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Can an average student get into IIMs?

Updated: Jun 29, 2020

'Average' is a subjective term. More often than not it is defined by the marks one scores, which are highly influenced by the degree one is pursuing.

Poor Academic Scores IIM Admissions
 

There are some answers on Quora which mention candidates who made it to IIMs/non-IIMs in India with <70% in their 10th/12th/Graduation -

As per an answer by Rutwik Annadanam, around 15% of IIM Calcutta’s Batch of 2019 had a 6 pointer or lesser in their candidature. That clearly reflects that your academics can be compensated by other things like your CAT score.


Here is another answer by Amit Kumar Agrawal in which he has created an excel sheet of 200+ CAT 2016 takers and their academic scores. He has listed down several cases where students with <70% marks not only got calls but also made it to the top management institutes.


At IIM Ahmedabad, I know of some students who have made it with ~70% marks in 12th as well as in their undergrad. Most of them are from an engineering background and have scored exceptionally well in CAT.


Having said that, I'm frequently asked this question - "How do these students perform during summer placements and finals? Do they get consulting shortlists?"



Truth be told, consulting firms give a lot of weight to academic scores. So, getting a consulting shortlist becomes difficult for such candidates in summer placements unless they have an exceptional CAT score as well as work-experience. Their only resort is to perform well in academics at IIMs, be in Institute Ranks (IR) list and get the shortlist in finals.


This has been achieved by many students in the past batches. Even in the recent graduating batch, some of my seniors managed to get MBB shortlists despite not getting them in the summers. Some of my friends are set to follow the same trajectory in coming finals.

 

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