Results are Out!
The MBA exam season is over. The results are getting announced. CAT 2019 and IIFT 2020 results are already out. XAT has released the candidate response sheet (Damn those verbal answers!). So, you will have a fair idea about where you stand and must be thinking about the options in hand.
From here on, things would have turned out different for everyone. Broadly, there will be three kinds of people right now.
- Group 1 – Exceptional performers. ?
- Group 2 – The middlers.?
- Group 3 – Meh…?
This blog post will ignore Group 1 for the time being. (Why should they be here in the first place??)
Course of Action?
The biggest question for you right now would be-
Should I settle for a college this year or give a shot at CAT 2020?
The answer?
It is PERSONAL. You have to decide it for yourself. But what are the important factors to consider for taking this decision? even more importantly what are the factors to not consider while deciding on the same?
Factors to consider
The most clichéd and overthought factors would be – WORK EXP. and AGE. If you are thinking about them, stop right there! Consider this –
“Who you are?”
Think about what you want? Is it just any MBA or are looking for something special? Are you in a place to make rational and well-thought decisions? If not, talk to someone who can. It could be a friend, a mentor or anyone whom you trust.
“Do YOU have it in you?
Another important factor would be to consider this – “Do YOU have it in you to put your head down and study for another year and give your best for CAT 2020?”
This again is also personal and depends on whether or not you have what is called the “GRIT”. Can you sit for another year? Brush up the basics? Practice gazillion questions, take N mocks, analyze them and repeat the drill to perfection.
Factors to Avoid:
Work Experience and Age. Factors like Work exp and age really do not matter until you have work experience of 6 years or until you are pushing 30. If you have 3.5 or 4 years of work ex. and are probably 25 or 26, you should not let age or work ex change your decision of writing this exam. Obviously the entire premise of the argument changes for women candidates (I hate to generalise, but to a large extent, this happens to be true).
WHAT NOW?
If you have already thought about CAT 2020, read this –
We will assume that you have scored a 75th percentile and tell you what should be your course of action. Be advised that any percentile north of 60, the suggestion is almost the same.
75th Percentile and not a 99.9
Say you have scored 75th percentile. This is not a great score but definitely not a bad one as well. There will be colleges that will still call you. Apply to as many as possible. Prepare for the interviews really well. Attend those interviews and crack those colleges (Get that admit!). Now, what do you get out this exercise?
- The experience of attending a b-school interview.
- The confidence to crack a b-school interview is immense.
Convert Now. Decide Later.
This might not help you right away but it will pay off about a year later when you are sitting for your dream b-school interview. You won’t have to start preparing for the interviews from scratch. You will know what to prepare for, what is expected, how to steer through an interview. Most importantly, you will not get anxious thinking about an interview.
Once you are done (probably by April/May 2020) with this exercise. You can sit and start preparing for CAT 2020. You will still have a lot of time to crack CAT 2020.
All the best!
Sasidhar Swaminathan, is a student at IIMB and was formerly a Content Creator at 2IIM. He is also a Potterhead and loves reading. Spotify is his go-to place.
What if you have 5 years of experience and 30 age.does it matter to take admission to mba and further placements
It does. Maybe you should also take up GMAT and pick the best from the two
My age is 24. And I’m currently working in a government sector . I have a work so l experience of 3+ years. I want to switch my career from government to private. Is it good for me to do MBA? How will it affect me during the placements?
It is good. It won’t affect at all
A really short and great piece of advice. First convert, then decide. ?
Sir I m 27 now will be 28 by the time I join college . I have 3 yrs of experience .should I give cat 2020 . I scored 60.9 percentile in cat 19
You absolutely should try next year, if you think you can do justice to the exam. Best wishes
Thank you for your article it has cleared my mind and guided me for future steps.Thanks a lot
Very happy that you found it to be useful! Best wishes.
SIR, this year i appeared for cat first time without any prep by giving 8 mock tests of TIME INSTITUTE of a friend and scored a very poor 76%ile and section wise 66%ile in VARC, 76%ile in LRDI and 81%ile in QUANT.
I am 22 yrs old doing b.tech civil from a state university and as of now till my 7th semester i have 70% in my engineering, also i have 88% and 58% in 10th and 12th respectively and my B.tech will be completed in may and after that from June to November i want to prepare for CAT 2020 but my friends, families and relatives are telling me that why you are wasting your time on the hope of doing MBA as they told me that i am not a brilliant student so i will not get 95 or 98 percentile even after preparing and even after scoring 96%ile+ i willn’t get any good MBA college due to my past academics.
Kindly help me out and guide me is they true or if not how will i convince them ?
What should i furtherdo, please show me the way i am really too much depressed and demotivated this time……
Remember from step one, maybe the top schools are not for you, because of your twelfth score. But that apart there are so many great schools that will take you in if you have a great cat/xat score. So you should be targeting them. Also if you are in final year, there’s no downside of preparing for this exam. Get a job, get placed (if that’s possible), then look to prepare for cat. Do not try to drop a year and prepare. Best wishes.
P.s. this is a very doable exam if your basics are in place.
Thanks for motivating me and please sir just answer 2 more question for me:-
1.} My engineering will be completed in the month of may and that’s why i not want to join a job in June as from there my final and full fledged preparation will start. Is it wrong if i start my job January next year, is taking a 6 months gap for this a wrong step ?
2.} Can you tell me the top school which will take me if i score good in CAT/XAT along with approximate required percentile,so that by telling this to my parents i can convince them.
1. My suggestion will still be to take up a job.
2. Mdi, nitie could be two schools that i can recall from the top of my head. Do your research about this for exact details.
Sir I am CFA level 2 candidate should I prepare for CAT and take experience then do MBA
Hi Sir,
Thanks for such an amazing article.
I am 24 and I left my job in August due to some personal reasons and wrote CAT.
I scored 75 percentile.
I am in dilemma that whether I should settle for average B-School or write CAT again in 2020.Also,Should I take up a job or drop this year for preparation?
I have approx 1.5 year of work experience.
Hi Aman,
You can certainly take CAT 2020.
Get a job as soon as possible. Don’t take a drop.
1.5 years of experience is not at all a problem.
Hi sir
Thanks for your support in every section.
I scored 78.69ile (VDQ 66.7,87.9,75.6).
I’m obcs category student. I’m doing bba and my acads are 10th 8 cgpa 12th 73.4 and grad 71.5% I got call from iim rohtak. I want to know that is any chances for cap round and if yes, then is it convert. Or I can drop?
Give it your best shot. Don’t worry about your chances. If you don’t get it this year, take up a job. Don’t drop.
Hi Sir,
I have 2 years work ex with one gap year,currently 26 years old working in IT(80.50/79/71.10)female ,Being a production engineering graduate and having joined IT sector only for the sake of having a job,would like to take up management .I scored 89.16 percentile this year ,should I give CAT another try?This last attempt, really want the best possible performance and score.to get into the the best B school out there like FMS / NITIE? Is it even realistic given my profile or too much aspirational ?
Hi Sir,
I have got offers from GLIM PGPM, TAPMI PGDM Core and waiting for KJ results.
I have very avg acads 80 70 70 and 2+ years work ex in IT.
After all the research I decided that this year I will join Tapmi.
But now due to Covid-19, the global recession scenario has escalated and I am not sure whether to join a tier 2 college this year or repeat Cat 2020. Kindly share your insights.
Among GLIM, TAPMI, and KJSOM. I would go for GLIM.
TAPMI and KJSOM have legacies but are currently struggling.
Also, in terms of ROI, GLIM is a great place to be.
2/3rd of the students have ROI > 1
Joining this year is a personal choice
Sir I have more than 40 months experience now and have less than 60% in my graduation – EWS male engineer , I only have KJ Somaiya core converted , should I go for it or try for jbims or sydneham next year(as I don’t believe iims will call me with my profile ) ?