4 hours ago
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There’s a strange zone many CAT aspirants find themselves in scoring 95-99 percentile, which sounds impressive on paper, but still feeling stuck in the admission process. The older IIMs often have extremely high cutoffs and tough composite score criteria, while some newer IIMs end up putting candidates on long waitlists because of factors like academic profile, work experience, or category weightage.
For many students, this range becomes the “almost there” zone strong enough to compete, but not always enough to convert the most desired calls. It can feel frustrating after months of preparation and high expectations.
If you’ve been in this situation or know someone who has, what did it actually feel like during the admission season? Relief for the score, or stress because converts were still uncertain?
3 Replies
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One thing many aspirants realize during the admission season is how much interviews and profile evaluation matter. Even at top schools like Indian Institute of Management Calcutta or Indian Institute of Management Lucknow, a strong interview can sometimes make the difference between a waitlist and a convert.
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Just keep in mind, you have to just clear 1 interview out of 10-15 you sit for in the season. You’ll face a lot of setbacks from lacking diversity (academic/gender) and not having reservation but at the end it will not matter. Once you get into a good college, everything will be based on merit. You will get the best jobs and once you are in the private sector, there is no reservation. Your growth trajectory will be straight up from there. Just persevere for now and enjoy the fruits of your labor down the road. I am walking the same path, and my brother has already done the same, so I am sharing his experience.
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That 95-99 percentile zone during the Common Admission Test is honestly a strange place to be. You’re proud of the score, but at the same time you know that converting older IIMs like Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad or Indian Institute of Management Bangalore still depends on a lot of other factors.
