After CAT results, students focus on GDs
| With the common admission test (CAT) results declared, students are gearing up for group discussions (GDs) and personal interviews, the second hurdle for admissions to post graduate or fellow programmes in management offered by the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs). |
| To help the aspirants reach their goal, several preparatory institutes have lined up training programmes. "We will start our training sessions from January 1, with orientation workshops. We are expecting enrollments from the fresh students who want to attend sessions on group discussions and personal interviews only. In view of the highly competitive admission procedure, students do not want to leave any stone unturned," said Dayal Shrivastava, center director at Excel TutorOnline Ltd, one such preparatory institute. |
| Excel plans to commission camera aided review technology (CART) at its Vadodara centre. Excel has the facility at its Ahmedabad center to enable students observe their own body language and reactions to the questions asked by panel members. |
| The institutes are also in touch with the leading academicians, management consultants and industrialists to act as guest lecturers and interact with the aspiring students. With management institutes looking for specific qualities, these training centres have also designed institute-specific training modules. "We have lined up a number of sessions for students who are and will get calls (for GDs and interviews). We will provide the general training for first three weeks. Later, we will start giving institute specific training that will focus on training as per the qualities normally looked at by various institutes," said Kapil Upadhyay, centre head, Professional Tutorials. |
| All this does not come cheap. The training institutes normally charge between Rs 2000 to Rs 7,500 for sessions on GDs and personal interviews depending on the package and location of the institute. |
| A course that costs Rs 2,500 in a small town like Anand may cost Rs 6,500 in a metro like Delhi. Meanwhile, students who wrote the recent CAT test should get their CAT scores by the end of this month. "All aspirants will get the CAT scorecards by the month end. We have already dispatched them. The scores are already there on the institute's website," said Bakul Dholakia, director, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A). |
| This year's CAT was attended by over 1.37 lakh candidates. Last year, of the 1.3 lakh aspirants for IIMs, only 3,500 students were called for the next stage. Finally, around 1,150 were absorbed at the six IIMs. However, this year around 5000 students will be called for the GD and interview. Several other institutions are also likely to announce their results in the next few days. |
| The Symbiosis Institute of Management's Symbiosis National Aptitude Test results will be out January 11. |
| The results for the Xavier Labour Relations Institute's Xavier Admission Test, Narsee Monji Institute of Management Studies' NM Management Aptitude Test and the Maharashtra Common Entrance Test will be announced in February. The Institute of Rural Management, Anand will also announce its results shortly. |