The reason IIM Ahmedabad was not given the Institution of Eminence tag was that it focuses only on management studies without having prominence in any other field of study. In other words, IIM Ahmedabad specializes in one type of education and is not diversified enough to be considered a full-fledged university due to which the Institution of Eminence tag was not accorded to it.
The Institution of Eminence scheme was started by UGC and currently, 10 public and 10 private universities enjoy the tag. All the universities in this list are very much diversified academically and offer a wide range of courses; the IITs are also very well-known for their management programs apart from engineering. This is an area where IIM Ahmedabad falls short of.
However, it should be noted that IIM Ahmedabad already possesses a wide range of special benefits such as 25% admission of foreign students and faculty, permission to conduct its classes online and it also receives funding from the government like an Institution of Eminence university would get. So the fact that it does not have the tag makes little difference.
If you are a general (or even an OBC) candidate, with 87.5 in 10th, 95 percent in 12th, and a CGPA of 9, you at least need 99.5+ percentile.
If you are an SC category student, you can get a call from IIM Ahmedabad with 85+ percentile. For ST, it goes to the 70+ percentile.
But considering you are a general engineer male student, there is no chance of you getting a call at this profile. You need to appear for CAT next year with a better CAT score. Suppose you are targeting BLACKI institutes.
For Bangalore, you need to score 99.9+. For Lucknow, you need to score 99.6+. For Ahmedabad, you need to score 99.8+. For Calcutta, you need to score 99.7+. For Kozhikode, you need to score 99.5+. For Indore, you need to score 99.3+ in the CAT exam to get an admission call.
No matter whether you study inboth programs. It entirely depends on your interest in the subject. If you are interested in agriculture or in the food sector then think nothing and go for the FABM program but if you are not interested in this field then you can go with the general PGP program at IIM Indore or Kozhikode.
Categories |
IIM Ahmedabad |
IIM (Indore/Kozhikode) |
Course Fee (approx.) |
10-23 lakh |
15.01-26 lakh |
Placement Percentage |
90-100% |
80-90% |
Highest CTC |
40 LPA |
20-35 LPA |
Average CTC |
19 LPA |
15-18 LPA |
Recruiting Companies |
Accenture, Microsoft, Capgemini, TCS, etc. |
Aditya Birla, Berger, IBM, JP Morgan, etc. |
It might be that the average salary of IIM Kozhikode and Indore be slightly more than that of IIM Ahmedabad FABM program but it has been estimated that in the coming years the student of the FABM program will come across some good and great opportunities
Both are very different career paths, it mainly depends on you and what your goal is. Both these choices will lead to different paths. Let’s discuss the pros and cons of two different streams – sales and marketing, keeping the institutes aside.
When asked to choose between the two, what will you as a student choose – sales or marketing. Let us take a look at both these streams, briefly –
Sales –
Market Research-
Now, let us take a look at the differences between the two professions through a differential table:
Salesperson requisites |
Marketing person requisites |
Impressive communication skills |
Mathematics aficionado |
Traveler |
Reporting with precision |
Good with Cabin work |
Apart from these, a hard-working person who is equally smart, skilled, and passionate will get his due no matter what profession he/she chooses. The ultimate decision has to be made by you keeping their strengths and weaknesses in mind. Otherwise, you will be left with regrets and wasted efforts.
It is quite apparent that if you haven’t met people who actually studied in either of these institutions. That’s why this answer is based on my graduation batchmates who successfully managed to secure a seat at IIM Ahmedabad.
Comparing the two IIM Calcutta and Ahmedabad, both the institutions have a big alumni network and claim to be at par. However, that doesn't mean that both are identical or similar because the internal factors matter a lot.
Here are some insights about these IIMs you must have a look at before deciding.
However, in your case, if you want to wait for IIM Bangalore's waitlist to proceed, do check the past years’ records. Check if the waitlists of the past few years have created a huge difference for the waiting candidates. If not, go for any of IIM Calcutta or Ahmedabad without giving a second thought.
A number of IIM Ahmedabad students have zero to one year work experience.
But as a fresher, you’ll be expected to have a good academic record. Other than that, you should have some extracurricular achievements, some national/state level awards, or anything else that makes you stand out.
People with work experience are prioritized. But with good academic scores, some extracurricular achievements, and a good performance in CAT and GDs, your chances of getting selected will be high.
IIM Ahmedabad prefers non-engineers, but there is no provision for extra marks being allotted for academic diversity in their new admission criteria. While academic diversity may be preferred, it may not necessarily impact the final selection.
IIM-A has recently revised its admission criteria for the 2023-25 batch. The new admission criteria put more weight on the personal interview round (PI) and reduce the weight of the written ability test (WAT) and the CAT score.
The PI round will assess the candidate's suitability for the PGP programme, taking into account their academic performance, work experience, extracurricular activities, diversity, and other attributes. The new criteria mention that the selection committee will evaluate the candidate's diversity of academic background, work experience, and gender diversity, among others. However, the exact weightage of these factors is not explicitly mentioned.
Depends on which category you belong to, with the above-mentioned grades if you are from the general/open category then you will need a really good CAT score and percentile to get a call from IIM-A, which is anything above 99 percentiles, even with that it is not certain though (because it depends on some other factors as well). And all this only to get a call from there, the story does not end there, you have to do really well in the GD and PI sections. So, yes, getting into IIM-A is difficult but that does not mean it is impossible.
The best advice for you right now is to focus on scoring well in CAT and please do not fixate yourself on only IIM-A because IIM-B and FMS (except the tag) are at par with IIM-A.
Never treat your mock marks too seriously. Mock scores fluctuate for many applicants. The key is to not worry in the weeks before the test. Take as many mocks as you can in the remaining time to improve your plan, but don't overdo it.
During tests, you should focus on answering the easy questions and skipping the hard ones. Analyze your strengths and weaknesses and work on a plan that will help you get the best score possible. Be clear with your strategy as you can not do much in the last weeks other than make a strategy to solve the paper in the correct manner.
Also, don't try to learn too much in the days before the test. Review the basics, look over your previous practice tests, learn from your mistakes, and take a break before the exam. You can get into the best colleges and even IIMA.
IIMs, as a factory, produce only winners. The rest of the B-schools like FMS or XLRI manufacture losers, who aren’t going to survive the race to success.
Colleges like FMS, XLRI, OR SP Jain are perfect but on paper, the real story is completely contradictory in nature. These colleges don’t feed the students with experience, a factor which is abundantly available in every IIM. That’s the precise reason why the students from non-IIM B-schools struggle to survive in their respective fields after passing out.
At IIM, the students are trained alongside the most intelligent persons in the country, with a great mindset. They give a shape to the students’ personality, desirably mold them. Also, IIM acquaints the students with the skills of multi-tasking.
The Hindu newspaper conducted a survey, a while ago, which mentioned that students hailing from IIM possess sharper intellect in comparison to students from other B-schools. IIM students have a greater success rate than non-IIM students.
If you wish to get the best education and achieve the best in life, then IIM is the place to be or If you have no such aspiration, you can opt for any of the other B-schools like FMS or XLRI which will provide enough training to sustain, but not succeed.
Winners choose IIMs, the students with a developed sense of maturity. Not the ones without any sense of direction.