Word of mouth is a double edged sword. While it spreads through the masses like quick fire, it isn’t necessarily true most of the times. CAT has consistently been the hot topic for several years now. Scores of candidates register for the test. Many take the exam. But only a few land in premier MBA institutes. As a result everyone has a story to tell about CAT and by extension MBA. These stories, intentionally or unintentionally, have become urban legends and majority of the students believe them. The most common of them all? The legend of work experience. Do work experience and MBA go hand in hand? Only if I had a nickel for every time some one said, “IIM’s give importance to work experience! The more the work experience, the better your chances will be.”
This blog is an attempt to present the facts as they are without a drop of drama. Let’s see how important work experience actually is to get into an IIM. The institutes discussed here are
IIM Ahmedabad – Work Experience
IIM Ahmedabad prefers candidates with no work experience. The numbers echo this fact loud and clear. The institute has, over the years, steadily arrested the inflow of experienced candidates. In the batch of 2017-19 nearly 40% of the students were fresh graduates with no prior work experience. When compared to the measly 14% of the students who had 2-3 years of work experience.
Contrary to popular belief, the intake of freshers has increased over the years. In fact, in this case the myth of ‘more work experience, better chances’ falls on its face. As is clear from the graph, students with more than 3 years of work experience make the minority of the student body. So, more work experience may not always be a good thing as is evident from this case.
IIM Kozhikode – Work Experience
The batch of 2020-22 saw an almost equal distribution of freshers and experienced students. Although historically IIM Kozhikode picked up students with at least 1 to 2 years of experience under their belt, the trend seems to be changing. In fact in recent years, the minority of the student body had more than 3 years of work experience, while the majority had no work experience, or less than 3 years of work experience.
Here, both freshers are people with work experience have an equal share in the student body. Although, it is to be noted that there is a slight increase in the intake of people with at least 1 to 2 years of work experience as compared to freshers.
IIM Calcutta – Work Experience
IIM Calcutta is notorious for rejecting students even with the best percentile. Most often than not, work experience (or the lack thereof) is pointed out to be the reason. But that’s not always true. As can be gleaned from the profile of their students batches, work experience is not the top priority of admission officers at IIM Calcutta. It doesn’t matter how many years of corporate experience you have under your belt, if you fail to have a personality that is fiercely your own, you can kiss you IIM Calcutta dream goodbye.
IIM Calcutta has seen a consistent increase in the admission of fresh graduates. IIM Calcutta also has a considerable number of students with 2-4 years of work experience. Some even have more than 4 years of work experience.
As is clear from the illustrations above, work experience is not a deciding factor for elimination in any of the above discussed IIM’s. Elimination may occur due to various factors but they do not hinge solely on the amount years a candidate may have spent actively working. And anyone telling you otherwise is lying through their teeth. As the time for CAT comes nearer, many will resort to fearmongering for their own benefits. Do not be scared, and do not let them prey on your insecurities. Focus on your preparation and everything else will fall into place with ease.
So chin up all students, there are facts and then there is fiction. We’ll help you separate fact from fiction, so you can focus on CAT -Sharda Sharma
Sharda Sharma is an avid reader and a whimsical writer. She aspires to write stories, make money, and retire by 60, not necessarily in that order.
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