diversity into its admission policy by assigning a 5% weightage to academic diversity during the writing ability test, personal interview (WAT-PI), and final selection stages.
• According to the institute’s spokesperson, these points have significantly contributed to the enhancement of academic diversity within the campus, resulting in the admission of nearly 44% of students from non-engineering backgrounds in the 2023–25 batch.
• However, it’s noteworthy that, akin to IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore does not provide additional points for academic diversity during the CAT admission process.

Also Read

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• CAT Scholarship: Check Scholarships Offered by IIMs

CAT Academic Diversity Approach in IIMs

• IIMs such as Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Bengaluru, and Kozhikode shortlist a candidate for WAT and PI rounds on the basis of certain criteria. At the different stages of selection, the applicant’s “Rating Score” is used.
• An applicant's rating score is the sum of the rating scores ‘A', ‘B', ‘C' and ‘D' based on their percentage of marks obtained in the 10th standard, the 12th standard, the bachelor's degree program (depending upon the discipline) and work experience respectively.
• Here, the percentage score in the Bachelor's Degree for non-engineers is kept higher as compared to non-engineers. 

For eg - Table below indicates the Rating Scores for the Bachelor's Degree Examination for IIM Ahmedabad MBA Admission

Also Read

• CAT Cutoff Category wise, IIM Percentile
• CAT Result: Direct Link, Check Toppers List

Gender Diversity at IIMs

Gender plays a role in the selection process at IIMs. The institute provides special privileges to female aspirants. “At the shortlisting for our interviews, we have a criterion called gender diversity factor, where we give extra marks to female candidates. This has borne good results for us,” said Himanshu Rai, director, IIM Indore.

• Over the past few years, there has been a certain increase in the number of female candidates appearing in CAT exam.
• As the institutes are offering better opportunities to female candidates, the trend is expected to increase in the upcoming years. 

Points awarded by some of the IIMs to Female Candidates under Gender Diversity Factor:

Why is female enrollment on the rise at IIMs? 

Reports indicate that the steep rise in female MBA enrollments is due to efforts being made by IIMs to increase gender equality in their programs. This includes measures such as adding weight to gender diversity in their admissions policies. 

This is also a reflection of growing demand for female managers among top corporations in India, which recruit each year from the cohorts of IIMs. 

Speaking in a recent interview with the Economic Times India, Narayanan Ramaswamy, national leader of Education and Skill Development at KPMG India, said: “On the demand side, there is a pull for more women managers. On the supply side, there are more women getting into the higher-education ecosystem. All this is reflecting in improved diversity numbers in MBA classrooms."

CAT Cut off 2025 (Expected)

Tabulated below is the sectional as well as an overall general category cutoff score of the top 5 IIMs. 

Decrease in Weightage of CAT Score

• CAT exam is the basic selection criteria for the further rounds of the admission process. A list of students who will appear in AWT and GD/PI is formed after combining the weightage of CAT with other criteria like, 10th score, 12th, score, score in bachelor’s degree programs, and work experience. 
• The weightage of the CAT score is kept maximum amongst all the other criteria. With the change in admission criteria, IIMs change the weightage each year. It has been found the weightage of CAT Score is slightly lowered in the selection process and more weightage is added to gender criteria. 
• With the decrease in the weightage of the CAT score, many candidates get an opportunity to make into the IIMs, irrespective of their performance in the bachelor’s degree program. 

Check CAT Participating Colleges

CAT Preparation Tips for Non-Engineers

It is a preconceived notion regarding CAT Syllabus, that it is majorly dominated by the topics that the engineering aspirants have already studied in their graduation time. Especially in the Quantitative/ Mathematics Section. But, this is not exactly true. Let’s talk about each of the sections separately, so as to get a clear understanding of them all properly:

For Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC)

VARC section is conducted to test your confidence and fundamentals of the English language. This is one of the critical section of the entire CAT Exam.

• This is a section that will consist of questions where have to mark or correct the grammatical errors.
• You may also have to go through the Verbal Reasoning Questions so they are designed to test your potential to identify the relationship or pattern within the sentences or group of words.

For this section, it will not make any difference if you are from engineering or from a non- engineering background. We have been studying English since we were children, hence attempting questions from this section will not be of any problem. All you need is to have a good command of English Grammar.

Quick Links:

What you can do to crack VARC section?

The best thing for you to get perfect in this section is to READ! Read as much as you can. This will not only help you to crack this section but if you qualify the CAT written exam, the reading will also help you to communicate better in the upcoming PI (Personal Interview) and GD (Group Discussion).

• You can read from Print Media like Newspapers, Magazines or Books or you can also read Online from various good websites.
• If you will start reading regularly, it will actually help you in your future as well. As it will not only help you communicate smoothly but also improve your vocabulary, which in return will leave a good impression on the person you will talk to.

Quick Links:

• CAT RC Tips: Types of Passage, Pattern and Tips
• How to Prepare for CAT Para Completion?
• How to Prepare for CAT Para Jumbles?

For Mathematics or Quantitative Aptitude (QA)

Now, this is the section that is considered to be in favor of engineers. It is believed that it is comparatively easier for the engineers to crack this section. This is because of the fact that they already have covered these subject in their course time. First of all, you need to know that QA and Math are both different.

• As per Mathematics is concerned, it only requires basic maths skills that have already been covered by most of you in class 10^th and 12^th.
• All you need to do is to polish your mathematic concepts from class 10^th and 12^th and you will be good to go. You should be clear that CAT does not focus on any of the theoretical ideas but in the application of basic concepts. This essentially means that your knowledge of basic arithmetic and proportionality tools, numbers, time-speed distance, elementary combinatorics, algebra, and geometry is more than enough to help you crack the test.

Basic mathematical skill is just one dimension of the QA section and the other dimensions are more important. The other dimensions are:

• The ability to perform in a pressure situation, observational skills, decision making, adaptability/flexibility and finally, an ability to comprehend the questions.

How can you solve a CAT Quantitative Aptitude problem?

Solving a QA question is a step-wise process and the basic algorithm is as follows:

Step 1: Comprehension of question

Step 2: Interpretation, that is, what is given and what is required, etc.

Step 3: Problem-solving (If required)

Before moving to Step 3, however, one should explore all the possibilities of answer option elimination through various approaches such as observation or through finding out the range of guesstimate values after analyzing the extreme cases. To inculcate the above set of skills, one needs to practice hard. Hence, all you need to do as a candidate is to PRACTICE as much as you can. The more you practice, the better it is for you. Check CAT Practice Papers.

For Data Interpretation (DI) & Logical Reasoning (LR)

This is the last section in the CAT Exam, which is again very tricky and requires a lot of brainstorming. DI and LR are less knowledge-oriented and more skill-oriented. These areas involve fewer concepts and require regular practice. Practicing under time pressure is important. Whether you are an engineer or a non-engineer, this section is an equalizer in the true sense.

• To excel in DI one should be conversant with the application of some of the most repeated tools related to percentages, proportionality tool, averages and alligations. Students should be clear with “how interpretation is different from calculations” and “how one can avoid unnecessary calculations in DI”. In calculation-based DI questions, if you can calculate mentally it will be an advantage. The judicious use of on-screen calculators also saves precious time.

Tips to Solve DILR

You have to identify the right set of practice questions for yourself because practice are either very easy or too difficult to solve. So while practicing you have to keep in mind that you go different types of questions.

• A good strategy and practicing all the possible questions will help in developing in-depth knowledge.
• Do not waste time on one question and set an upper time limit for yourself. This will help you in managing the time during the exam.

We believe CAT being a difficult examination, can still be cracked. All you need is a focused approach with the will to excel. Also, it is believed that the solution is embedded within the problem, hence try to understand the problem first and then answer it. But, you should make sure to not waste time on a question you are unable to understand. We wish you all the best and also hope that your hard work pays off!