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Admission Process for PGP Batch 2024-26

This document outlines the process for selecting candidates for admission to the Post Graduate Program in Management (PGP) at the Indian Institute of Management Visakhapatnam (IIMV) for the batch of 2024-26.

The admission process seeks to identify the most promising candidates for the PGP the batch of 2024-26 at IIMV. The institute uses multiple parameters, including academic performance in the 10th standard examination, 12th standard examination, bachelor's degree examination, scores in the Common Admission Test (CAT), and performance in personal interviews, to judge the suitability of candidates for the PGP program. Relevant work experience, if any, is also given weight in the selection process. The use of multiple criteria aligns with empirical research on selection, which shows that selection processes that utilize multiple criteria are more effective. The CAT score is not only used as a selection criterion but also to establish the minimum level of proficiency expected from candidates in respective areas, as indicated by section-wise minimum scores in the CAT. Multiple criteria are used to arrive at a composite score for each candidate, which is used to make the final selection. The remainder of this document explains this process in detail.

IIMV follows a three-phase selection process, and these selection criteria are applied in each phase. The selection process, parameters, and weights used are uniform for all applicant categories. Sufficient candidates are shortlisted at each stage in each category to meet the reservation requirements for each group, as applicable at that time. 

Phase-1 

In the first phase process, all eligible candidates who have appeared for CAT 2023 and have selected IIM Visakhapatnam as one of their preferences in the CAT 2023 Registration form will be considered. Candidates who qualify at this stage will be asked to apply via submission of an online application form for admission to PGP 2024-26 of IIMV through the IIMV website (www.iimv.ac.in).

1. The first shortlist of candidates is based on candidates securing minimum section-wise and aggregate percentile scores in the CAT 2023. Candidates obtaining a positive (greater than zero) raw score in all sections of CAT 2023 will only be considered. The percentile cut-off scores used for CAT 2023 are shown in Table 1. All the subsequent processing, standardization and selection is limited to candidates belonging to this first shortlist alone. This means that the CAT score alone (for candidates who have selected IIM Visakhapatnam as one of their preferences in the CAT 2023 Registration form) is used as the basis for arriving at the first shortlist. 

Table 1: First Shortlist -for the PGP batch of 2024-26 based on CAT 2023 

*These cut-offs are not for admission offers, but only for Phase 1 shortlist. The cut-offs for admission offer could be much higher.

2. All candidates in the first shortlist (i.e. those who have selected IIM Visakhapatnam as one of their preferences in the CAT 2023 Registration form and also meet the minimum CAT 2023 percentile requirements given in Table-1 above) would be receiving an email from IIM Visakhapatnam by the third week of January 2023, with a link to a web page where they MUST apply for admission to PGP 2024-26 at IIM Visakhapatnam, by a stipulated date and time by filling a detailed online application form, which will be used for the purpose of Personal Interview to the shortlisted candidates.

3. All Phase-1 Shortlisted Candidates will be invited to submit a detailed online application as stated above. The application form includes a Statement of Purpose, details of semester wise / year wise marks in bachelor’s degree , copies of all academic transcripts and certificates, copies of work experience certificates (if applicable), certificate of disability (if applicable), Scheduled Caste (SC) / Scheduled Tribe (ST) /Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) / other backward class – non-creamy layer (NC-OBC) certificate (if applicable).

4. In the Phase-1 online application form, candidate information from CAT will be pre-filled. Candidate can modify certain details (except Category), if required.

5. Only those Phase-1 Shortlisted Candidates, who have submitted the detailed Online application (including all the required documents) by the due date, will be considered for the next phase of Admissions Process as described below. 

Phase-2

6. All the Phase-1 shortlisted candidates, who have applied for admission to IIMV by filling the detailed online application (hereinafter referred as Qualified Confirmed Candidates) by the stipulated date, will be considered in Phase-2 of the admission process.

7. In order to prepare the Phase-2 shortlist, the candidates' percentage scores in the 10^th and 12^th Board exams are initially adjusted by dividing each such score by the 90th percentile score obtained in that Board. The database of 10^th and 12^th scores of all CAT applicants of the past two years is used for identifying the 90^th percentile score for each 10^th and 12^th Board, for this purpose.

8. For all Qualified Confirmed Candidates, final scores obtained by the candidates are used for the bachelor’s degree and professional degrees (if any). Incomplete or intermediate scores are considered only if the candidate’s final score is pending. Thus, for final year bachelor’s degree candidates (at the time of CAT 2023 registration), their incomplete graduation score would be taken in lieu of final graduation score. The Graduation scores are adjusted within their respective streams. This gives the adjusted score for the bachelor’s degree for all Qualified Confirmed Candidates.

9. For all Qualified Confirmed Candidates, with Chartered Accountancy (CA), Cost Accounting (ICWA), and Company Secretaryship (CS), Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries of India (FIAI) certifications are eligible for weight under ‘professional course’. No other professional course is eligible for weight under ‘professional course’. The ‘professional course’ score is also standardized for all Qualified Confirmed Candidates.

10. For all Qualified Confirmed Candidates, the score/weight for work experience is calculated as:

Where "x" is the months of work experience up to December 31, 2023, as captured in the IIMV PGP application form.

11. For all qualified confirmed candidates, the maximum score between the work experience score and the "professional course" score is considered for selection under the common parameter of work experience, as both provide professional work experience relevant to a management program.

12. For all Qualified Confirmed Candidates, the weights for the six components are fixed as:
    1. CAT = 50
    2. 10^th Board = 10
    3. 12^th Board = 10
    4. Bachelors = 10
    5. Diversity = 10 {Gender (Female & Transgender)}
    6. Work Experience = 10

13. The 50 points for CAT are derived from the performance in each of the three sections as follows: Verbal and Reading Comprehension (VARC) – 18 points, Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR) – 14 points, and Quantitative Aptitude (QA) – 18 points.

14. For all Qualified Confirmed Candidates, the weighted aggregate of the six components, namely (a) CAT; (b) 10^th Board; (c) 12^th Board; (d) Bachelor’s; (e) Gender Diversity; (f) Work experience or professional course; as stated above, is used to prepare a pre-PI rank list based on which a second shortlist of candidates is prepared, for an assessment through Personal Interview. Sufficient candidates will be shortlisted to enable selection based on the additional evaluation component i.e., Personal interview.

15. IIMV will send an email to all qualified confirmed candidates to fill out a consent form for participating in the IIMV personal interview for the PGP 2024-26 program. Only those candidates who have submitted the personal interview consent form by the due date (referred to as Phase-2 shortlisted candidates) will be considered for scheduling the personal interview.

16. For all Phase-2 shortlisted candidates, normalization or standardization in any component stated above is carried out using the following formula. All standardization is done with reference to the qualifying first shortlist. The standardized score (truncated between 0 and the weight (wt)) is computed from the raw score (val) as follows:

Max [0, min {wt, wt/2 + ((val-mean)/sd) * wt/6}].

Phase-3 

17. Only those Phase-2 shortlisted candidates who have submitted the personal interview consent form by the due date will be considered for the personal interview stage in Phase-3 as described in points 18 and 19 below.

18. Candidates should note that those who are shortlisted and interviewed by any of the IIMs* at Bangalore, Kozhikode, Lucknow, or Indore (only for their PGP/PGPM program) will not be required to appear for the personal interview at IIMV. For these candidates, the average of their personal interview scores from the aforementioned IIMs* will be used to calculate their personal interview score for IIMV.

19. Candidates who are not shortlisted and interviewed by any of the IIMs at Bangalore, Kozhikode, Lucknow, or Indore (only for their PGP/PGPM programs) will be required to appear for a personal interview at IIMV.

20. The information provided in the IIMV application will be used for the computation of merit scores. If there are any discrepancies between the details furnished in the application form and the actual information, the respective profile will not be taken into consideration for the admission process at IIM Visakhapatnam for the PGP 2024-26 program.

21. The Personal Interview score (weight=48), after standardization across multiple parameters, will be added to the following scores to arrive at the final aggregate score:

1. 1. 1.  PI Score (weight=48)
      2.  CAT (weight=25)
      3.  10^th Board (weight= 4)
      4.  12^th Board (weight= 4)
      5.  Bachelor’s (weight= 4)
      6.  Diversity {Gender (Female & transgender)} (weight= 5)
      7.  Work Experience (weight=10)

22. The final offers of admission to candidates will be made strictly on the basis of rank within each category based on the final aggregate score as mentioned in the above Point No. 21.

23. If a candidate wishes to withdraw their admission, please refer to the refund policy of IIM Visakhapatnam mentioned on the Institute's website (www.iimv.ac.in) - https://www.iimv.ac.in/program/fee-refund-policy

Using its comprehensive multi-criteria process, IIMV is able to identify many candidates who have strong academic records and work experience, but who may not have scored as highly on the CAT as required for admission. These candidates effectively replace those who have a high CAT score but weaker performance in their past academic record and work experience. IIMV values consistent and high achievement in previous academics.

Please be aware that the admission criteria for the PGP 2024-26 cohort may be altered at any time before the announcement of results. This document only pertains to the PGP-2024 admissions cycle at IIM Visakhapatnam and should not be used to infer about future admissions processes at the institute. IIMV reserves the right to modify, change, or adopt any new admissions process it deems necessary at any time.

Please note that if a candidate fails to participate in any stage of the admission process, they will no longer be considered for admission to the PGP batch of 2024-26 at IIM Visakhapatnam.

Any dispute concerning Admissions for the PGP Batch 2024-26 would be subject to the jurisdiction of the competent courts within the territorial jurisdiction of the city of Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) only.

*The list of IIMs may change (ref. Point no. 18).