Selection Criteria for IIM Lucknow
PGP Admissions Policy 2009
This document details the process that has been developed at Indian
Institute of Management Lucknow (IIML) for identifying the right
candidates for admission to its flagship programme titled "Post
Graduate Programme (PGP) in Management". The process, which has
progressively been refined over time, is derived from the cumulative
data on the Common Admission Test (CAT) and on the competency cum diversity profiles requirements of the PGP class at IIML.
IIML has observed over the years that students who perform well in PGP
are typically those who have a consistently good academic record during
their secondary school, higher secondary school, and graduate levels,
besides exhibiting sufficiently high aptitude as measured by the CAT.
Therefore, IIML uses multiple parameters, viz. academic performance in
secondary school, higher secondary school, and graduate programmes in
addition to the candidate's absolute scores in CAT to judge the
suitability of candidates for PGP. Relevant work experience, if any, is
also given due weightage in the PGP admissions process. Evaluation by
multiple criteria is also consistent with the IIML's own experience
with the placement of PGP students in industry.
The process accommodates the relationship of academic performance in
IIML to past academic performance, CAT scores, performance in written
ability test, group discussion and personal interview (GDPI), and prior
work experience. The selection criteria and weights given to various
parameters are based on past data as well as on inputs from the IIML
faculty and other relevant stakeholders.
The process that is being adopted for selecting the promising students
for PGP at IIML for the year 2009 involves two stages.
The Stage-1 applies to all eligible candidates appeared for CAT-2008 to
determine those qualifying candidates, who will be called for written
ability test and GDPI in Stage-2. Sufficient number of candidates
belonging to different categories is short listed in Stage-1 for
meeting the reservation norms of IIML.
Stage-1:
To begin with, all candidates who secure minimum section-wise and
aggregate percentile scores in CAT are first short listed. The
percentile cut-off scores (the minimum percentile scores required) for
the Stage-1 consideration are given in Table 1.
In order to identify the PGP candidates to be called for written
ability test and GDPI, the past academic performance (in secondary
school, higher secondary school, and graduate programme) and the
experience profile of the candidate are considered as per the weights
given in Table-2.
Table 1: Minimum CAT-2008 percentile requirement for first short listing
| Category |
Section 1 (Quantitative) |
Section 2 (Logic & DI) |
Section 3 (Verbal) |
Total |
| SC |
55% |
55% |
55% |
75% |
| ST |
50% |
50% |
50% |
70% |
| PWD |
55% |
55% |
55% |
75% |
| OBC |
75% |
75% |
75% |
85% |
| GENERAL |
85% |
85% |
85% |
90% |
| ABM1 |
70% |
70% |
70% |
85% |
Table 2: Various components with weights used (for PGP)
| Component |
Weight |
| Aggregate CAT-2008 score |
30% |
| Class-X Marks |
5% |
| Class-XII Marks |
5% |
| Graduation Marks |
5% |
| Experience profile$$ |
5% |
| Total |
50% |
($$ The pre-GDPI score for the work experience profile is given as indicated in Table-3.)
Table 3: Pre-GDPI score for the work experience (for PGP)
| Work Experience in Months |
Score (out of a maximum of 5) |
| 9 to 11 |
1 |
| 12 to 23 |
2 |
| 24 to 35 |
3 |
| 36 to 47 |
4 |
| 48 and more |
5 |
In order to identify the PGP-ABM1 candidates to be
called for written ability test and GDPI, the past academic performance
(in secondary school, higher secondary school, and graduate programme)
and the graduation profile of the candidate are considered as per the
weights given in Table-4.
Table 4: Various components with weights used (for PGP-ABM)
| Component |
Weight |
| Aggregate CAT-2008 score |
30% |
| Class-X Marks |
5% |
| Class-XII Marks |
5% |
| Graduation Marks |
5% |
| Graduation profile$ |
5% |
| Total |
50% |
($ Only the Bachelor's/ Master's Degree holders in select
disciplines (relevant discipline codes listed in CAT 2008 bulletin are
1, 2, 3, 11, 14, 15, 16, 17, 23, 24 and 27) are eligible for this
weightage.)
(1 ABM stands for PGP in Agri-Business Management of IIML )
Stage 2:
The Stage-2 of the admissions process involves the assessment of the
candidature by an interview panel consisting of two faculty members of
IIML. The panel will conduct the following:
- Written Ability Test (of 20 minutes duration)
- Group Discussion (on a given topic for 20 minutes)
- Personal Interview
- Assessment of quality of academic qualifications, and
- Assessment of quality of work experience profile
The weights for these components are as shown in Table-5.
| Component |
Weight |
| Written Ability Test |
10% |
| Group Discussion |
10% |
| Personal Interview |
20% |
| Quality of Academic Qualifications |
5% |
| Quality of Work Experience# |
5% |
| Total |
50% |
(# No credit is given to candidates with less than 9 months of overall experience)
The minimum requirement for getting a pass in the Personal Interview
is 5 out of 20 marks. Sum of the scores in all the ten components (as
given in Table 2 / Table 4 and Table 5) will be taken as the final
score of a candidate for arriving at the merit list(s) for final
selection to the PGP / PGP-ABM of IIML.
(This document is released by Prof Saji KB Nair, Admissions Chairman,
IIM L on behalf of the Admissions Committee of Indian Institute of
Management Lucknow.)
Analysis:
IIM Lucknow has used five criteria for Personal Interview calls.
- Class Xth marks
- Class X11th marks
- CAT Score
- Bachelor's Marks
- Work Experience
Intrepretation:
- IIML is the only institute which is giving weight to all the 5
common criteria's available. ( unless someone decides to give weight to
extracurricular activities)
- There is uniform weight given to 4 criteria except CAT score equal to 10% whereas CAT score is carrying 60%.
- IIML hasn't shared the details within different criteria like IIMA or IIMS.
- As the conditions are 'OR' in nature, a student can get a call if
he has done miserably in one of the criteria, i.e. is the CAT score is
relatively low, but the student have done remarkably well in schooling
and bachelor's, scoring over 90% marks in both the board exams, he has
a fair chance to get IIML call.
- A strict 10% weight to work ex shows a bias for the relevant
category so a fresher is at a disadvantage.
To summarise, we believe that IIM Lucknow is looking for a
consistent academic record of the students during the schooling,
Bachelor's as well as performance in CAT. Out of 5 institutes which
have shared their selection criteria till date, IIML is one which is
asking for most consistency. Within the consistent academic record,
IIML wants to get students with work experience vis a vis freshers from
college.