2.05 Lakh Aspirants Will Attempt Toughest B-School Exam
The CAT centres, starting Saturday, will be a cauldron. There
will be people who would have been stuck in intensive care units attending to emergency
cases all their lives, who were out on the fields testing soil, or ones who would
have been on farms treating animals - all of them trying to crack the toughest B-school
exam in the country.
In all, 2.05 lakh aspirants will take CAT with a good number of doctors, dentists,
veterinary doctors and even agriculturalists in the group. The Indian Institutes
of Management (IIMs) have always come under the criticism for having an overdose
of engineers in its classrooms. This year, the majority, a whopping 64% of those
who have registered for the exam, are still engineers. However, the presence of
other vocations cannot be overlooked. Those from the field of medicine, which includes
dentistry, are 600 in number. The count of veterinary doctors alone comes up to
60. Interestingly, around 800 people have agriculture background. There are around
55 company secretaries and 50 chartered accountants in the mix.
After engineering, the biggest group is from accountancy and commerce. They make
15%. This is followed by graduates of business administration (9.5%). The trend
is similar to that of the previous years. "It's definitely a good sign. Not just
for the variety that the IIM classrooms will gain for the next academic year. But
also because it is important for management skills to reach all the fields, and
not just stick to the corporate world," said Janakiraman Moorthy, CAT convener.
The new trend that the officials notice this year is the decrease in the percentage
of candidates who have an experience of less than six months. The size of this group
has decreased from 73% to 68%. There are 13% who have working experience of more
than an year and another 12% with more than two years.
The number of female candidates has gone up by 1% from 27%. As many as 600 students
who are trying to crack the exam this time are differently abled. The National Capital
Region forms 24% of the total candidates aiming for an IIM seat for the next academic
year. Delhi alone accounts to 10%. Bangalore will see 18,000 students taking the
test, forming 9% of the overall figures. Mumbai follows closely with 8% and Pune
6.3%. Hyderabad is fourth with 6.5% of the 2.05 lakh candidates.
Courtesy: Times of India
