The Common Admission Test (CAT) is considered one of India’s most competitive examinations for entry into premier B-schools, including IIMs. The CAT exam used to be the ultimate benchmark for B-school admissions and was designed to evaluate candidates on quantitative ability, verbal ability, and logical reasoning. Currently, the weightage of the CAT score in final selections has seen a decline in favor of other factors like academic profile, gender diversity, work experience, and category-based reservations. In the current scenario, even a student with a 99.5+ percentile might miss out on getting into top IIMs, while another student with a lower percentile but who owns a “better profile” could convert the IIMs call.
CAT Score Weightage: Then vs Now (Top IIMs)
Here’s a comparative table showing the CAT score weightage in the final selection criteria, which has changed in some top IIMs:
| IIM | Year | CAT Weightage | Academic Profile | Diversity | Work Experience |
| IIM Ahmedabad | 2015 | 70% | 30% | 0% | 0% |
| IIM Ahmedabad | 2024 | 25% | 30% | 5% | 0% |
| IIM Bangalore | 2015 | 85% | 10% | 5% | 0% |
| IIM Bangalore | 2024 | 20% | 20% | 10% | 20% |
| IIM Calcutta | 2015 | 80% | 15% | 5% | 0% |
| IIM Calcutta | 2024 | 30% | 15% | 10% | 19% |
| IIM Kozhikode | 2015 | 75% | 20% | 5% | 0% |
| IIM Kozhikode | 2024 | 45% | 20% | 10% | 25% |
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All the top IIMs have visibly reduced the CAT score weightage and increased the focus on non-test parameters.
Understanding the Three Pillars: Reservation, Diversity, and Profile Weightage
Let’s learn more about the three non-test parameters and understand their positive and negative aspects as well.
- Reservations: India’s reservation policy gives seats to candidates from SC, ST, OBC-NCL, EWS, and PwD categories in various top B-schools, including IIMs. Have a look at the reservation breakdown in IIMs:
| Category | Reservation Percentage |
| SC | 15% |
| ST | 7.5% |
| OBC-NCL | 27% |
| EWS | 10% |
| PwD | 5% |
Positive Aspect:
- Encourages inclusivity and social upliftment.
- Helps in nation-building by integrating diverse socio-economic backgrounds into elite education
- Creates a level playing field for disadvantaged groups.
Negative Aspect:
- A candidate with general category scores 99.5 percentile may not get a call, but a candidate from a reserved category with 85 percentile may get a call.
- This will lead to demotivation and a sense of unfairness among open category aspirants.
- Diversity Factor: To balance the male and female ratio in MBA classrooms, especially from engineering backgrounds, many IIMs introduced gender diversity in their selection process. Here are the gender and academic diversity trends in IIMs:
| IIMs | Academic Diversity (Non-Engineers) | Gender Diversity Weightage (For Female) |
| IIM Bangalore | Yes | 5% |
| IIM Kozhikode | Yes | 10% |
| IIM Ahmedabad | Yes | 5 marks (final stage) |
| IIM Calcutta | Yes | 10 marks |
| IIM Indore | Yes | 20 bonus marks |
| IIM Lucknow | 5% | 10% |
| IIM Trichy | Yes | 10 marks |
| IIM Udaipur | Yes | Included in profile score (varies around 5%) |
| IIM Raipur | 6 marks | 8 marks |
Positive Aspect:
- The gender diversity across various IIMs encourages more women to pursue management courses.
- This also breaks gender stereotypes in the corporate world and for leadership roles.
- The gender diversity improves the classroom dynamics, providing a proper balance between the male and female ratios.
Negative Aspect:
- The major drawback of the diversity factor is that a male aspirant with high CAT scores but a non-diverse profile didn’t receive a call.
- This can also result in favoring underqualified profiles.
- Profile Weightage: Academic & Work Experience: Profile weightage means the evaluation of your past academic records, graduation stream, and work experience. IIMs assess candidates on their overall journey instead of only CAT scores.
Breakdown of profile weightage components:
| Component | Weightage Score |
| Class 10 marks | 10-15% |
| Class 12 marks | 10-15% |
| Graduation % / CGPA | 10-20% |
| Work Experience | 5-20% |
| Academic Stream | 5-10% |
IIM Bangalore 2024 Selection Split:
| Criteria | Weightage |
| CAT Score | 25% |
| Class 10th & 12th Marks | 20% |
| Graduation Marks | 10% |
| Work Experience | 10% |
| Academic Diversity | 10% |
| Gender Diversity | 10% |
| PI/WAT | 15% |
Positive Aspect:
- The profile weightage is a reward for consistent academic performers and for work experience holders as well.
- It also ensures a mix of freshers and experienced professionals.
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Negative Aspect:
- The candidate who experiences one poor academic year can heavily impact their composite score.
- The freshers, or those candidates who are from under-resourced schools or colleges, may suffer due to the profile weightage system.
As the weightage of these three pillars increases across IIMs, the importance of the CAT score is declining in comparison. If you look at the previous years, the CAT score could contribute up to 85% of your final selection score. But now, it is limited to 25-45%, with profile, diversity, and reservation doing the rest of the work. This brings up a major question: Are we really selecting the best candidates for B-schools, or just balancing demographic checkboxes?
Case Study Examples: CAT Percentile vs Final Admission
Let’s consider two hypothetical candidates:
| Criteria | Candidate A | Candidate B |
| CAT Percentile | 99.7 %ile | 95.1 %ile |
| Category | General | OBC |
| Gender | Male | Female |
| Profile | Engineer | Commerce |
| Academics | Average (80/76/70) | Stellar (95/93/90) |
| Work Experience | 6 months | 18 months |
| Final Admission Result | Rejected | Converted IIM B,C |
The case study example above demonstrates that while CAT scores are important, factors such as your profile and reservation can significantly influence your final admission result.
CAT vs Other MBA Exams: A Comparison
Below is given the comparison between CAT and other MBA entrance exams on the basis of various parameters.
| Parameter | CAT | GMAT | GRE |
| Diversity Weightage | High (post-CAT) | Moderate | Low |
| Score Validity | 1 year | 5 years | 5 years |
| Reservation | Yes | No | No |
| Profile Weightage | High | Moderate | Low |
| Standardization | Varies by institutes | Uniform | Uniform |
Suggestive Measures for Making CAT Relevant
To make a balance between merits and inclusivity, below are some remedies mentioned.
- Cap on Non-CAT Weightage: If a non-CAT component like profile, diversity, reservation, interviews, etc., is given too much weightage, candidates might feel that scoring well in the CAT exam doesn’t matter anymore. Hence, IIMs should set a cap, like 40% weighting, to non-CAT parameters, which will automatically mean that CAT must account for 60% in selection criteria. This will ensure that CAT will continue to be a competitive and main element in the admission process.
- Transparent Profile Evaluation Formulae: Many IIMs mention that they consider academic profile or work experience, but they don’t disclose how many marks each component carries, what criteria they use for evaluation, or how the scoring is done. This results in a lack of transparency, and candidates feel confused and irritated by not knowing the reason behind their rejection.
- Fixed Minimum CAT Offs for All Categories: In the current scenario, different categories have different CT cutoffs, and many a time, due to reservation policies, low percentilers are accepted. The suggestion is to introduce a baseline score or percentile that will apply to each category so that no one is shortlisted without basic CAT competency, making the process more fair, competitive, and efficient.
- Separate Quota for Gender Diversity, Not Overlapping with Academic Diversity: Many IIMs and top B-schools give extra weightage to women candidates (gender diversity) and non-engineering backgrounds (academic diversity). Sometimes these two overlap, which means that a female with a non-engineering background gets a double advantage, while a female engineer or male non-engineer may get none. There should be a separate, clearly defined weighting for gender diversity and academic diversity separately.
Check What CAT Aspirants Think on This
Anmol Gupta – 99.47 Percentiler
CAT is becoming slight irrelevant especially for the GEM freshers. The reason is you would see people with 99.7%ile not getting even an interview call, forget about the convert. Well. it is because B-schools have a dedicated selection criteria, but, still somehow it kills merit and sometimes, the people who have had a bad day don’t get a chance to sit for an interview or they have to retry for another year
Aditya – CAT 99.57 Percentiler
Sometimes I feel like CAT is no longer an exam of merit, but a social engineering project. I slogged for a 99 percentile, but girls with 92-93 and engineers with 75% in college get calls just because of gender or “diversity.” What’s the point of even scoring high if profile weightage and reservation decide everything? Why call it a Common Admission Test when the playing field is anything but common? I didn’t choose to be a general category male engineer but apparently, that’s my biggest crime. Gender diversity points, caste reservation, academic diversity, everything seems to matter more than CAT itself now. It feels like the actual exam is only 30% of the game, the rest is social quota math. IIMs keep preaching merit, but practice double standards. Honestly, CAT is slowly becoming irrelevant for people like me. No one cares how smart you are unless you tick their diversity boxes.
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Anushka IIM Vizag Alumna
B schools look for good profile because CAT has never been just about test scores — it’s about identifying well-rounded individuals who can thrive in diverse business environments. Giving weightage to reservation, gender diversity, and academic profiles helps level the playing field for candidates who may not have had equal opportunities but bring unique perspectives and experiences. A high CAT score shows aptitude, but leadership, empathy, and real-world insights often come from lived experiences that numbers alone can’t capture. These criteria ensure that B-school classrooms reflect the real world — diverse, inclusive, and dynamic — which ultimately creates better managers and leaders.
Final Thoughts: Is CAT Irrelevant or Redefined
CAT is not irrelevant, but its role is evolving. It is now prioritizing equity, diversity, and consistency. For some, it may represent progress, and for others, it’s a dilution of meritocracy. The truth may lie somewhere in between. But in the end, it’s about aligning with the goals of management education and preparing leaders who are not just good test-takers but adaptable, inclusive, and aware.
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