You may not yet have realized that the downturn in the US economy may have a more direct bearing on you - it reduces your chances of making it to the IIMs. With the number of jobs in the markets drying up, the beeline at the B Schools has increased tremendously.
Compared to the 2,30,000 applications received in CAT (Common Admission Test) 2007, the number of applications for the 2009-11 sessions have increased by a whopping 60,000 to reach to a figure just under 3 lakhs. Last year, there was at least one new IIM in the form of Shillong to cheer things up.
In terms of mathematical probability, an IIM aspirant this year stands a meagre chance of about 0.6 % of making it to one of the seven IIMs (including the Rajiv Gandhi IIM Shillong and the additional increase of about 200 seats across the various IIMs). Delhi has now firmly established itself as the MBA Entrance hub of the country; IIM Lucknow which receives applications from Delhi candidates has been flooded with over 62,000 applications.
| CAT Year | No. of Applications |
| 2009 | 2.9 Lakhs |
| 2008 | 2.3 Lakhs |
| 2007 | 1.9 Lakhs |
However there are about 15,000 seats on offer at the many non-IIM b schools that accept CAT scores. Only a handful of them - MDI, MICA and a few more are any good and not much can be said about the others.
For a list of the non-IIM b-schools that are accepting CAT scores, you can click here.
It will be interesting to watch this trend next year if the Common Admission Test does indeed go online.
