subject: Scaredy Cats: Less Takers For Iims [print this page] The number ofB-school aspirants opting for Common Admission Test (CAT) this year has reduced by about 25 per cent in the state. The estimated figure ofCAT takers from the city seems to be just over 40,000 this year whereas in the previous years the number had hit 50,000 to 60,000.
While theIIMs have not released the official figures for the number of takers for CAT-2010, the coaching institutes in the city observe that fewer students are interested in CAT this year as they have found several other replacement tests for it.
Management faculty members of B-schools in the state said that the technical glitches which occurred in CAT-2009 when the examination went online had affected the credibility of the test. "Several students had complained in 2009 that their test scores were not satisfactory due to the technical glitches in CAT. The examination did lose some of its credibility and fool-proof character last year," said B Krishna Reddy, dean, College of Management Studies, Osmania University
Some management gurus from the city said that the number of students opting for B-schools which have their own management tests is higher this year. "Several students who are not too keen to write a highly competitive examination like CAT apply for institutions which do not require CAT scores. While B-schools with deemed status might not be the ideal place for them to get anMBA, students tend to opt for them to avoid the trouble of going through CAT," said A R Aryasri, director, School of Management Studies, JNTU.
Analysts also said the dip in numbers could also be part of a nation-wide trend of opting for GMAT or GRE over CAT. "Several students opt for education abroad since getting a decent score in GRE or GMAT is easier than scoring well in CAT," said an expert. Some experts also said that the number of students opting for Management Aptitude Test (MAT) conducted by All India Management Association (AIMA) has gone up. Several B-schools use these scores for admitting students and they include SP Jain Center For Management, TA Pai Management Institute, Manipal and Financial Management and Research.
Some experts, however, said that the dip in number of CAT takers from the state could correspond to the dip in the number of takers for management studies in general in the state. "There is general apathy towards management sector in the state, perhaps because of the dip in the number of opportunities that the sector has thrown up for freshers in the last couple of years," an educationist said.
