Is this the stuff your dreams are made of? A condominium by the sea in Los
Angeles, a Ferrari in the multi-storied garage and a bank balance fit to retire
in the Alps. Think, All this at the age of 30! You should be then among the
aspirants to take the Common Admission Test (CAT) to bag a seat at the
prestigious Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs).IIM is the oven, where the
upper crust of global managers are seemingly baked to perfection.
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As According to statistics, as many as 100,000 aspirants are estimated to have
taken the CAT 2002 on December 9, 2001. Last year, the number was about 85,000.
What makes the IIMs so hot?
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The fact that they hold the key to success: top-class jobs with fabulous
salaries. The top salary at the IIMs last year were $150,000; about 40 per cent
of the IIM-Ahmedabad batch were placed abroad; and almost every IIM had
completed placement before Day Two ended.
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Not surprisingly, the lore of CAT continues to feed ambition in thousands of
aspirants year after year - even though only about 1,400 make it.
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Belling the CAT
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What are the parameters on which CAT tests you? Dr A Gangopadhyaya, faculty
member at IIM-Indore, says the exam evaluates your ability to conceptualize,
infer, develop action plan, analyze, think fast and take decisions out of
alternatives. In addition, it tests your emotional resilience too. Whew! Wait,
there's more.
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Dr Pritam Singh, director, IIM-Lucknow, opines that the institutes also check
on whether a candidate is likely to emerge as a manager or a leader. "We avoid
careerists. We look for leaders, who can change things, add value, build teams,
empower, compete and achieve. And not merely achieve targets.''
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The IIMs are, after all, creating leaders for tomorrow's corporate world, says
Prof Jahar Saha, director, IIM-Ahmedabad. "The IIMs were set up with an aim to
influence management practices in India. We are grooming our students for the
world. We call ourselves the International Institute of Managment.''
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Double take
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The reasons may be different, but many IIM graduates are enrolling in US
universities each year to tag on another MBA to their qualifications. While
both freshers and those with work experience are increasingly heading for the
US, MBAs are better equipped to get in there.
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In addition, they have a better bank balance than most other aspirants. The fee
for an MBA programme in the US on an average works out to $100,000. For a top
business school like Harvard the figure can go up to $250,000; and scholarships
are extremely difficult to come by.
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With their credentials as managers being recognized worldwide now, Indians are
more confident of going abroad. Therefore, if Indian MBA professionals are not
being picked up by MNCs from the IIM campuses through campus placements, or
placed overseas by the companies employed in, they are shifting out on their
own to European and transatlantic regions in order to reign high in
businesses.
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