How to get into IIM with poor academics? While everyone must be putting in their efforts to enter the hallowed portals, some aspirants might be sceptical of their chances of making it through due to their past academic scores. In this article, let us see how to get into IIM with poor academics.

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While having poor academics severely hampers the scope of getting into some IIMs, it does not necessarily mean that you cannot get into any IIM at all. In this article, let us discuss the possibilities of getting into IIMs based on the last few years admission criteria.

How to get into IIM with poor academics:

For all practical purposes, let us exclude IIM Bangalore from the discussion. Excluding IIM Bangalore and Shillong to some extent, it is possible to get into other IIMs despite having some glitches in your academic record.

Before answering the question of how to get into IIM with poor academics, it is imperative to define the term ‘poor academics’. Again, the definition of poor academics varies from one IIM to others. Let us look at the chances of getting through each of the IIMs in detail.

How to get into IIM Ahmedabad:

IIM Ahmedabad calls top 50 scorers from each academic discipline irrespective of their academic record. Again, if you are an engineer, getting into top 50 scorers among the entire nation is going to be a daunting task. Anything below 99.96 percentile is unlikely to make the cut under this criterion (for Engineers). For non-engineers, 99.7+ percentile will prove to be a safe score for getting a call under this criterion (Depending on the stream).

For normal shortlisting process, the average marks of class X and class XII must be at least 80%. So, if a candidate has an average less than that of 80%, he will not receive a call for the interview irrespective of the CAT score (Unless he happens to be one of the top 50 scorers in his stream).

If the average is above 80%, aspirants will have to compensate for low scores in graduation with a sufficiently high CAT score. A 99.7+ percentile will prove to be a safe score if your graduation scores are not that high.

For non-enginners, targetting IIMA interview call, anything above 99-99.2%le should be sufficient to be placed in the top 50 of their academic discipline.

How to get into IIM Calcutta:

Calcutta is the most benevolent among the IIMs when it comes to academics. IIM C does not consider your graduation scores for shortlisting. Also, IIM C does not consider work experience while calling candidates for interview. Hence, if the class X and class XII  scores are decent (equal to or above 80%), a 99.7 percentile can guarantee a call. If the class X or class XII scores are not great, score a sufficiently high percentile in the CAT exam. Again, a 99.8 percentile can prove to be a safe score if one of your scores (class X and class XII) is in the 70% range. If both of them are below 70, a 99.95 percentile can fetch you a call.

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How to get into IIM Lucknow:

IIM Lucknow does not consider class X marks for shortlisting. Also, the weightages given to CAT score and work experience while shortlisting are high. Hence, aspirants can offset poor graduation scores with a sufficiently high CAT percentile and work experience. It gives 10% weightage to 12th and graduation scores and 60% weightage to CAT and 10% to work experience.

If your work experience is more than 2.5 years you will get full 10% marks.

In the personal interview, IIM Lucknow has a cut off of 12 marks out of 40. Candidates securing less than 12 marks in the PI will not be offered admission irrespective of their cumulative scores.

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How to get into IIM Kozhikode:

IIM Kozhikode does not consider class X scores while giving out calls. CAT score has a weightage of 75%, class XII has a weightage of 7.5% and graduation scores have a weightage of 7.5%. Therefore, getting a 99.8+ percentile in CAT can help you offset iffy academic records.

How to get into IIM Indore:

IIM Indore has 34% weightage for class X scores and 40% weightage for class XII scores. The weightage for CAT score is only 20%. If you have scored less only in graduation, then you can expect a call from IIM Indore. If any of class X and Class XII scores is low, it is unlikely to get a call irrespective of your CAT score. Also, IIM Indore normalizes the board percentages. Therefore, aspirants from boards known for mark inflation like TN and Andhra must take this factor into account.

How to get into New IIMs:

If your academic scores are great (read 90+ in X, XII and grad), a 97 percentile will easily fetch a call. Even if your academic scores are low, a 99.2+ percentile will fetch you calls from the new IIMs. Try to score above 99.4 percentile to be on the safer side.

Other B-schools – How to get into FMS, XLRI, MDI, JBIMS:

Other top B-schools like FMS, MDI, XLRI and JBIMS, do not place much emphasis on past academics while shortlisting. Getting a 99.7+ in the respective exams can fetch you an interview call from these institutes (except JBIMS) for sure with high chances of conversion. Instead of just pondering over how to get into IIM with poor academics, try to expand your options and concentrate on your preparation.

We hope that this article on how to get into IIM with poor academics would have helped to clear the air a bit. Irrespective of your past academics, prepare well for CAT and try to score above 99.9 percentile to give yourself a shot at the top IIMs.

If you still think your academic score is too low to get into that particular IIM you always dreamed, just forget about the chances of getting into that and try to focus on maximizing your CAT scores and also improve your overall profile, so that you can face the interview and get into the best B-Schools.

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