CAT and Work Experience

Gammafunction left a comment on my last post about the CAT & MBA in general loaded a bit too against freshers. I did a little bit of reasearch and found the exact opposite to be true. Check it out -

(IIM Ahmedabad, Batch Profile - Class of 2007)

(IIM Bangalore, Batch Profile - Class of 2006)

(IIM Calcutta, Batch Profile - Class of 2007)

As evident, the number of freshers joining IIMs outnumbers that of the experienced guys by far (After breaking up the experienced fellows in different brackets as per the number of years spent working). I don't have any data for student appearing for CAT, but I think it would be rather safe to assume that the number of freshers taking the exam would be far far greater than the number of experience holders. Parental pressure, peer pressure, etc. make sure one does take a shot at CAT before taking the plunge into the work life. Of course, not all of them are serious, but still it's very likely that they outnumber the experienced guys in the number of final calls received too.

I'm not sure but perhaps each IIM keeps a predetermined batch profile in mind when issueing the interview calls and offers. Say, roughly 40% freshers, 10% with 1 year's experience and so on. I'm also told that the cut-off percentiles for experienced guys is generally kept a little below from that of freshers (Though, IIMB follows the exact opposite, it seems).

Work experience does matter, especially in a professional course like an MBA. You work in the industry, you see how things work and how to make them work. You learn a lot from good managers and even more from bad managers (I've had a mixed bag). And most importantly you develop a realistic idea about what exactly you want to do (or atleast what you'll never want to do again, as in the case of many software punters ;-). Spending some time in the industry does help, but that also means that you have to be prepared about a hell lot of things about your job, your company, the market, the competition, etc. along with the academics ;-)

As for the freshers, it is indeed a tougher competition. One, because they compete against a whole lot of other freshers (if we go by the predetermined mix formula). Second, they might come out as inadequate in the interviews simply because they are still wet behind the ears in many ways. I remember, when I had my first job interview - it went really well till I told them that as my future plans I'm planning to do an MBA after say two years of experience. I didn't get the job. Truth doesn't always pay. Of course, not all the freshers are as naïve as I was.

Disclaimer: Other than the pie-charts (taken from respective IIMs' websites) everything else are my speculations about the issue. "Any resemblence with anyone yada yada yada is purely coincidential" :-D