3 non-engineers, 2 women among 20 to score 100 percentile in CAT

The Common Admission Test (CAT) 2017 saw the most diverse group of toppers in recent years, with two women students and three non-engineers figuring among the 20 candidates who scored a 100 percentile, the Indian Institute of Management Lucknow, organising institute for the examination, said on Monday. Twenty students had scored a 100 percentile in CAT 2016 as well – but all of them were male engineers.

For the past five years at least, all 100 percentilers have been from an engineering background. Last year, there was no woman topper, while for two years before that, there was one each.

On November 26, 2017, a total of 199,632 candidates had appeared for the exam, the largest number of test-takers in the past three years. Apart from the 20 IIMs that have some 4,000-odd seats between them, some of India’s top business schools including FMS, SPJIMR, MDI, NITIE, JBIMS also accept CAT scores for admission to their flagship programmes.

With classrooms heavily skewed towards men and engineers, the IIMs have been trying to promote more diversity for some time now. “If you look at the selection criteria, we have been trying to promote diversity, and this in turn has been encouraging more women and students from various backgrounds to sit for the CAT,” said Neeraj Dwivedi, convenor, CAT 2017 and admissions chairperson at IIM Lucknow. The year 2017 also saw a marginal increase in the number of women candidates appearing for the exam, he said.

“The IIMs have been making changes to the exam pattern in the last two-three years and this has created a more level playing field for students across diverse backgrounds,” said Ramnath Kanakadandi, course director for CAT Exam at TIME, a private institute that conducts coaching classes for MBA, MCA and engineering, among other courses. Different IIMs have different selection criteria, he said, so the weightage on CAT varies accordingly.