Appearing for CAT? You have a 1:100 chance

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If the numbers are any indication, more and more aspirants are lining up for a career in the managerial ranks instead of sweating it out on the shop floor.

Around 230,000 candidates are scheduled to take the Common Admission Test (CAT) — one of the most competitive exams in the world — next month.

This translates into a 21 per cent increase in the number of CAT aspirants over last year, when the total number of candidates stood at around 190,000. In contrast, the number of aspirants for the CAT exam a decade back was only 40,000.

The increasing numbers are indicative of the importance of CAT as the premier management entrance exam as well as the growing economy, which has seen an explosion in the creation of managerial jobs.

CAT VISION
Total CAT aspirants in 2007 : 230,000
Total CAT aspirants in 2006 : 190,000
Total number of seats available through CAT* : 5,000
No. of seats in IIMs* : 1,600
No of seats in 99 other B-schools* : 3,400
(* Figures are approximate)

The country’s seven Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) use only CAT scores to shortlist candidates.

The IIM’s annual intake is 1,600 students, including IIM- Shillong, which starts operations from academic year 2008.

In effect, the ratio of aspirants to the number of IIM seats available is 1:125. If one were to take the total number of 3,400 management degree seats available across schools (99, not including the IIMs) that use CAT scores to select candidates, the ratio stands at 1:59.

CAT is as competitive as the IIT engineering qualifying test, the Joint Entrance Examination, which saw as many as 200,000 candidates appear for just 4,193 seats spread across the seven IITs in 2007.

The numbers also hide the growing gap between the demand and supply of seats in the top management institutes across the country.

The top 10 B-schools accepting CAT scores, barring the IIMs, have a capacity of only around 2000 seats.

These include reputed ones like the Institute of Management Technology (IMT), Ghaziabad, Management Development Institute (MDI), Gurgaon, S.P.Jain Institute of Management and Research (SPJIMR), Mumbai, Mudra Institute of Communication (MICA), Ahmedabad and others. The ratio for them works out to 1:100.

“Competition is bound to remain fierce because of the increasing number of MBA aspirants. Even though, premier institutes like IIMs and others have increased the number of seats, it is not sufficient to meet the ever- growing demand,” said Sharad Awasthi, chief operating officer, Career Launcher, an MBA test preparing institute.

“Competition getting tougher has two reasons for it. First, people with experience know that they need to upgrade. These could be people who have spent three to seven years in industry and could either be looking for additional qualifications to switch to management, or may be even a second MBA. Secondly, people who earlier had never even heard of an MBA, today know what it is and what the ‘benefits’ of doing one are, increasing the sheer volume of people who take the exam,” added Jaideep Singh Chowdhary, senior member academic team, TIME, another test preparing institute.