The results of CAT 2007 has flit past leaving lakhs of eager and hopeful students, who had been hoping to get admission into the most reputed B-Schools in the country, high and dry. The high standards of testing ensured by this body ensure that only the crème de la crème can obtain admission into the portals of these prestigious institutes. This is certainly a very commendable move in a country like ours that is shackled with infinite constraints with reference to just about any policy under the sun.

The candidates who sail through the onerous protocol set for them by the organisation will assure you that it is no mean exercise, for they have had to work very hard to get a seat in the most coveted establishment. As they say, “The proof of the pudding lies in the eating” and year after year we find that IIM students land themselves lucrative jobs at the end of the course.

Placement

In fact recent statistics show that there has been one hundred per cent placement of candidates who emerge as post graduates from these institutes in the current year with an enviable package, while his counter part from a lesser known institution is usually treated as a lesser mortal in the job market.

Apparently, the secret of success of candidates from the IIMs is not only based on their consistent academic performance but also on their ability to face bi-lateral challenges which cross their way during their tenure at the institutions.  A talk with the high-brow faculty at IIM-B reveals that the unvarying accomplishment of their candidates lies in the kind of training they receive to hone their intrinsic skills besides hard core academics.

For instance, the pioneering entrepreneurial cell — NSRCEL (Nadathur S Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning) at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, grooves in the concept of value-creation through “informed entrepreneurship” which helps potential entrepreneurs to experiment with the trends of the market even before they enter it formally.

While it is a matter of pride for the institutions and the students themselves, it appears to be a matter of growing concern to the society at large which is not able to make it to these high-profile institutes. The rat race to beat the CAT is taking new demoniac dimensions year after year.

The recent examination saw two lakh candidates taking up the exam across the country. Apparently all of them could not get in because of stringent filtration processes which are a part of the admission procedure.

Response

When a cross section of students who had appeared for the CAT exam from Bangalore were consulted on the subject just about everybody said that they did not do very well not only because the paper was very tough but also because the university semester exams commenced two days after CAT and their concentration was divided between the two exams.

A random survey revealed that more than fifty per cent of the candidates were merely “giving it a shot” and another thirty per cent hoped to do well in their XLRI or GMAT exams after undergoing a rigorous training to take up the CAT.

 Some of them hoped to “get through” the next time and were quite satisfied with getting a taste of the paper. A few of them confided that they had taken up the exam to mollify the ego of their parents or family and it really did not matter one way or the other if they failed to make it.

It is quite possible that with the exception of a section of earnest candidates who have really been working hard for the exam the scene is more or less the same everywhere. Yet this year a couple of candidates did not mind undergoing a laborious and expensive exercise which had them scheming and planning for months together to pull wool over the eyes of the authorities on the “Red Letter Day.” Fortunately, they were caught ‘red handed’ which will certainly make studious, earnest students repose their faith in the organisation which believes in keeping its flag flying high.

The craze to enter these esteemed IIMs has become an obsession with the student community that is pursuing the last leg of their under-graduate studies in a variety of streams but then these very candidates are also aware of their capabilities and their diverse dreams which are sometimes miles away from their educational pursuit.

At the outset, the situation appears to be a reasonable wish of a good student to aim high, but a scratch at the surface apparently reveals a very different picture which showcases indifferent students who are not highly perturbed at not getting in.

Private colleges

Of late, the MBA scene has changed radically as there are several private colleges offering the MBA course under local universities and many of them function on the lines of the IIMs. They have tie-ups with the corporate world and run placement cells and entrepreneurial cells to launch their students into the big bad world on their own two feet.

Many students who have passed out appear to have no regrets about not having been to the IIMs while to the others these mega institutes are spoken about on the lines of “a case of sour grapes.”

Such being the case, perhaps it will be a wise move for the IIMs to stick to their standards and maintain it at all costs. Perhaps they could add a couple more institutes after careful consideration to their body that can cater to the serious undergraduates, but certainly it is disgraceful and unwarranted to cry over the rooftops and make a big fuss for large scale expansion because it is bound to dilute the aura that has made the organisation stand apart.

(This appraisal of the situation is factual, but it forms only a slice of the whole as it was conducted only in Bangalore.)